Perspective

Perspective. Have you every felt overwhelmed during a crisis? You're not alone. Perspective is one important way for us to regulate our emotions during times of crisis. People can make one of two mistakes. They can minimize the crisis and remain in denial so that change does not occur or they can magnify the crisis to the point that it becomes overwhelming. The solution is perspective.

When we are young, we lack perspective. A child might be upset that a toy is broken and have a meltdown. When that child grows up and he or she has meltdown because a car is broken, he/she hasn’t learned the lesson of perspective. One of the top misbelief makers is a lack of perspective and it can look like 'all or nothing thinking' or 'magnification' of a problem in life.

In 'all or nothing thinking' we go to the extremes. Something is either perfect or it is the worst thing that could possibly happen. With people we do this often with celebrities. We put a celebrity on a pedestal and idolize them and then when we discover that he or she is human, we tear them down and trash them. (Look in the checkout aisle of any grocery store for examples of this.) We fail to recognize that these are people who have good and bad qualities just like you and me.

When we go through difficult times, it’s easy to believe that this is the too terrible for us to endure. However, perspective will tell us that many have endured things in life that are painful and difficult. Maybe if you look at your own life, you can remember another difficult time that seemed too painful at the time and you somehow made it through. These times test our resolve; they test our faith and yet in the end give us new perspective. Maybe the crisis makes us reach out to friends or family for support. Maybe it causes us to seek counseling to learn new skills to help us through. Maybe it causes us to rely on God for strength and hope when we most need it. 

These times of crisis remind us that we can be honest about our pain. We don’t need to minimize it and we don’t need to be overwhelmed by it. Keeping perspective helps us get through a crisis and then maybe someday give hope to someone else in need of that same gift.

Rick Jass, MA, LPC

Licensed Professional Counselor

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