John Y’s Musings from the Middle: Context

Context is the thing.

“Life is so much better in proper context. Fairer, funner, more Gracious. Just better all round.”

A quick comment I just made to a friend but like a lot because so many of our daily issues aren’t so much problems but misunderstood situations because we view them out of context–where we are the victim, the one getting the short end of the stick, the injured one, the one singled out, the worst ever luck, and so and so on and on.

Fact is next time you feel this way and say to yourself, “Why me?” The answer is probably, “Why not you?”

I mean, ever heard of sharing?

I joke…but think of it that way. Everybody has to take there turn in the barrel, as a friend of mine likes to say. I’m not sure where that saying comes from, but I like it a lot. Heck, lean to enjoy rolling around in a barrel if that’s the case. Or just sit still until it safe to come out.

The point something I said to a friend years ago who was listing their bad luck litany to me. I said, “Sadly, the most unfair thing in life is that we usually get about what we deserve.”

I don’t think my friend understood what I was trying to say. But it was to step back a little. See our life in context.

It’s probably not going as bad as we think…and there’s a lot of good stuff we are missing out on because we are hyper-focused on the tiny bubble of paint dried in the corner of the door that we don’t see the gorgeous paint job most see when they walk up to the door.

And that–even worse–we are failing to walk through the door we are standing in front of.