A Big Surprise! Really?

Recently our son came home and announced that he had gotten a very big surprise that day. He then went on to announce that “So & so had announced his engagement that very day. His sister somewhat factitiously asked what I was somewhat sarcastically thinking, "And you’re really surprised?”

It turns out he was genuinely surprised by this turn of events. For him, of whom “so &so” was one of his inner circle of 3 close friends, it was a real shock, but to us, whose only source of information about “So & so” was from our son, it was only the natural progression of what we had heard, so therefore was no big surprise to us.

It seems a classic case of standing too close and not being able to see the forest for the trees! It seems that not only did our son have the same information as us but more that what we had came from him, but we understood it differently.

Sometimes we can be too close to see something objectively and need to step back a little to get a clearer picture.” We have all the information we need but do not necessarily see it as objectively as we might, because we are too close.

We may have the same information but because of our involvement, understand it differently.

What about you? Are you standing too close to an event that you can’t take it in properly. Do you need to step back a little and analyse it from a different perspective? Perhaps you may need to get some outside advice or confirmation before you proceed! Over to you.