Exactly How Real is a 'Real Person'? Fakeness and Perfection

I was going through old handwritten letters--I find it hard to throw these away-- and this piece of Mariana's letter to me from a year ago struck me as interesting:

I just started this book on Pop Culture (Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs- Chuck Klosterman)

and came across some interesting lines...

1) Real people are actively trying to live like fake people, so real people are no less fake

(...the first part is def true...hoping for the perfect romantic relationship, ideal guy & life, like in all those movies. Comparing our problems to the media..."That's just like on that episode of Sex & the City!"/Movie XYZ,etc...)

...

Are we really trying to live like fake people?

After all, fake people seem to be just exaggerated dramatizations of real people, which is why they catch on and have fans. Because they're interesting and catchy, not like "real people" which are boring because they appear to be stuck in routines, right? 

Since I am a "real person," does that mean that I, too, am trying to be fake?

I try to make my life interesting by trying new things and learning all the time, and of course I want things to be perfect and happy, but life is really about the journey, so you just have to enjoy it as it comes, right?

Hoping for things to get better is important because you should never settle.

I would agree that many movies and TV shows are "fake" in the sense that they are so "clichè" and contain characters that will never exist, but if they're things that we aspire to have and be, then I guess trying to be 'fake' isn't so bad after all. 

What does this have to do with relationship advice?

Fake-schmake. 

If you are hoping for the 'perfect relationship,' I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

Just keep in mind that "perfect" doesn't always mean that every second of every day is happy-- it's ok to have highs and lows, because that makes things interesting, and if things were always happy, you would get bored or take it for granted...and therefore "real" because you're stuck in an un-interesting routine.

Cheers to 2010 fakeness.

xo,

Shannon