What’s behind door #1? Self-awareness & perspective

My good friend Michelle recently said in an email …

“‘Go where the door is open’ and it occurred to me – that – that’s what you did Lee-Anne – you opened the door.”

And as I’m sitting here writing this post, from my new home in Kenya, I’m thinking a lot about doors.  Which to say yes and throw open with abandon and which to say no and keep locked shut.

Michelle also inspired a recent post (she’s an incredible muse) called ‘Oh, that I could shrink the surface of the world (for some perspective)…’   It’s about what causes distance between people.  For this post I’ve put the two together – here’s to door openings that decrease the distance between our hearts and heads.

  • If distance is not feeling understood or worse, feeling deliberately misunderstood, then opening a door is seeking understanding.  It can be extremely difficult to find understanding but often just the seeking reduces distance.
  • If distance is not being able to understand, despite standing on your head for trying, then opening a door is acknowledging the confusion and finding comfort in chaos.
  • If distance is not resonating, not relating, not clicking with someone, then opening a door is continuing to search for similarities that are significant.
  • If distance is feeling like your colleagues are speaking a foreign language, then opening a door is seeking clarification.
  • If distance is feeling like you’re being denied the secret code of inclusion, then opening a door is deciding if you’re with the right tribe or not.
  • If distance is feeling more uncomfortable than an ice cube on a hot summer’s day, then opening a door is acknowledging your discomfort.  There’s power in vulnerability.
  • If distance is thinking you got it, but realizing you didn’t, then opening a door is admitting your gaffe with humour and grace.
  • If distance is feeling awkward and being embarrassed, then opening a door is taking a deep breath (or 17 as my friend Dyana Valentine says) and remembering no one ever died from embarrassment.

Because after all, the view from one side of the door can look incredibly different from the other side.  Here’s to the view that self-awareness and perspective brings.

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