Everything changes. Seasons Change. Circumstances Change. People Change….Why are we surprised when our “Perspective” changes also? What was half full, is now just half empty. We see the dark, but fail to notice the stars.

Sometimes we have to adjust our sails, storms come in many different shapes and sizes. Some storms we can see coming on the horizon, others blind side us so fiercely that we never knew what hit us, only leaving destruction in its wake.

Changing our perspective is not always easy. It is the way that we regard situations, judge their importance. Since all of the above have the potential for change? It is no wonder that we end up changing our perspective as needed. It’s how we manage to survive, process, and work towards a new outlook on the things that are important to us.

I have had to adjust my perspective on several different levels in the last few months. I don’t like it. I am a planner. If I go on vacation? I make a list. If I go shopping? I make a list. If I say I am going somewhere on a specific day? I usually stick with the plan. Life doesn’t always adjust for my lists. Impromptu sicknesses, injuries, accidents and just bands of things not going my way. Sometimes, life just happens differently than you plan.

I have often been told that I have a disorder called SAD…Seasonal Affective Disorder (the weather determines my mood) Okay, so I whine a lot about rainy/gloomy days. I just do. I am translucent sometimes. In other words… I let light pass through but sometimes manage to “diffuse” it. Sometimes I just don’t see the silver lining, or the light at the end of the tunnel. It does not, however, prevent me from continuing my search for it. Perspective goes hand in hand of one of my favorite words – “Hope” and.. it’s just easier for me to see it when the sun is peeking out.

My mother used to say that I was “annoying”…not nice coming from your Momma I know. What? It hurt my feelings. I asked her to explain to me what she meant by that.. Her replies went something like this…. “You always have something to say!” If I say it’s cold outside, you say well at least it’s warm on the inside” If I say “life isn’t fair, you say – no, but it can still be good..” If I say that “you don’t understand what I am going through, you say, help me to understand.”  In other words, she sometimes didn’t want me to encourage her.  She didn’t want me to give her a reason or tell her it would be better. Her perspective and mine were often times different. Don’t get me wrong, I never had regrets about encouraging her. Sometimes she just wanted me to say “I’m sorry” or “Oh wow, that is terrible.”

Perspective changes for me. I learn from it. Often, my outlook on things will do a 360 without thinking twice about it.  I have to encourage myself some days. The hardest perspective I have had to change, have been the stories that I had already written the endings. Things that I mapped out, made  my life lists, and waited for them to come my way.

I still have dreams that will never change. They will always be for the same things. The perspective may change more than once, sort of like a detour, my destination is still the same. It’s my perspective only that changes and adjust on how I will get there.

Life is definitely not always fair, as my momma reminded me often, but it is still worth it. Every hurdle, roadblock or traffic jam we encounter has a reason behind it. Sometimes it’s hard to see the forest for the trees..You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. (pooh)

I took the above photos of the same object/tireswing…Although the swing doesn’t change..everything around it seems to do so. It’s a cold place sometimes while we are waiting for warmer days.. It is a stormy place at times, so much that we long for some kind of peace…and lastly….

Often, it’s a little hazy and humid….stiffling the air we need to breathe. It can be confusing at times… but Perspective has a lot to do with what we focus on. Who cares if you have to adjust it often? As long as you are willing to make it work. Press on toward something better, keep looking for the good stuff.