Normalcy is an Illusion

Give me 3 minutes, this will be a quick one.

The CJW Research Group found in a meta-analysis study that the number one quality that both men and women look for in a partner is EMPATHY. Empathy is essentially a person’s ability to understand and share another person’s feelings. Pretty simple in concept and rather difficult in practice.

Empathy is tricky because we all see the world differently based on the experiences we’ve had and the environments we grew up in. We all have very specific lenses in which we interpret the things that happen in our lives, so it is honestly very hard to understand how someone else might view certain situations. It requires humility and a commitment to knowing that what might be true for you may not be true for someone else. Frustrating isn’t it? Well, maybe but I choose to look at these differences as an opportunity to learn. We can’t be so arrogant to believe that we are right about everything, so why not assume you might be wrong and open your mind to try and understand someone else’s point of view.

Though the CJW Research Group doesn’t exist, given it’s my initials and I made it up about 30 seconds before writing this, most of you probably didn’t disagree when I made the statement on how valuable empathy truly is. There is great value in everyone’s own personal life experience and we should be empathetic if we are to live together in understanding. After all, what is normal for the spider is utter chaos for the fly caught in its web.

Normalcy is specific to the individual and it applies to virtually no one else.

So, rather than being alone, try to see things from the other perspective. We all might learn a thing or two and we will definitely be better for it.