undoing misperceptions

A healthy, functioning human eye can see quite far under optimal conditions. The eye can see way off into the distance, over hundreds of heads in a crowd and into the night to locate constellations. Its greatest fault, however, is its inability to see beneath the surface of things. Think of how difficult it is to see the sand and shells that surround your feet in the sea. 

This lack of clarity can make you easily mistake a

harmless piece of seaweed for a venomous jellyfish.

Surface-level perception doesn’t always lead to things we can brush off and laugh about. When I was in high school, I had a friend who I admired and subtly idealized. They were smart, had a two-parent household and had all the material things I lacked. Over time, the thin line between admiration and coveting began to blur. It would only come back into focus when that friend shared—in earnest vulnerability—that the perfection of their life was a mere mirage. 

Beneath the surface—what the eyes could not see—were years of grief, anger, pain and long-suffering, a broken household and the burden of a perfect image. 

After having a similar experience with another friend, I realized that this metaphorical near-sightedness takes deliberate undoing. 

Approaching people, situations and concepts from a surface level can be deceptive and harmful. This doesn’t necessarily mean that what we see on the surface isn’t true—it just means that there’s more to the truth.

It means completing the puzzle before analyzing the picture

and knowing that there’s more to the tip of the iceberg.

So I’ve been challenging myself to not take people at face value—and I encourage you to do the same. 

Blessings don’t mean there is an absence of problems.

We all want the world to see the best side of us.

Vulnerability takes time and trust.

When we keep these things in mind, we draw closer to the reality of this endlessly complicated human experience.

This is the work of undoing misperceptions.

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