Perspective Gained

Perspective is a powerful thing.

Sometimes removing ourselves from our everyday world and our problems and the framework of our thinking can be life changing.

A few years ago we shuffled our little family to the gorgeous Fiji isles for a few years with my husband’s work.

Our youngest started school there and pretty soon we were going to dancing lessons, tai-kwon-do and all the normal things that families do. All with a Fijian flavour we came to love.

After a few months I befriended a girl who worked for an NGO in Fiji and soon enough I found myself overseeing a national project which aimed to train people in lifestyle diseases prevention. Working with local people was humbling. Their outlook on life was simple. Many were uneducated and many were without access to things we would consider basic human rights, like adequate health care, yet all were happy and grateful for family and community.

We travelled into villages and settlements where we witnessed people living in poverty, living with disabilities and mental illnesses undiagnosed and dying from easily treatable and often preventable conditions.

I would return home after each visit so very grateful for my health and my family and all I have been blessed with…sometimes wondering what I did to deserve it when the people in front of me had so little. I had to learn
through many conversations with wise people that I didn’t have to feel guilty but to live generously.

Somehow not being able to find the right bag for the weekend trip to the resort didn’t really matter that much. Things that would normally really bug me became much less important and I made choices to appreciate all that I had when my instinct was to become easily irritated.

We moved back to Sydney 2 and a half years ago and as we acclimatised to being back in a nation where it’s almost a crime to have bad service at the local café, it was easy to forget how blessed we are.

Just a few days ago we returned from 2 weeks back in Fiji. I spent some time with the volunteers I had previously worked with and saw the difference our programs had made. Once again I was humbled and reminded of what I really value. I am blessed a gorgeous husband, beautiful children, a house, a car and warm clothes in winter. I am able to freely go to the supermarket and get whatever I need. I have all that I will ever need. I am blessed. I am loved, I have friends and family and community.

You don’t need to spend time in a developing country to gain perspective. Hug your kids, your family and your friends today, grateful they are in your life, grateful for all you have. It can be as simple as a choice.

Tagged as: Jane