Perspective.
That is my word for you this week. Perspective allows for a shift in mindset and can expand our horizons from the immediacy of what we face in our wee bunker to the gravity of the situations and obstacles faced by others beyond what we can see.
This raising of our eyes can also serve to reset the gratitude button – rather than seeing our own problems, we can instead see all that we have to be grateful for in comparison to much bigger difficulties faced by others we had previously not considered.
This week has brought to mind a couple of examples of the need for a perspective shift.
My perspective at the start of this week was very much from my own trench, and limited to what I could see that was negative or difficult.
Anxiety and frustration at the school exams results and appeals debacle.
Huge uncertainty around education and exams during the rest of this year for secondary schools and universities, and the potential long-term impact of that on students.
Significant workloads for teaching staff on top of all the normal challenges of teaching.
Our own Elder Nearest-and-Dearest about to leave home, and the anticipation of the enormous gap that is going to leave as well as uncertainty of what her university experience is going to be like.
And then the perspective shift.
Today I was reading the TearFund magazine.
Talk about being brought up short.
Contained within was a powerful story of another mum who was concerned about her children’s future and education.
But this mum had lost everything – husband and home and homeland, safety and sanctuary, livestock and livelihood, all normal life as she knew it. She and her children had fled conflict and were now living as refugees without safety, utilities or any form of income. You can read similar stories here.
Imagine this being you, this being your experience of life, this being your family.
Yes there are challenges and losses in my life at present. I am going to miss Elder Nearest-and-Dearest terribly and it will be a big adjustment. But what an adventure she is starting on, within an amazing education system that our country does have – even given current limitations and restrictions.
Watching the news brought about a second incidence of the need for a different perspective.
Television and radio tend to be an interactive experience for me. I suspect I am not alone in this (hence the popularity of such programmes as Gogglebox!).
Anyway.
I argue back, agree with or shout at the radio or telly in response to comments and observations made by presenters and the like. Recent news has included interviews with folk expressing complaint and frustration about having their holiday cut short because of quarantine regulations in the UK.
Now I am not going to get all political, that is now what you want to read here. And I am aware that I am only expressing my own view point, and others are entitled to their own. Furthermore, all the people I know, including ourselves, have had holiday plans massively curtailed or completely cancelled this year, and this is disappointing. Holidays are good and necessary for rest and refreshment, the world is a beautiful and amazing place, the tourism industry supports many – valid points all.
However, let’s apply that word perspective to this.
Take the perspective of a GP seeking to continue to provide effective health care in the midst of Covid-19. Working long hours trying to provide services amidst huge restrictions, with staff shortages because of the self-isolating requirements, potential shortages of equipment and the additional need to complete the flu vaccination programme before winter.
Faced with those sorts of challenges, the loss of a couple of days of one’s holiday in Portugal perhaps need to be seen in a different light. We make choices and therefore need to accept the consequences of those choices. We can choose to see what a privilege it has been to get any kind of holiday at all, and be grateful for that rather than taking the perspective based on our own sense of entitlement.
Where might this be true for you this week?
Where perhaps is a perspective shift needed? Take a long hard look at the things that are causing you grief and grumble.
Such concerns and difficulties may indeed by valid, and this is in no way to minimise them. Someone else having bigger problems than you does not invalidate your own.
But it can be a good way to remain grounded in the present to stop and take note of what is good and what we do have that we can be thankful for.
For me, reading about that Syrian mum made me stop and appreciate all that I DO have in life, and the opportunities my children DO have. There is so much to be grateful for.
Where do you need to a perspective shift towards gratitude this week?