Photo: Vasyl Hnyp
If you look at our current society, it focuses so much on what other’s think of us. Legitimately, the most televised and media based things we do are judged. I mean look at the Olympics or Dancing with the Stars or celebrities walking the runway before a major award ceremony. Our media is constantly giving opinions on this or that. This should be this way or that should be that way. It leaves little room for us to have our own original view. No judgment from others, just our own view.
That being said, I like to think that everyone has their own 10 out of 10 for every situation. Have you ever been to the doctor or other medical professional with some ailment and they ask you on a scale from 1 to 10, how are you feeling? An important side question that I have heard asked and was trained to ask in my Wilderness First Responder Training is, “What’s the most pain you’ve ever experienced?” After hearing something like, “I broke my femur” it’s a lot easier to gauge that homeboy saying he’s at an 8 is a lot of pain. If someone says, “A papercut” and says he’s dealing with a 5, I’m going to have better knowledge of how to treat the person.
What if we took this into not only physical ailments, but also emotional issues? A lot of times, we have no idea what other folks have been through in their lives and everyone has their 10 out of 10 for each situation in life. Someone could be having a 10 out of 10 angry day and slam the door in our face or cut us off on the road. That stuff can get to us! We’re humans, but sometimes, with more understanding of the unknown of that person’s day/week/month/life, we can be a bit more kind to others and ourselves.
I think it’s also worth noting that just because someone might be going through something that we deem “minor” doesn’t mean it’s necessarily minor to that individual. When we start to take into account that everyone has had their own set of experiences that drive them to the behavior or mood that they have today, it’s much easier for us to present kindness to others. Our perspective is exactly that, “ours.” Just because someone else’s is different than our own doesn’t make their’s or our’s right or wrong, but if we do treat others with compassion, I guarantee that the life you live will inherently be much more happy.