Perspective: It's Not You, It's Me

A while ago I  had a disagreement with a friend that completely changed my life.
No, I'm not exaggerating - it did.
Funnily enough, I can't remember exactly what we disagreed about now, lol, but at the time, I was so mad at her that everything she did after our disagreement seemed to annoy me; even the sound of her breathing was getting on my nerves. 
As I do when I'm upset with someone, I gave her the silent treatment - which I usually opt for out of fear of saying something scathing that I might regret later. I eventually couldn't keep it to myself, seeing as I had to be around her more than I would've liked to, so I decided to pray about it. After sharing with God my side of the story, I sat back and waited for His response, almost certain that He'd take my side in the matter.
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So you can imagine my surprise when He told me that I was the one at fault! 😨​

He went on to explain to me that I had been offended by my friend because I wanted things done a certain way, and her only mistake was not doing them the way I wanted them done; therefore she wasn't to blame. I was the one who needed to see things from a different perspective.
I found it hard to accept what He said. But from then on, before I did or said anything I'd ask myself whether I was only looking at things from one point of view - and in many cases I realized that I was. Until then, it had never occurred to me that my way wasn't always the right way. I know it sounds obvious, but it's much easier said than done, especially having grown up believing in - and in most cases, getting away with - doing things my way. It's how I do them at home, and it only made sense to me that it was the best way to do it anywhere else. But I was wrong.

One of the toughest lessons that I've had to learn from my experience of living away from home is that most of the things I have a problem with have nothing to do with my surroundings; rather, in most cases they have everything to do with me.

It's the last thing that anyone wants to admit to themselves. However, when I finally accepted what God told me that day, I realized that He was only trying to help me. It wasn't the first time that I had disagreed with this particular friend, but thanks to Him opening my eyes, it was the last fight of that nature that we had.
Now that I see things differently, things are different between my friend and I. 😊 The funny thing is that not much has changed; she still goes about things her own way. But since I changed my perspective, her way doesn't bother me half as much as it used to.

Who would've guessed? 😉

- ✗O✗O.