Discover how to get rid of the “grass is greener syndrome”, keep anxiety and fear of missing out at bay, by changing your perspective and your perception.
One of the things that I love to learn is expressions, in any language. I think they are funny and they say a lot.
One of my favourite expressions is:
“The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence (or the hill)”.
I used to believe it! Actually, many people do, so much so that is has been called the “grass is greener syndrome”.
I fell into the trap of thinking that the grass is always greener on the other side. I kept on jumping to the other side aimlessly for fear of missing out.
More often than not, I got it wrong, but sometimes, through sheer luck, I got it right. However, since it was luck and I had no idea how I did it, it wasn’t repeatable.
Then, I started training to be a hypnotherapist.
One day, there was an exercise in which we had to do to change our perspective. We literally had to look at an object from a different angle. We had to tilt our heads, or turn around or even looking from above.
Looking from above was the best thing for me, especially on one of my trips coming back from Brazil and flying over London. Looking down over London, I could see a bunch of houses but I could not recognise where I was exactly.
This helped me realise that seeing things from a different perspective, the grass may not be greener on the other side.
But I wasn’t convinced, though. I had my doubts. Until I added another concept into the mix. That was the convincer and that was when I decided to change my perception not only about where the grass was greener but my perception of myself.
I started becoming more curious about my perception and asking myself how exactly is the grass greener on the other side.
- What can I do to make my side of the grass greener?
- What do I need to change inside so I can project this on my side of the hill?
And I did it and that has changed everything.
When you look to the other side, you are constantly on the lookout for something different. Then, when you get there, more often than not, what was different quickly becomes the same.
Then when you look back to your side you think: “I should have stayed there!”.
That causes a lot of anxiety because you second-guess yourself all the time. It also causes insecurity and fear of missing out, wondering if its better on the other side.
Whereas, when you change your perspective, when you look at things in a different way or from a different angle, when you change the perception especially about yourself, you then gain confidence. You don’t second guess yourself and you keep anxiety and fear of missing out at bay.
That also gives you the confidence that when you do come to a conclusion that you need to move to other pastures: you do so not aimlessly, but with confidence.
That’s what I did when I was in Brazil and I decided to go to other pastures. And twenty years later, here I am. So, for me, the grass is definitely greener here.
If you are feeling now like I used to, jumping from greenery to greenery, afraid of missing out, second-guessing yourself all the time, well let’s have a chat. Contact me and sign up for a free consultation.
Please do share this article, so it could help more people get rid of their “grass is greener syndrome”.
Here’s the video version of this article:
