A friend of mine is color blind. Exceptionally color blind. Theoretically I knew that and understood it but still would get frustrated when I would ask something like the color of his new truck and he wouldn't know. It would happen on a pretty regular basis until eventually he got fed up with me, pulled out his phone and showed me an app on it that showed the world through his eyes. (Side note, the world through his eyes includes a lot of grey. I like to think this is why he mocks my hair color) This was a defining moment for me. Even though intellectually I knew the way he saw the world was different from me, it wasn't until I experienced it for myself that I really caught on.
I know this is something I personally struggle with and I think it is pretty common. It's all about viewpoint. Recently a few different people and I have had conversations about their past romantic interest in me and each time I had been completely blown away. I had no idea and just assumed their friendly flirting was just that. I had figured if they were not making more overt moves on what I figured were my pretty blatant romantic intentions then they weren't actually interested. Well it turns out they figured the same about me. Not only did we each see ourselves as being pretty forward, we also saw the other person's interest as lighthearted. Because of that none of us made a move and it was all due to how we each interpreted the same situation.
This also happens a lot in the beginning stages of relationships, whether they be causal or more serious. One person may interpret something such as sleeping together as being in a relationship while their partner may look at it as just "having fun". It all depends on your perspective of what dating actually is.
What I have learned from all of these experiences is the importance of being straightforward. Until you undergo what someone else has gone through exactly, your perspectives are never going to be exactly the same. And that's okay. Different viewpoints are what make a relationship great and what make the world go around. It is just important to recognize those differences and not assume that everyone's mind works as yours does. Because so far, I've found no one whose mind works even remotely similar to mine! ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment