“That is the first non-cautionary note about his progress that I think you’ve sent.” Such was the message from a friend who had asked for an update on my geologist’s open-heart surgery recovery progress, and his words shed a light on something important. We need people who aren’t us.
We can be so mired in our muck, deep in our trenches, or cruising along our road that we don’t have a complete view of things. We get lost in the here and now of life, and that’s good when it means we’re immersed in what matters at the time. It can also mean that we don’t have the whole picture, which is why we need people who aren’t us.
That one simple comment from our friend was like raising the blinds of our inner windows, allowing the light to flood in so that we could see more than the shadows and dark corners in which we might get stuck. And not even stuck in a bad way, just an incomplete picture way. His words reminded us that progress is happening, and encouraged us to not only keep on keeping on, but to recognize where all that keeping on is leading us.
Life is better when we invite others in, welcome their words, and value their perspectives.
We need people who aren’t us. And they need people who aren’t them. Which might just be us.
