Perspective

Perspective is a thing I've been thinking about a lot lately. I remember when Mike showed me his psych's trick of zooming out on a problem, of writing your bad thought/trigger on a piece of paper and holding it right up in your face so it's the only thing you can see, then moving it away so that around it you can see that the sky is still blue, the grass is still green, and life is still going on all around you with all its simple pleasures and little gains. Those are what's worth it, I think, that when, even though I have these overwhelming and distressing feelings, around the edges is the whole world going on with things that I can't see unless I'm willing to hold the paper further from my face. And it seems to me to be a conscious choice to do that, an act of will and strength and empowerment. Sometimes in my life perhaps I won't be powerful enough to push it far enough back myself, but I will be able to seek help to do that from my network of support. And other times, because I'm learning and developing my own tools, I can do it myself. This doesn't mean I'll never process the thought either, just that, if I want or need, I can take a different perspective on it, so I can get on with my life regardless.