Perspective is a funny thing. Some of us end up being really focused on one series of events, whether they be our own, or maybe just specific series of things that have happened to us, good or bad. We tend to blind ourselves to everything else but the way we perceive things, and honestly, that clouds our understanding of a situation and really limits us to how we are as people.

I am not immune to this, but I like to think I can see things from different points of view. To be an intelligent person, to be able to have a debate about something you hold so passionately, you often have to be able to see that argument from both sides of the picture. When you understand where the person that you disagree with is coming from, you can work to better dissuade their argument. Most people, though, are stuck looking at things one way, and won't or can't open their minds to something new. Often, this causes misery for themselves and sometimes others around them. We need to have some perspective on everything.

Right now, depending on how I look at my own life, things are either going really well or really poorly. I'm not saying let's be blind to all the things that need improvement, but when has a bad attitude or being depressed about something ever helped someone? Those problems still exist, sure, but you know you're aware of them, so using a different perspective, you can find out the things that are going really well and give yourself some motivation to make those not so good things better.

I find myself in this situation, as I deal with some things a part of life. It's so easy to let yourself get bogged down by what isn't working or what should be working and it's so easy to let the things that you can't control control your emotion. But I had to take time to look at how far I've come, and what that means.

Everyday life needs to be stable. You need to wake in a place to call your own, go be able to earn money at a place you work, and be able to afford those things that you need/want. When these simple basic needs are messed with, it can turn everything for you upside down. But you have to work back to getting to that point. I can safely say that we all still struggle with these 3 basic things because things are not easy in today's economies and I have issues with them just like most others. But I had to take a look at what I do have, and notice that I've actually knocked several goals in life down recently.

Goals are a really important thing, because they give you several final destinations to reach; like real life achievements. You should feel accomplished when you're able to complete these and you should always have more on the horizon just so you have something to work towards, even if you never get there. A few of my goals lately had been to finally get health insurance, to win the championship with my soccer team, to see as many bands as I could in concert, and other small, and achievable, but self-satisfying goals. Now I have health insurance, I'm actually going into my second straight championship match with my soccer team, and I'm seeing the last band on my 'bands I have to see in my life' list. These goals are really important to me, and really without realizing, I've been knocking them all down. Like I said, it takes perspective, especially when all these things are working to bring you down, to stop and take a look at how far you actually have come. Even if you're going through the same things over and over again, you still have made progress. You're more prepared now, and you have more experience. It won't ever be as hard as the first time, and your life means something.

I remind myself, that every goal, anything even minutely small is a good goal. Cook dinner tonight. Talk to a friend you haven't reached out to in a while. Knock down a few episodes of that show you've been waiting to watch. Everything is important. What's important to you is important. You have to treat yourself, and do stuff for you. No matter how small, no matter how big. If it's something you want to do- you have to work towards it. And you'll get there, sometimes without even realizing it.