Perspective

“Your perspective will either be your prison or your passport.”

I have left my box.

I am out of my element.

I am lost, but it feels so good.

The places I am used to have formed my perspective. They have made me close-minded and cut-off to the world around me. Although I make a conscious effort to welcome new perspectives, it is not possible until I truly leave my own perspective and experience one that is not mine.

Within the last 3 days, I learned a lot about what life could be like had I not been blessed with the situation I was.

I was given the opportunity to meet someone who grew up much different than me. You’d think that being from completely different situations, the mindset on things would be so different. Not even close. The way their mind works is the exact same as mine, despite the differences in upbringing.

Through the week of conversations, one thing was confirmed in my mind:

NEVER UNDERVALUE WHAT YOU’VE BEEN THROUGH.

It is hard to not undervalue yourself when you meet someone you feel has been through so much more than you. But what you don’t realize, is that everything that you have been through, they haven’t. As a result, they value your experiences just as much as you value theirs.

I was thrown so far outside of what I am comfortable with this week. I was given many challenges and the thing that I am most proud of: I responded exactly how I prepared myself to.

Feeling lost causes you to grasp on to what you are most comfortable with.

You look for the things that are familiar to you and try to pursue them.

WHEN NOTHING IS FAMILIAR, YOU ARE FORCED TO MAKE NEW FAMILIARITIES.

You are forced to become open to new perspectives, new experiences, new lives.

Rather than keeping myself inside my box, I was forced outside of it. I was forced to branch out and do things I am not used to.

This is the power of gaining new perspective.

I saw a life I don’t know and was able to leave what I knew in the past. I was able to create new connections in my mind by seeing what I’ve never seen.

Sometimes leaving your routine is the best decision you can make.

Perspective is what I want, and leaving my comfort zone is how I got it.

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Thank you for reading!

My goal is to inspire self-improvement in others through my personal stories and experiences.

This is The Exploration.