The Best Ways to Gain Perspective Amidst Chaos And Change

Embracing the small joys

There’s nothing that puts our troubles into better perspective than a walk. And if that walk happens to be in a neighborhood full of little gems, then apparently insignificant things like flowers or doors or windows sometimes manage to bring you back to the here and now. It can definitely be the much-needed push to put those problems that have clouded your whole day aside for some time.

My job is not very well-paid and it hasn’t been as well-paid as similar ones from other firms for quite a while now. Still, I chose not to look for another because I enjoyed the freedom the company I work in offered and the lack of stress. Life’s too short to choose more money over peace of mind (as long as you can make do with less).

Or, at least this is how I see things.

One could schedule any kind of appointment during work hours, managers were always understanding and people-oriented, the team was great, the environment was nice and there really was no stress. And to be honest, everyone was really doing their best to deliver quality because there were no rigid rules hovering over our heads.

Since nothing good lasts forever, a few months ago, there was a change in higher management. Ever since, there’s been a lot of chaos as the new boss seems to want to revolutionize everything overnight and is highly unpredictable. So we’re all struggling to keep up with the rhythm of his new ideas of improvement, and feel a bit like clueless mice in a maze.

Being used to the peace and quiet from before, it took me (it actually took all of us) some time to realize that the stability we so loved before was gone. We’ve also all adopted some kind of newspeak to avoid the recently materialized elephants in the room (mind, there’s no longer only one, but a whole herd), as we’re all afraid not to be kicked out just because.

Funny how totalitarianism can happen at smaller scales as well. I can almost imagine Orwell chuckling about this.

I know I should start looking for something else, it’s about time, but so far, I haven’t done anything in this regard. I’ve been working in this particular company for over eight years and I find it a bit hard to start it all over again somewhere else. We’re all creatures of habit and I’m no exception to this rule.

I’ve therefore been a bit worried and a bit in my head these past few days. I didn’t feel much like writing, but today I felt like taking a walk.

I am so very glad I did.

Seeing vivid yellow acacia flowers that seem to rain on you or an intensely purple clematis that seems to hide its petals shyly behind a fence reminded me that nature never has it easy, but it still thrives.

The wind might blow hard enough only once during those 365 days of the year and whole branches, (if not whole trees), that took decades to get to that size, break.

Leaves fall, and everything withers during autumn only to become even more strikingly beautiful the next spring. Nature never gives up, that is never an option: it gathers up its forces and it seems to be all the more triumphant when it arises from the ashes.

So yeah, good reminder. I shall stop feeling defeated also.

Maybe that’s the natural cycle of everything: there are peaks and there are slopes and then there are the occasional valleys. There are never only peaks. Life would become dull if we only had to deal with plusses.

I know, I’m like Aesop’s fox that cannot reach the grapes and says they are oh, so sour. But I’m sure everyone has been in the position of that fox at least once in their lifetime, and they managed to find temporary relief at least by thinking so.

Periods like this brought positive changes in the past (sometimes) and I hope this one is going to be no exception. You know what they say: any kick in the ass is a step forward.

Transition is hard though, and we seem to take some pleasure from complaining, which I and my colleagues did to some extent, as well. We’re only human. Complaining though doesn’t change things and it keeps one stuck, so I am done with that now.

Life can be great after all and it’s all about the small things. A flower, a kiss, a smile, a scent, or feeling the wind on one’s skin can make one’s day. Seeing that tiny bird float gracefully in the air. It’s not happiness and rainbows all the way.

This was the theme of the movie that won (almost) all the Oscars this year. And if “Everything Everywhere All at Once” got so many accolades, it must surely speak about some truths that resonate with many people.

I guess that at the end of our lives, when that retrospective of everything we’ve gone through happens in our heads, the flashes our mind will insist upon will not be the moments that frustrated us at work. Actually, I’m pretty sure about that.

Those are just trivial moments, even though quite hard to deal with when they happen. Work is just a means to an end, not the end itself.

Thanks to Conni Walkup Hull for her help with editing this article.