We’ve often heard the saying that talks about seeing the world through rose-colored glasses, which can be interpreted to mean seeing the world in a positive light. A happy light. A joyful light.
But what about the others lenses we might look through in our lives? Maybe they’re not so rosy colored. Maybe they feel dark at times. Maybe they’re blurry and confusing. Or maybe they make things clearer and bring life more into focus.
I believe that all the different lenses we look through make us who we are. Who we uniquely are. Because not one single person will be looking through the same lenses as I will. Or you will. Or anyone will. And even if we might have the same set of colored lenses, the depth of their color and their overall arrangement can be different based on our life experiences, making the view we see through those lenses uniquely ours.
Here are some lenses I’ve looked through so far in my life, and I’m sure I’ll be adding more lenses to my personal stack of lenses (and I’m probably even forgetting some!):
- Being a daughter of God
- Being a daughter, sister, aunt, niece, cousin
- Marrying an awesome man
- Suffering a miscarriage during our first pregnancy
- Being a mom to 4 incredible kids
- Learning how to be the best mother-in-law
- Being a boy grandma
- Learning how to support a gay daughter and striving to be an ally for the LGBTQ community
- Recovering from various surgeries and injuries
- Learning how to support aging parents, one who has degenerative dementia
- Dealing with losses—both big and small
- Learning new things—consistently being curious
- Moving multiple times throughout my life
- Achieving goals of all types and sizes
- Playing the piano and serving others through this talent
- Becoming a health + fitness professional
- Becoming a professional writer and editor
- Experiencing anxiety, stress, and burn out
- Working daily to become who I want to become
- Experiencing so many times of sadness, pain, and heartache
- Experiencing so many times of pure joy and happiness
The lenses through which we view the world around us—physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally—can greatly influence some important aspects of our lives: How we choose to react to both positive and negative situations, whether or not we achieve our goals, help us learn more about ourselves, teach us new and important things, affect how we treat others, help us to become who we ultimately want to become, and so on. And I’ve come to know that I can often choose how I’ll let my lenses affect me, especially the lenses that could offer a more negative focus and perspective if I allow them to.
Our personal lenses can also help us be more empathetic and better serve others who have the same lenses, even though the color and depth of the color—the depth of their experiences—or the type of focus and perspective those lenses offer might be a bit different.
So, as I’ve been thinking more about the lenses in my life, these thoughts have come to mind:
- I can choose to let my lenses affect me in negative ways, which can stunt my growth in all areas of my life and bring unhappiness, pain, heartache, and stress into my life.
Or…
- I can choose to use my different lenses to grow and become who I want to become.
- I can choose to look at others and the lenses they might be viewing life through in a more loving and empathetic way. Because every single person I meet is going through something. Even when that something can’t be seen through my own lenses.
My goal is to choose those last two lense-related thoughts, and I firmly believe that I’ve been give each lense in my stack to teach me something AND to help me use what I learn to help others.
Which lenses would you like to add to your stack? Me? Here are my two big ones so far:
- A European travel lense: Take our long dreamed about trip to Italy that was cancelled due to COVID in 2020. We ARE going to do this in 2023!!!
- A book author lense: Write the book I’ve been thinking about and gathering notes and information for for longer than I’d like to admit.
What lenses are in your stack? How do you choose to let them affect and influence your life? What new lenses would you like to add to your stack? It’s a fun thing to think about!
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