Taking a step back sometimes brings clarity.
Sometimes life gets hectic and it can seem like everything is going at 1000 miles an hour. Sometimes it can feel like everything is going wrong and things are spiralling out of your control.
That’s when it’s time to take a step back.
Fighting fires head on isn’t always the best tactic to use. Sometimes we need to take a step back, take a breath and think things through. The best solution to a problem isn’t always obvious right in the very moment that is happening.
It’s a bit of a cliché phrase but not being able to see the wood from the trees is a real issue at times. We can become engrossed in the issue facing us that it becomes distorted and we lose sight of the real issue and we end up in a worse predicament than the one we started with.
Problems, things going wrong, not to plan or not working out as you envisioned are inevitable in life. If you go through life and encounter no issues, you’re probably doing something wrong. It might feel at times that charging head first into the problem might be the best approach but that’t not always the case.
Taking a step back might seem counterproductive but it can help at times. It allows you to take a breather, look at the wider picture and to think for a second. A lot of people are missing that, they act without thinking and it never usually ends well.
Sometimes as well, taking a step back actually allows things to play out the way they should, jumping in to try and fix it would have interrupted that. You can’t control everything that happens in this thing called life and sometimes you just have to trust the process and let it work itself out. Some might call it luck.
To some it might seem like inaction and backing away but most of the time it usually results in a positive outcome. It’s a bit like when after arguing with someone you’re alone afterwards and suddenly you think of something amazing you could have said. In the heat of the moment that thought didn’t even cross your mind but when you remove yourself from that environment and allow yourself to think, all of a sudden you can think of a million great things you could have said.
As the famous saying from Epictetus goes…
“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.”
The same applies for your eyes, we’ve got two of those as well so use them. Spend your time observing and taking everything in. When you start looking round at everything, things start to make a lot more sense. You realise that a lot of people don’t actually do that much thinking and are mainly working on autopilot. I’m a big fan of stepping back and thinking. Thinking is underrated.
When things get a little hectic, a little confusing or something goes wrong. Don’t rush, take a step back and think for a second, it might change your life.
I’m not really sure where this post came from this week, I just started writing and let it flow but it’s something I’m a big believer in so I hope you can take something from it.
Hope you’re all keeping well during this lockdown.
Stay safe.
See you next week.
