Perspective

It's a funny thing, perspective. It changes everything and all it depends on is how you choose to view things. You could view it negatively and then see everything as the world being against you; that nothing is going as you planned and that nothing is in control. Or you can view it positively and see the world just ever so changing as it would being a fallen world; that even if everything isn't going according to plan, that you are making the most of everything and are finding new opportunities to make things better.

Perspective is how we can choose to view things like the coronavirus. We can view it as crippling and destructive. That it's sole purpose is to bring an end to humanity. Or we can view it as best as possible and take the time to see where we are lacking in our lives that need work. What I mean is that at least for myself, I have found that during this confusing time period of shortening or removing work hours, to removing any social activity, is that I have been given a chance to slow down. That I had a pretty full plate as it were, albeit not as full as other people. That my day in day out all started with work, then a bit of downtime, immediately playing into an hour or two at aikido, followed by a family dinner, and then by then I needed to shower and soon go to bed to repeat the cycle. And even for myself, that's not even busy in comparison to some people I know.

With this shortening of my work schedule (of which is about to start back up in a lighter load than before, starting tomorrow) and removing aikido from my life for the past couple of weeks, I had a chance to realize there are areas in my life that needed work. That there was healing that needed to be done, or at least started. That I needed to retrace my way to at the very least praying regularly to my Lord. That I had gotten so lost in viewing the entire year as nothing but negatives and I had not taken a moment to be thankful for all the positives. Sure there were moments when my world was changed dramatically, but the way I view it was up to me. I had been viewing it as negative for so long that I need to take a step back and remember that I still have a lot of things I take for granted, that above all else I still have my God fighting for me and on my side. That He's never left me and never forsaken me.

There's still a lot of soul searching that I need to do. There's a lot of purification of my heart, my mind, and my soul that I need to work on. There's plenty of room for me to grow and for me to mature. All of it I can achieve, but only if I am in the right mindset. Sure the circumstances of the year are plenty for me to see it as nothing but detrimental. Sure I can see it as nothing but lost. But what I can do and what I should do is see it as new opportunities. That there were lessons I had learned in the process of the discovering these negatives and these downsides to various things. That I can learn from my own mistakes and put out a better effort.

So I challenge you, the reader, to take just a moment and think about all that troubles you. Think of what you see as nothing but negative and take a step back and think, "is it truly as negative as I see it to be, or am I not in the right mindset to being optimistic?" I know that that question can be hard to answer. I know it is something that can be hard to do. Look at me for example: it took me nearly 3 full months of seeing 2020 as the worst year of my life to realize that maybe while there were downsides to it, that I have been subconsciously looking for the negatives so that I had something to blame. Something to be the cause of all these issues. But if I change my mindset and try my best to be more optimistic, then I can see that while 2020 wasn't the best year, there were plenty of learning opportunities and plenty of spaces for me to grow and develop. That some things that may seem to be as God unjustly taking something that I had already counted as mine could quite possibly be His protection and I don't know even 1% of the world of pain or damage I may or may not have experienced if I had chosen something of the world over what He deemed was best for me. That I wouldn't have gained a chance to slow down and realize there is so much more for me to be grateful for and to be thankful for.

It's going to be a tough challenge, but the key to any challenge is that there are the letters to the word "change". That through all of our challenges, we will change for the better. It will be hard, but we have a God who is fighting for us, and a God who has conquered all the world's evil, darkness, and troubles.