When I think of perspective, I think of distance, separation, but also permutation, transposition, shifting our vantage point to gain a different (and usually deeper and truer) level of appreciation, of assessment.
As I was running today as part of my daily exercise routine, the idea of perspective came to mind. I thought about how being out in nature, or in a space that is larger than us, our problems seems to appear so small. Then, I wanted to mentally expand on the concept and understand why or how perspective makes a situation appear largely different from another angle than it did from our original viewpoint.
I remember working on my last project, and being the over thinker-almost-paranoid project manager I was, I couldn’t help but feel suffocated.
What I realized is that you cannot have a fair and objective appreciation of a situation unless you remove yourself from it and assess. But when you’re an integral part of it, it’s difficult to do that. You are not afforded the time nor space to take a step back and look at the picture from an observer lens. You are part of the picture, and because you’re in it, you cannot see the all contours.
Even if you were to gain some height and look at the picture from above, you would have a better understanding but you still won’t get the full picture. The best way to properly assess it is to get outside of yourself and become an observer (while keeping yourself in the picture so you can get an accurate view of all aspects ) and appreciate the situation from there.
Now, after taking a step back , I can see that some situations were not as terrible as I originally thought, though they were still bad. With some perspective, I can see that what I feared (failure) wouldn’t have been the end of the world. Being removed from the situation helped me gain a new level of understanding and help confirm that I made the right decisions, even if the picture I constructed was a lot of worse than it actually was.
Perspective also comes to mind in the case of gaining empathy. Putting your feet in someone else’s shoes and seeing what things look like from their vantage point, sharing in their perspective, seeing with their eyes. Perspective in this case helps bridge gaps, it fosters a sense of community: you get where I’m coming from, and ultimately, it helps people arrive at a common solution.
Perspective is necessary and whenever we feel overwhelmed in a situation, it is a good reminder for us to take some time, take a step back and assess things from a vantage point where we’re removed from the situation.
What does perspective mean to you?
