perspectives are tricky

I’m writing this while balancing a dog on my lap. His name is Sockan and, on his back, half asleep, he’s waiting for me to scratch his stomach in between emails and words. Sockan lives with us all, me and the children, simply because the girls dreamed of a small dog. And as a soft parent I gave in, although it took some time. Many of my friends were rolling their eyes, wondering why I took on even more responsibility. Fair comment. My reply was, and still is, that my life is already complex and chaotic. To add another dog, it won’t make such a big difference. I’m deciding to embrace the messiness and see it from another perspective. The one of my children. Where a small dog means a completely different thing than it would mean to an accountable grown up. 

To step into others perspectives is tricky. Most of us are quite bad at knowing how to, or even wanting to. By seeing something from a new perspective most of the time, means you also see yourself. If you step out of your eyesight, you might get a glimpse of the you that you rarely see. The you that is to be looked upon, objectively. A sometimes painful event, sometimes surprising, but most certainly always valuable. 

To define a viewpoint as your own space, to define it as your home, might give you a feeling of safety. But it is rarely where you will grow and transform. Unfortunately, change requires a bit of intention, a lot of bravery and infinite action. There’s a motion of flexibility needed. A constant movement. 

Was I irresponsible for inviting Sockan into our lives and into our home? Possibly. But from another perspective you might choose to see our lives merging as an adventure, rather than a problematic schedule arising. From the perspectives of my girls, this was a dream. And from the perspective of Sockan I’m quite sure he’s ok with the setup. Calmly sleeping on my lap with shaggy paws from our walk on the beach.