What Else Could It Mean?

Recently on AOL they ran an article from a self-help guru that was intended to help people deal with stress. It listed five questions that each person should ask himself when analyzing a situation. I wrote all five down, but there were two taht I personally need to tatoo on my forearm:

1) What else could it mean?

2) What is the end game?

Keeping my eye on the big picture is hard for me. I very easily get sucked into the minutae of a situation and forget what the ultimate goal is. In my experience, it's the people who are able to keep their eye on the goal who are successful.

But it's the first question that I really have to ask myself on an hourly basis. I tend to personalize everything. The sun is shining too brightly because someone, somewhere is trying to ruin my pictures. Recently I've come to the realization that very few things in this world are about me. People do not go home at night and evaluate their opinions of me. They don't e-mail their thoughts on the latest developments in my life to their far-removed loved ones. My every mistake does not shake the core of their worlds. I realize that this is something that most people learn by the age of two.

I'm a late bloomer.

By actively asking, "What else could it mean?" I immediately have to stop focusing on myself and look at the situation from another perspective. That, in and of itself, is not really new. What is new for me is the freeing feeling that comes with the exercise. Once I stop and look at a situation from a perspective that does not have me in the middle of it, I begin to feel better. When I remove myself from pictures that don't include me, I suddenly feel lighter.

I've discovered just how pre-programmed I am in thinking that every situation not only is about me, but also about how bad I am. It's not and I'm not.