Scoping Up
I’m writing this chain of thoughts from the window seat while I’m flying back to my hometown and enjoying the wonderful birds eye view. I feel inspired about the mindset change which — more often than not — comes along with the altitude change.
In the daily life, I often take the world’s fast-paced rhythm for granted and have sometimes trouble getting out of my own flow state. Such consistent daily work keeps me going in the long run, but sometimes I feel like I miss the whole point of life: there are other things in life which deserve my greater attention.
Funnily enough, it happens to me that I only get off from the flow state when I’m forced to do so and I really don’t have nothing substantial to do; for example, I’m supposed to be seated for three hours with no internet connection, watching the clouds and the mountains and daydreaming.
The world is a very fast-paced, hectic and dynamic place, only if I live in it. The train that I’ve been waiting for about 15 minutes to arrive, the last minutes before taking the final exam or a job interview, one bottle of water that I’ve been dreaming of after a long jogging session. There are such moments in life where I keep a single thing at the center of my attention, and ignore everything else.
More than often, when I pass or complete whatever it is, the magical feeling of success starts to fade away, so I search for further goals to keep myself busy. Then I repeat the same process over and over again, and I end up living fast without ever realizing it.
If I look down from an airplane, I only see the buildings, airplanes, rivers and cornfields, and not the daily chaos, drama and daily nonsense. The world slows down for a moment and gets more predictable instantly. I wonder if I can somehow apply the same in my daily life as well; probably, a mental altitude change is what I need the most.
I imagine I’m in a long, heated discussion with someone. It happens more than often that the more I discuss, the more badly I want to prove my point of view, and the deeper I find myself in a loophole. To escape the matrix, I prefer to take a walk away, talk to a friend, work out, listen to songs which mood me up or treat myself with a delicious meal. By doing so, I can consciously shift my attention away from daily nonsense towards greater things such as my mental health, well-being and loved ones.
Or another example: If I’m overthinking, I try to stop overthinking, increase my „altitude“ and just do whatever I’m supposed to do. Take, for example, jumping into icy cold water, being vaccinated or any other stressful situation. For me, it works the best if I move on from my self-induced fears or irrational mind tricks, and just do it. Discipline, which overcomes the overthinking, has definitely something to do with the scope that I’m in. In general, religion has a similar effect on people.
In fact, all these micro-lessons can be found in the Stoic teachings, maybe in a fancier wording. Or funnier, I realized that computer science is based on a fundamental idea called abstraction, which points in the exact direction. Ignore the most details and focus on what’s important for you.
Once for a while, abstracting away from unimportant details and reminding yourself of the bigger frame could help you a lot to feel more content and satisfied with your life.
