At a recent Jordan Peterson talk Jordan spoke about one of his clients.
And the story completely changed my perspective about everything.
The story started with a woman who had a rough start in life.
Let's call her A.
A was raised by a single mother with extreme schizophrenia.
Her mother would have frequent episodes, that as you can imagine, were terrifying for the little girl.
If that wasn't bad enough, things were about to get worse.
A's mother started dating and soon introduced her to her new stepdad.
Unfortunately, the stepdad had no intention of raising a child.
He was an alcoholic and became abusive when he drank too much.
Which quickly became a frequent occurrence.
From early childhood, A was the victim of abuse in horrific ways.
To make matters worse, she was deemed "funny looking" by society.
She had problems making friends, and people would often point at her in the street.
In her early teenage years A developed a severe anxiety disorder, which only worsened as she got older.
At 18 she was sent to a mental asylum.
But not just any asylum.
This asylum was full of schizophrenic patients.
For a decade A endured what can only be described as psychological torture before she was eventually released back into the public.
Wanting to take back control of her life, A adopted a dog.
Given that dogs are high maintenance, she had to quickly get her act together.
And she did just that.
The dog was well cared for, and A was able to take control of her life.
Or so it seemed.
A year after being released from the asylum, A was referred to Jordan Peterson for "harassing" asylum staff.
It took him months to find out why.
And the reason was shocking.
Despite the hell A had been through she wanted to help patients still in the asylum.
How?
By taking them on walks with her dog.
Having experienced the benefits of dog ownership firsthand, she believed that walking with the dog could help alleviate other patients from their pain.
After telling this story the room went silent.
Some people started to cry.
A had every reason to be bitter about life.
Her mum was schizophrenic. Her stepdad beat her. And people were horrible to her.
Yet she still had a positive outlook.
She wanted to help others in need.
This story was in my mind for over a week after the talk.
And in my opinion it shows that we are in charge of how we view life.
We can believe that the world is against us.
Or we can choose to take control and do what we can to help others.
I know personally that I've felt like things were against me.
But now I realise that it was just my perspective that made me believe that.
The reality is we can't control what happens.
But we can control how we look at it.
Often "bad" things that happen are a blessing in disguise.
Didn't land a client? Maybe they weren't a good fit.
Your relationship broke down? Maybe you weren't suitable.
Someone was rude to you? Maybe they were having a bad day.
Realising that you can control how you view things has been one of the most freeing mindset shifts I've ever had.
And I hope this story has the same effect on you.
If you have a moment, sit down, reflect on it and think how you can change your approach to life.
I promise it'll make a difference.
Have a great week,
Copy "life is about perspective" Maverick
