Newsflash: You are not the center of the universe. The world does not stop because you're in a bad mood or because you had a crappy day. Nope, it just keeps turning as millions of other people confront their own problems and issues.
Want another newsflash? The problems those other billions of people deal with are likely just as big as, if not bigger than your problem. In other words, in the grand scheme of things, you're a grain of sand on a vast, endless beach filled with other grains of sand. Get used to it.
It sounds rather nasty, doesn't it? Well, in some ways, it needs to. We all need this kind of reality check sometimes, especially when we get so wrapped up in the busy crazy world we're all struggling to get by in. This is where I feel like I need to add another slightly nasty comment and say that we're not as unique as we think we are.
At this very moment there are billions (oh yes, have you checked the world population counter lately, folks?) of people with the same fears, anxieties, loves, hates, passions, and jealousies we all have. The only thing that makes the way we feel about those things unique is that they are just applied to our own personal situations. These are universal feelings, nothing new about them.
To be happy people we need to just get over ourselves. I'm not saying let everything go and drift off to zen-land, forgetting about our daily lives, but I do think we need to put things into perspective sometimes. Had a bad day at work and are pissed off at the boss? Well that sucks, half a planet away a mother lost her child and husband due to senseless war.
I know. Putting things in perspective by offering a worse-case scenario is a trick all of our moms used to make us do things (eat your vegetables! There are children starving in Africa!) but seriously, maybe our moms had a point.
It's all about perspective. So if you've had a crappy day and feel like you can't go on to the next, remember…There are children starving in Africa!
Get over yourself. Be happy. It's all we can do in this world and if we're unhappy, the great planetary being (or void, depending on your worldview) will keep right on a'truckin'.
