Tunnel Vision

When something goes wrong in life, I find that a lot of people tend to focus on just that one thing. Maybe it was a break up, maybe it was a close friend moving away, maybe it was a stroke, heart attack, or even a death (not yours obviously, well at least for the death). I usually do the same thing.

When I went to Caronport, I got to visit with a lot of friends and had a really good talk with one friend over "early" supper. She asked me how life was going, and I talked mostly about how I was dealing with the breakup. She tolerated me patiently (kudos Jacee), and then proceeded to ask how the rest of my life was going. We talked about plans for the winter, plans for work, possibilities, and I don't even remember all of what else. What I realised at the end of it was the most important part though.

Tunnel vision is a condition in which your eyes focus on one thing and lose their peripheral vision. It's particularly common when fatigued. Through flying this summer, I learned this can actually be a deadly condition. When talking about flying, the problem is usually the pilot focusing on the sky and ground ahead of him or on just one instrument. With a main hub of six instruments for flight and another six for your engine (in a small plane), focusing on none or only one becomes obviously dangerous.

What I came to realise was that tunnel vision can affect the mind too. Too often we let ourselves get stuck on just one thing, usually something gone wrong. This time for me it was a break up. Jacee helped me to see that my life doesn't stop there and that isn't all there is to my life. I've got LOTS more. I can't just stop dead, but I have to keep moving forward. I can't get tied up because when tunnel vision sets in, I'm setting myself up for a fatal spiral dive. So keep your mind sharp and don't get hung up when it counts. Fight the tunnel vision.