Today I am thinking about perspective.
It is so easy to get caught up in our own world and not think about the big picture. Case in point was the conversation I had with a friend this weekend.
He had a bad day and arrived at our BBQ in a funk. We were all happy and excited, enjoying the sunshine and he looked down, upset and dejected.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. He proceeded to tell us all about how he had to work alone all day behind the counter and it had been exhausting! He proceeded to tell us about how the time had gone super slow and he was just waiting for the day to end. He looked miserable, tired and completely out of it.
Sitting out on that gorgeous day surrounded by good friends I could not help what came out of my mouth next: ” Some people have cancer and some kids have nothing to eat”….
It was met by stunned silence.
How many times do we think about only ourselves in the small bubble of life? How often do we think not about the fact that we have jobs in this tough economy but how miserable they can be at times.
It is very easy to not think about the big picture in life. Of how grateful we should be for what we have. It’s very easy to complain and think we have it very bad perhaps until we meet that person who just lost a spouse or someone who is working three jobs to feed a family. When times get really tough remember this saying:
“If we could put all of our problems in a pile and see everyone else’s, we would grab ours back in a hurry”
I learned this lesson myself when I recently blogged about my broken heart and a blog reader commented on my post to say “Natasha …I just lost my wife of several years to cancer about a week ago..trust me you will get over this”
Perspective……keep it in mind.
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This post was written by nchughtai on May 28, 2012
My mother always told me that “things could be worse” and I’ve never forgotten her words. They have helped me get through struggles in life.
Perfect answer! Things could always be worse. Hopefully he had a better evening at the BBQ.
You might have put it pretty bluntly, but some people need that. They need to change their perspective. He might have had an exhausting, difficult day and looked forward to it ending—but his misery didn’t end because he drug ‘his bad day’ to the BBQ and tried to hoist his burden upon other guests there. Your positive perspective of appreciating the occasion, the weather and good friends showed that you rejected being saddled with his burdensome “oh, woe is me” demeanor. Rather enjoy the joyous moment he was in, he was selfishly ruining it for others. I’m sure your response would have been different if he REALLY had something to complain about… loss of job or health problem. No matter what, there is always something to be grateful for. I think this is the best advice for all of us: “When no one is joining in on your pity party, maybe its time you left too.”