Believe it or not, we live most our lives blind. Of course, I’m not talking from a biological perspective, but from a perspective perspective.
The fact that we live our own life has both advantages and disadvantages. The biggest advantage is that we control most of it (even more with huge courage). The biggest disadvantage is that we get stuck in one perspective: our own, and when we see other perspectives, we’ll automatically tend to reject them just because we’re not familiar with them, therefore those perspectives don’t seem real.
Our reality is created by familiar things. This is why the denial phase exists. At the beginning, people cannot cope with changes because those changes are not familiar, so they don’t know how to behave in those new circumstances. In time, as they become familiar, people will slowly accept them.
For me, the eye-opening decision is the decision to live with the idea that multiple perspectives exist and that I’m not familiar with all of them. Therefore, I try to think outside the box (the box being my perspective) and to live as anything can happen anytime. Of course, this doesn’t mean that I should stay alerted all the time. I’m just not as surprised anymore as I used to be when sh*t happens. I get pissed and upset, but I accept the sh*t right from the start and I deal with it even though I don’t like it.
I say this is eye-opening because I don’t refuse to see the sh*t, a thing that I did in the past. I hate it and I eat it. This also allows me to live more in the present and less in the past or in the future.
Yes, it’s not a “bulletproof strategy”, but I think it’s better than the alternative because it allows me to have a better understanding of other people’s behavior and it also enhances my empathy. And so far, it suits me well, even though I have to admit I’m wrong all the time so I can challenge my views.
How open are you to new perspectives?