Why Perspective Matters in your life!

Have you ever thought about why your perspective matters?   

Whether you have or haven't, it’s important to understand that everyone sees life through a different lens based on experiences and circumstances.

Let me explain.

First, let's start with the circumstances of your life. When you are born, things shape who you are, and you have zero control over them. For example, you don't get to choose your parents, heritage, genetics (color of hair, eyes, etc.), or where you were born.

Let's take it a little further and blow your mind. Do you know how lucky you are to be alive? The odds of you being born is 1 in 400 trillion. I mean, when you put it like that, I should be grateful for my circumstances. Yes, you should.

Second, life experiences. You will start out experiencing life-based the value system you've adapted or been born into. As you grow older and gain more life experiences, you will start to frame your perspective.

One of the most beautiful things in life is we are all unique; no two people are the same. That's why perspective matters.

Here's an example of what I mean., A handful of people can go through the same experience. How it affects them or how they react to it will be completely different based on their perspective.   

As you go through your life, do your best to understand that everyone is dealing with their own struggles in life, some of those struggles may seem insignificant to you, yet to that person, it's significant.

Here's a personal example of what I mean by perspective 

I lost my fiancée to cancer 21 years ago. When she was fighting for her life, many friends would come to visit to cheer her up. She was always happy to see everyone and appreciated they would take the time out of their day to see her.

When it came time for people to leave and get back to their lives (which is how it should be), they would often say they "have to go to work," while they didn't mean anything by that statement; it would genuinely bother Doree.

Think about how her perspective was so much different than everyone else. She is fighting for her life; she would go to the hospital for chemo, then home to recover (with not much strength to do anything else), all to start the whole process over again.

One day, Doree said she would share her perspective with our friends to help them understand just how lucky they are. She was wise beyond her years and always wanted to help everyone else.

One day her friend came over to visit, she was complaining about everything (she was known to do this), and she said: "I need to get going. I have to go to work." 

Doree politely said to her friend, if you are going to come to see me, then complain about everything in your life. I would prefer you don't come to visit anymore.

Her friend looked at her and was so mad. She said, "how dare you say that to me, I took the time to come to see you, and I don't appreciate you treating me like that."

Doree, said I need you to understand something, "you get to go to work," and "you get to go out with the girls," and "you get to do a lot of things that I cannot do anymore, do you realize how lucky you are? I am trying to provide you with some perspective on life and let you know I love you. However, I do not want to listen to you complain when you're so lucky to be doing what you want."

Her friend started crying (so did I) and said, "I'm sorry I didn't even think about what you are going (her perspective) through. I figured it was like old times when we would talk about everything." Doree said, "I wish it were like old times too."  

I completely understand if some of you think this example is a little extreme, but that's the reason I shared it with you.

Keep in mind perspective matters in all situations.

I was compelled to share this with everyone because we often forget to look outside our perspective. I know I've been guilty of this, and it has caused me to lose (friends, relationships, etc.) things in my life. This is because I was so focused on my PERSPECTIVE and didn't bother to think about anyone else's.

Ask yourself, have you ever done this, or are you currently doing that now?

If you are, I encourage you to please make an effort to do your best to become aware when you put the perspective of others aside. I will guarantee you; you'll be glad you did and so will your friends.

I've gotten better over the years. Through practice and having more life experiences, I do my best to consider other people's perspectives. Keep in mind. It doesn't mean everyone else will do the same, so help me lead by example.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post.

Best,
Paul
@ZUP2U