I talk about ‘zooming out’ on life a lot because it genuinely helps me keep things in perspective. When something feels huge, stressful, frustrating or all-consuming, zooming out allows us to see it from a wider lens.
It reminds us that most things are temporary and, often, not nearly as important as they feel in the moment.
I recall when I was about 20 and visiting my older cousin at her beach house. It was one of those relaxed weekends where adults sit on the deck drinking coffee, while little kids entertain themselves.
Her two young boys, about 5 and 7, were happily riding their bikes around the quiet little court. Every now and then, she’d glance over to check on them, but there wasn’t much to worry about. No traffic. No chaos. Just kids doing kid things.
Then, suddenly, a scream. And not just any scream: a full-blown, horror-movie, someone-call-an-ambulance type of scream. The kind that makes your stomach drop instantly. Every adult on that deck launched into action.
We were convinced something catastrophic had happened. Had a car come flying around the corner? Had someone broken a bone? We sprinted towards the sound while the screaming continued at maximum volume. When we reached the scene, we discovered the source of the emergency: my cousin’s eldest son had fallen off his bike. The injury? A scraped knee.
As he sobbed, my cousin crouched down beside him and said something I still remember to this day: “Andre, your cries have to be relevant to your injuries.” At the time, it felt like the funniest thing I’d ever heard.
But years later, I’ve realised it might also be some of the best life advice, because don’t we all do this? We turn small inconveniences into major dramas. We replay offhand comments for weeks. We let tiny disagreements become long-standing feuds. We lose sleep over things that, if we’re honest, won’t matter a month from now.
Of course, our feelings are valid. But not every problem deserves a five-alarm emotional response. Sometimes we need to pause and ask ourselves: “Are my cries relevant to my experiences?”
When we zoom out, most of the time we realise that the answer is “no”. The situation passes. We heal, we learn, we move on. And often, what felt like a life-changing catastrophe is no more than a scraped knee.
Hear episode #269 on the Things You Can’t Un-Hear podcast: maritzabarone/podcast
