Listen on the Pgh Dreamer’s Pod: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/meghan-greenwood/episodes/Gain-a-New-Perspective-e2ofent

Being contained to a little bubble for too long will ultimately lead to short-sidedness. Not that this is unnatural, it is actually quite expected. Humans are wired to understand people, places, and things within their vicinity. This is mostly because our cavewoman ancestors never had to consider what might be happening miles and miles away.

That being said, we are in a time where information about every facet is at our fingertips – perhaps too much so. But even with that type of access, we are still not fully grasping what others may be perceiving in their neck of the woods. We are still content inside of our bubbles.

And maybe you can make the argument, but I’m living in the present. Yes, your present. But I encourage you to at least consider other perspectives on a regular basis.

For example, maybe only a few miles away, the town dynamic considerably shifts. There is poverty and homelessness. People struggling to make ends meet. That doesn’t automatically make them bad people, perhaps they’re just in bad situations.

Or across the country, folks who have felt the persecution of hate or have had to overcome horrible natural disasters or school shootings. They’re dealing with situations that we may be lucky to not experience.

And internationally, humans who are losing their lives to war and worse. We can’t even begin to imagine how they live to survive.

I don’t expect you to understand their struggles or where they’re coming from. I also don’t expect you to put the weight of everyone’s problems on your own shoulders. A new perspective is simply an understanding that we are all human beings, trying to make the best of the time we have here on earth.

If nothing else, we all have the same underlying skeleton and biological building blocks that make us human – and we can all hurt, thrive, and celebrate.

Taking a few moments during the week to remind yourself that not everyone lives the way you do is a healthy practice. It will help ground us, remove biases, and give us a new appreciation for what we do have.