Broadening Your Perspective Can Enhance Your Life
When you’re in the thick of midlife, it can feel like you’re navigating a maze with no exit in sight. What if the way out isn’t just forward, but upwards?
By broadening your perspective, you will break free from the limitations holding you back. You will find more joy as you discover more pathways out of the maze!
For example, consider your sex hormone fluctuations not as a relentless foe, but as a signal from your body asking for some tender loving care. It can be as simple as asking yourself, “What do I need today?”
Enhancing your life means being happier and more content. Finding joy as you realize you have so many choices can be just what you need to experience more life satisfaction than you ever imagined as you change your perspective!
Broadening Your Perspective is Everything
If you’ve ever been to a carnival, you may have stood in front of the funhouse mirrors. Depending on the mirror, you might appear long and thin or a short, stubby version of yourself. Your perspectives work much the same way. How you view things can distort how you see yourself, your life, and your possibilities.
It’s time to swap out the funhouse mirror for a clearer view!
Why Broaden Your Perspective?
Your perspective is the story you tell yourself. As someone in midlife, maybe you judge people based on what you learned or your life experiences. Perhaps you give some people more credit than they deserve or less credit based on your beliefs.
Or maybe you tell yourself your changing hormones and the aging body are just things you have to deal with. You don’t believe changing your habits will change how you feel or the task of changing seems insurmountable. This way of thinking will certainly hold you back from living your best life.
To step outside of your usual mindset, make a shift, and undoubtedly enhance your life, you will need to put in some effort. It’s not just about changing how you see things — it’s about changing how you live.
“There are things I can’t force. I must adjust. There are times when the greatest change needed is a change of my viewpoint.”
– Denis Diderot
15 Ways to Broaden Your Perspective
- Awareness: Get comfortable and become aware of what you want to look at differently. Your thoughts will flow more easily in a quiet, calm environment. Write down what you want to change or look at differently. For example, you might have an aging family member who lives their life very differently than yours. This does not mean that they are wrong. It would help if you viewed what they want from their perspective.
- Practice Curiosity Over Judgment: Challenge your limiting beliefs. Don’t let your inner critic say, “I can’t”. Find small changes you can make to take a different perspective and say “I can” as you shift your perspective. Your healthcare provider might not provide you with the support you need. Perhaps they didn’t get the proper education to understand your changing body. Find a doctor who’s trained in a woman’s changing hormones at The North American Menopause Society.
- Reframe: Check in with your thoughts. Are you someone who gravitates towards negativity? The next time you are met with a life challenge, reframe it as a positive rather than a negative experience. This will help you open your mind to a different way of thinking about things that matter to you the most. Learn more about finding glimmers in midlife in my blog post ‘What is a Glimmer?’
- Step back: When you take the time to recognize the part of you having a hard time feeling empathy for someone else, you can invite a different perspective. This can be a relief on many levels as you create a new refreshing viewpoint. Gain empathy for you and others!
- Assess relationships: Are the people you socialize with regularly, negative or positive? It’s not uncommon to take on the viewpoints of those you surround yourself with – especially negative ones. Explore how you can challenge their thinking or limit your time with this person. As you practice being aware and intentional, this step will present itself naturally.
- Take charge: You get to decide how your life is developing in many areas. Don’t feel obligated to stay in an unhealthy job or relationship if it’s weighing you down. Many times, we are stuck because of fear. Challenge your limiting beliefs and set yourself free from the shackles that are holding you back.
- Be flexible: It’s hard to change something if you believe it’s entirely true. Maybe it’s something you have felt for a long time. If it’s a circumstance that is looked at differently by others, then there is a chance that your perspective might need to change. Be open to hard conversations that can enlighten you to understand another person’s viewpoint based on their life experiences.
- Look at consequences: See if how you view something has negative consequences for you or someone else. Challenge yourself to look at this situation differently and see if you can shift how you think about it. Unpack your biases as you develop a growth mindset.
- Help other people: Suppose you are at the grocery store and the person in front of you is incredibly slow. We’ve all encountered this and can get frustrated by how they are slowing us down. Stop and see if they need help in some way. Maybe their eyesight is poor, they can’t reach something, or simply can’t remember what they need. This helps show them someone cares and allows us to slow down and offer some help. Aging can be difficult. Help someone feel less alone.
- Set big goals: Don’t hold back. As you shift your perspective surrounding what’s possible for you, dream big. You can set small goals to get to the bigger goal to make it more attainable. For example, small positive changes to each meal will help improve your energy and health over time!
- Accept who you are: Don’t seek perfection. You cannot change overnight. Seeing things from a different viewpoint takes time. You may challenge yourself to look at something differently but find you are just not ready to change how you feel. Change takes time. Don’t beat yourself up!
- Feel the feelings: You may shift your perspective and recognize you were wrong about your original perception of someone or something. As we gain knowledge in life, it’s natural for us to see things differently. Once you remove maladaptive ways of dealing with life (overeating, drinking too much alcohol, overworking, or scrolling social media for hours), your feelings need to be dealt with. Start with self-compassion as a way to be kind to yourself. Check out my blog post “Self-Compassion Affirmations for Midlife.”
- Take time: Once you dive into challenging your way of thinking, it may take time to see things from a different angle. Be patient with this process and challenge your thoughts in small steps.
- Self-care: Taking care of yourself gives you the strength and energy to feel ready to shift your perspective. Learn to live in the grey. Life isn’t just black and white. When you start recognizing this, you’ll stop seeking perfection and have more grace for yourself and others.
- Find the Humor: It can be as simple as finding the humor to shift your thinking. Maybe an older family member embraces certain behaviors to ‘stay healthy’. You know that the most recent research doesn’t support this practice. Let go of trying to change other people’s thinking if they don’t want to deviate from how they live their life.
“If they are consistently kind, if they care about growing, and if they can see beyond their own perspective, then this is someone worth your time and energy.”
– Yung Pueblo
Rewrite Your Story
A healthy perspective should be one that can shift as life changes.
You will notice a ripple effect in your life as you begin to rewrite your story.
You’ll find more contentment in your daily routines, more joy in your choices, and a deeper sense of connection with those around you.
It’s like swapping a narrow, stuffy room for one with wide windows and a beautiful view.
Take a deep breath and imagine the possibilities. Embrace this part of your journey as you begin broadening your perspective and recognize how rich this phase is with potential.
See life through a clearer, brighter lens, and start practicing changing your perspective today!
Reach out and let me know if this is something you are already embracing or that you plan to adopt. I would love to hear from you!
Let me know how I can help you live your best life with a FREE discovery call.
Kathleen is a registered nurse, certified life and health coach, and intuitive eating counselor who empowers midlife women to navigate hormone changes, manage menopause symptoms, and make peace with food for a balanced, healthier life. Her own journey of overcoming an eating disorder and navigating a difficult menopause inspired her to help women reclaim their health, break free from chronic dieting, and embrace intuitive, mindful living.
