Perspective

Are you at your worst or is life prepping you for the best moments you have encountered thus far? Perspective can be a huge difference in the answer to this question. We know what perspective is however, many of us overlook the importance of it.

Perspective can be your best friend or worst enemy. Where you stand directly affects what perspective does for you. I have had a phase of pessimism brought on by what I like to call bad energy. Bad energy for me is something brought on by negativity. For example, I have stepped into a room, and immediately my mood changed. On this particular occasion it was due to the negativity of the person I was working with. It was projected on to me with very little interaction. I went through a series of situations where people’s bad energy began to change me for the worst. My instinctive response was to be defensive. I didn’t realize until recently the changes I went through. My defense mechanism is to shut down and stay to myself. This was not conducive to that environment or my professional life. I went through years of this and it became so bad that it affected how I interacted with love ones including my wife. Had my perspective changed sooner I could have saved myself a ton of stress.

My perspective for these years were that everyone was against me. Everything negative that happened was a result of people plotting on me. There were a few people that absolutely had ill intent behind their actions but, that should not apply to every person. This mentality made my anxiety way worse. It burned bridges and severed ties to people that did not deserve it. That lone wolf mentality was brought on by this negative perspective, and it only dug a deeper hole for me. It also prevented me from being as self aware as I usually am. I couldn’t understand why bad things were happening to me.

I became fed up from my most recent situation which also occurred in the work environment. I was exhausted and sure that I put my best foot forward in making things work. After consulting with my wife, I decided to walk away from the situation I was in. It was toxic and I had all the necessary evidence in front of me that proved that. As I was departing from that place, I learned a valuable lesson. Protect yourself from bad energy so it does not start to affect you.

I am currently between jobs and happier than I have been in a long time. I am in a great place with the people I am close to. What I most recently took from these experiences are how perspective contributed to my stress. The minute I began to believe that I was being prepared for more enjoyable life moments instead of believing I was down on my luck, I began to appreciate the things I had more. It became clear how blessed or lucky I am. I also began to find ways to give back even if it was in the smallest ways. My focused shifted from finding ways to protect me to finding ways to uplift others that may need it. The fact that I am writing on vocal media is a direct result of my growth. I feel fully prepared for whatever is gonna come my way. I am also confident as a big believer in karma that I will reap the benefits of my efforts when it is time. I hope that those people who are going through similar phases can find their way through it with minimal damage to themselves and others. As long as we remember that the great things will always come our way as long as we give our best, perspective will work as an ally.