It’s all a matter of perspective

Your view of an object determines your perspective. But your response to that view is influenced by both the way we were raised and how we view life in general.

So let’s look at perspective – you may or may not recognise the objects in the photo below. What are they?

A few weeks back I had the joy of spending a weekend mooching in a coastal town about two hours from home. The hotel was economical – we only wanted somewhere to sleep and shower and we were within walking distance of the beach, shopping and entertainments. Perfect.

I have two lasting memories of that weekend and I am not sure about either of them! The first was the smell. Despite the torrential downpours every time we ventured out someone smoking cannabis walked by and exhaled a cloud of that very distinctive aroma. Or their clothes announced their habit ahead of them and behind in their wake. Am I supersensitive to the smell of pot? I wasn’t sure what to make of it.

What I do know is that people affected by psychosis may self-medicate with cannabis – under the influence of cannabis they feel better able to cope, they may feel “normal” (whatever constitutes “normal”). Also, there is medical research which suggests that the use of cannabis triggers psychosis. Make of that what you will. What do we see? How do we view people who use cannabis – as victims of an addiction or perpetrators of self abuse?

What I do know is that people using cannabis may be struggling with their mental health and rather than stand in judgement I’d rather reach out to offer support and signpost them appropriately. It’s all a matter of perspective.

The other lasting memory were the people in the place we stopped for breakfast who were well down their pint of beer or half way into their bottle of wine …. at 9 am in the morning. My word, drinking that early? They must be alcoholics surely? They need help! But no, they were night-shift workers having a pint after work, a drink with friends. It’s all a matter of perspective – it was the end of their day.

So before we go showing how judgemental we are or tripping over our unconscious bias let’s remember there may well be a very different explanation to what we see than what we first think. It’s all a matter of perspective.

So did you recognise the objects in the photo at the top? Easily recognisable once you see them from a different angle – two blocks of sticky notes and a pair of scissors. It’s all a matter of perspective.