Looking Through the Wrong End of a Telescope

Tonight my ward decided to go see the lights on Temple Square in Salt Lake together. Even though I don't have a ton of friends in the ward, I was super duper excited to go since I hadn't been up to see the lights yet this year. So I grabbed my camera, an extra battery, a couple coats, and a candy cane, and headed out to the bus we'd all be taking.

All was fine and dandy until about 10 minutes in when traffic started to get really bad. It was stop and go, with brake lights for as far as you could see. Of course, I figured it was just rush hour traffic and it would clear up soon. But no. An hour or so later we were barely passing Lehi (which is all of like 17 miles away).

This one's my favorite :)

I don't know about you guys, but bad traffic is one of the things that annoys me the most in life. I just get so frustrated, even if I'm not in a hurry. It makes me want to rip my hair out or bang my head against the steering wheel.

I sat there, annoyed and frustrated, wishing the darn traffic would just go away already. And then I realized that I was looking at this the wrong way. I was on my way to see something I love--why should I let stupid things ruin my night?? This was so much better than what I'd probably be doing if I hadn't gone: sitting on my bed watching random YouTube videos. Plus I would get to take some fun photos :)

Once I realized that, my night got so much better! Even though traffic didn't clear up for another half hour, I was happy once again because I simply found a different way to look at the problem :)

So what's the point of this? The point is that your attitude and perspective on whatever situation you're in makes all the difference. If you're in a situation that maybe isn't the most fun for you, and you keep a bad attitude about it, it's like looking through the wrong end of a telescope. It distorts everything and it's harder to make sense of what you're seeing. But if you can change your perspective and have a good attitude, it's like flipping that telescope around. Boom! Suddenly everything is clearer!

It's amazing how a simple shift in your perspective can affect your situation and attitude so drastically. So next time you're having a rough time with anything, whether big or small, trying changing how you look at it :) Flip that telescope around. It's always worth a shot :)