Day #133 - Perception

This morning we woke up and decided to take a day off an do something fun.  At 7AM we packed the kids into the car and drove 3 hours to Virginia Beach.  The water was too cold for normal people, but my kids are far from normal and so they spent the day swimming in the ocean.

On the way back we went through a little town called Mineral.  The only significance about this town is that I have an aunt that lives somewhere in Mineral.  I don't really know her well but she and her husband are archeologists and I remember her sending me coins from all over the world when I was a kid.

The only reason why I bring this up is to prove a point about perception.  As I said I don't my aunt and her family very well, but I know they are fairly well-off financially.  Having lived here in the DC area for a while I know there are a lot of small towns in the area that are very affluent.  Houses cost in the millions of dollars and when you drive through these little towns you know instantly that you could never afford to live there.

I had never been to Mineral even though it's only about 1.5 hours from my house.   As we drove through the town, I was surprised to find it nothing like I thought it would be.  My perception was that since my aunt had money that she would live in one of those affluent towns.  Instead, this town was quite rundown reminding me of some of the towns I lived near way out in the back woods of Maine.

I started to think about just how wrong my perception was, but also I started to think about why I even had this perception?  Where someone lives doesn't make them who they are, neither does having money.

This whole thing got me thinking about what other false perceptions I might have when it comes to myself.  How often do I think I should eat just because it's a certain time on the clock?  Why do I assume that food will make my stress go away even when I know it will only make it worse?

I'm sure you've heard it before, "Perception is Reality".  If that's so, then maybe it's more important to fix our perceptions.  Hope you all had a great weekend.

Stay Strong!