The Big Picture

Whenever I have deep and meaningful conversations about life, I always refer to the ‘big picture’. My outlook of life has always been to avoid getting bogged down in the day to day strifes, and focus on the longer term experiences which are yet to come.

Every single day, there are many decisions to make and issues to overcome – some of them big, some of them small, but everyone single ones tests us to some degree. The milk in the fridge has gone off. The parcel you’re waiting for is late. Your car won’t start. Dealing with the solicitor after buying a house. Heartbreak. A few years ago a close friend of mine said to me ‘there’s always someone worse off than you‘, and she was right.

For every situation you experience on a daily basis, there is always someone, somewhere in the world who is worse off. Many people can’t even buy milk, or receive post, and others can’t afford a car or a house, and others have never loved.

To me, that’s what the ‘big picture’ is all about. Not letting the little things in the short term get to you, and realising there is a lot of fun and positive times to be had in life over the long term, therefore you should make the most of every day, no matter how bad things get.

It’s not a very manly thing to think or write, but it’s good to dream a little. Good to have goals.

“The tragedy of life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.” – Benjamin E. Mayes

Many people call me ‘unflappable’. Others call me ’emotionally dead’. I think both these perceptions are based on my experiences and looking at the big picture.

Is everyone a big picture thinker? I’d love to think that everyone has a bit of big picture thinking inside them, but many get lost in the short term detail. At the same time, big picture thinking doesn’t suit everyone. If you understanding what makes your life meaningful, and are content dealing with the strifes or here and now, then big picture thinking is no better or worse.

What prompted this blog post was a recent hurtful experience that made me think about the big picture. In truth, I also had no milk in the fridge…a small strife, easily rectified 🙂

Thinking about the big picture (either consciously or unconsciously) frames and guides our actions accordingly. How does doing what you’re doing now help in terms of achieving that big picture you have in your mind, whether that picture if complete or not? If you can’t think of an answer, then why are you doing it?

If your life were captured on film, would you (or anyone else) want to watch it?

And remember, there’s always someone worse off than you!