In the grand scheme of things

Sometimes all you need is a little perspective

Apr 26, 2023

Hi friends,

Do you consider yourself a selfish person? Most people would say no of course. Who would want to admit to being a bit full of themselves?

While I do agree that selfishness is not something to promote, it is also a quality engrained into all human beings. We always put ourselves at the center of everything whether we realise it or not. What is good for me? What should I avoid? We are self serving because we are all built with a drive to survive and fend for ourselves.

While we can’t help (to an extent) but be self-centered, overstating our importance in the world is often what causes a lot of unnecessary worry for things that really not that big of a deal. It can also lead us to not do what we want to do because we are too busy trying to preserve the version of ourselves that others think we are or want us to be.

I cannot count how many times I find myself worrying about how I pronounced a certain word weirdly when I spoke, even though the people listening probably forgot about it a minute later. Or spending an hour being annoyed at forgetting to bring something when it won’t make a real difference in a week’s time.

What I’ve found useful in helping me turn down these worries is something Oliver Burkeman calls recognising your cosmic insignificance. This is the mindset shift that encourages you to recognise that your actions, whether it be your successes and failures, are not going to matter THAT much when you are looking at your life as a small blip in the world or in the universe.

It doesn’t mean that nothing you do matters or nothing is important, but it helps counteract our natural instinct to believe that our reality and our being is the center of everything and therefore everything hinges on our actions.

As Burkeman put it so eloquently in his article No Big Deal, it helps you recalibrate the yardstick with which you measure what's important from your perspective. It takes the pressure off if you realise that this action or decision is not going to really matter in 6 months time. You can then focus on the actions and decisions that will make a long-lasting impact on your life 10 or 20 years down the line.

This is why the phrase “in the grand scheme of things” is actually quite powerful. It naturally gets you to think beyond yourself, beyond this moment. It expands the time horizon and pushes the boundaries of your imagination. So when I feel myself worrying about something, I ask myself: Is this going to matter in 6 minutes, 6 hours, 6 days, 6 months, 6 years? By actively bringing in this perspective and recognising my cosmic insignificance, I instantly bring more peace into my life. It has created a lot more space, time and energy for me to lean into the things that are really going to move the needle.

If you try this out, please let me know how it goes for you!

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