It's not about not wanting a "perfect" life–it's about not wanting a "picture-perfect" life. In particular, the picture-perfect life detailed by the song is connected with "the American Dream": getting married, and having kids, a house in the suburbs and a mediocre regular job (cf. 'And everyone's saying, "Shape up and get a life"' and 'I gotta settle down in place just like the rest; Living the dream, is this what it feels like').
There's a fundamental difference between a true "perfect" life and a "picture-perfect" life: the first is based on being truly happy (and therefore is subjective) and the other is based on the appearance of being happy (thus, easily perceived). It is possible to have both a perfect and picture-perfect life, but they're orthogonal: you can have a perfect life that's not picture-perfect or a picture-perfect life that's not perfect. The subject of the song knows this difference (emphasis mine): "Picture perfect, that's what it seems."
The subject is urged to stop his "fooling" around, telling him that whatever it is he is doing is not worth it ('Everyone's screaming, "You're never gonna get there"') and that he should get a picture-perfect life ('And everyone's saying, "Shape up and get a life"'). But he does not want a picture perfect life ('Picture perfect doesn't mean much to me'), and he knows that it was his decision to pursue his dream ('I point the finger and it shows me I'm to blame'). In fact, it seems that he's actually truly happy with his less-than-picture-perfect life ("Waking up shaking feels much better [than everyone telling him he's wrong]") and justifies that his life is better because it makes it feel more satisfied: "If nothing goes wrong, then how will it feel right?"
The high point in the song is when he realizes that he is indeed right in his decision to not pursue the picture-perfect life:
I've saving up time to figure this out
But I can't believe that I waited this long
I've seen the truth in another light
This is everything I never wanted to be
Basically the song is about truly pursuing your dream and not just settling for something that everyone tells you is the "right" thing to do. It's an anthem for people like me, who are there, doing what they love the most, no matter how many times people tell them to "get a proper life."
It's not about not wanting a "perfect" life–it's about not wanting a "picture-perfect" life. In particular, the picture-perfect life detailed by the song is connected with "the American Dream": getting married, and having kids, a house in the suburbs and a mediocre regular job (cf. 'And everyone's saying, "Shape up and get a life"' and 'I gotta settle down in place just like the rest; Living the dream, is this what it feels like').
There's a fundamental difference between a true "perfect" life and a "picture-perfect" life: the first is based on being truly happy (and therefore is subjective) and the other is based on the appearance of being happy (thus, easily perceived). It is possible to have both a perfect and picture-perfect life, but they're orthogonal: you can have a perfect life that's not picture-perfect or a picture-perfect life that's not perfect. The subject of the song knows this difference (emphasis mine): "Picture perfect, that's what it seems."
The subject is urged to stop his "fooling" around, telling him that whatever it is he is doing is not worth it ('Everyone's screaming, "You're never gonna get there"') and that he should get a picture-perfect life ('And everyone's saying, "Shape up and get a life"'). But he does not want a picture perfect life ('Picture perfect doesn't mean much to me'), and he knows that it was his decision to pursue his dream ('I point the finger and it shows me I'm to blame'). In fact, it seems that he's actually truly happy with his less-than-picture-perfect life ("Waking up shaking feels much better [than everyone telling him he's wrong]") and justifies that his life is better because it makes it feel more satisfied: "If nothing goes wrong, then how will it feel right?"
The high point in the song is when he realizes that he is indeed right in his decision to not pursue the picture-perfect life:
I've saving up time to figure this out But I can't believe that I waited this long I've seen the truth in another light This is everything I never wanted to be
Basically the song is about truly pursuing your dream and not just settling for something that everyone tells you is the "right" thing to do. It's an anthem for people like me, who are there, doing what they love the most, no matter how many times people tell them to "get a proper life."