When Fear Shapes Your Perspective

In this episode of Mosaic Sparks with Lesley George, we explore how perspective shapes our experience of life. Using Chicken Little and the idea of Pink Shades, this conversation unpacks what happens when fear, distorted thinking, and past experiences become the lens through which everything is viewed. It is a thoughtful look at mindset, emotional wellness, confidence, and protecting your peace while still staying grounded in truth.

Transcript

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Have you ever heard the quote, sometimes a problem is not what happened. Sometimes a problem is a lens you use to interpret it. Welcome back, Sparklers, and welcome to Mosaic Sparks with me, Leslie George. Today I want us to be a little playful but honest and still deep enough to make you pause and think for a second. I want to talk about Chicken Little. Yeah, Chicken Little. The one always running around saying the sky is fallen, the one who sees disaster before anyone else sees anything, the one who can turn one small moment into a full-blown crisis way before breakfast. And if we are being honest, most of us laugh at Chicken Little. You know, you can call him dramatic, negative, even extra. But here's the question that I want to pose, and I want you to sit with this today. What if Chicken Little did not have a fear problem? What if he had a lens problem? Let me let that sit there for a while. What if he just wanted a just needed a different pair of glasses? Now, this part takes me somewhere personal, you know, because growing up, even now as a grown adult, my mother teased me and she would say that I'm wearing pink shades, rosy pink shades. And I'll be honest with you, growing up as a child, you know, I thought that that was so offensive. I thought that, not offensive, I thought it was, she was saying something was wrong with me, right? But her point, her point was simple. You know, as a as a parent with a child growing up in this world, she just wanted me to be careful. You know, she wanted me to see the world for the reality. She wanted me to stop moving through life, acting like everything was sweet, everyone was sweet, beautiful, and harmless. And, you know, if I think back in it as a parent myself, and to be fair, she was not fully wrong, but she was not fully right either. Because sometimes those pink shades can get you in trouble, and sometimes those pink shades can protect your peace. Uh-huh. That is what we're really getting into on today's episode. This is about perspective, mindset, emotional wellness. Because the lens you choose shapes how you move through life, how you respond through challenges, and how well you protect your peace without losing touch with what is real. And if we're being honest, a lot of people are walking around with a distorted vision and calling it wisdom. Yeah, I'm gonna go there. So when you go to a museum or a fair, there's something that has, you know, you walk into these rooms and it'll have these mirrors. And some of those mirrors can be distorted, and it can some of the mirrors can make you look taller, it can make you look slimmer, some can even widen your body. I've even seen stuff on social media that can flip you upside down, right? You're the same person, but all it is is a different mirror, it's just a different image, and that is the part I need you to catch. The mirror changed the picture, it did not change the person. That's worth sitting with because a lot of people are building their identity off distorted mirrors. Some grew up around criticism, so now every room feels threatening. Some were overlooked, so now they assume nobody values them. Maybe some were betrayed, so they re-danger into everything. Some may be mocked for dreaming big and having these big dreams. So now they call caution maturity when reality is it is fair wearing church clothes and casual and business casual. Now, when I think about Chicken Little, I think about what happens when one's experience starts shaping your entire expectation. Something fell. He got scared, he panicked. Then he decided the whole sky was falling. And let's be honest, um, you might know someone like that, or you may know some people like that. One disappointment becomes proof that love is dead. One rejection turns into evidence that there that there is not enough. One failed idea convinces them that they're not called to do this, or even one hard season as being an entrepreneur has take has them talking like joy packed up and moved out. One season of maybe looking for a job, or one season, just a season, right? There's so many seasons that we have in life, but just because one season may be a certain way does not mean that that is how it's going to be for the rest of your life. That is what I call distortion. And I need us to be grown about this. A negative lens can can feel intelligent, it can sound wise and even make you feel prepared, like you're protecting yourself from getting hurt again. But there's a cost to living like that. It can drain your creativity, it can kill your courage, keeps your confidence low, makes your peace feel suspicious. And then after a while, guess what? Your body starts reacting like everything is an emergency, even when it's not. And that is why this matters so much. If you ever examine the lens, you will keep misreading the moment. Let me say that again. If you ever examine the lens, you will keep misleading the moment. And this is where my pink shades come in. Pink shades are not about pretending pain does not exist, they're about refusing to let fear narrate everything. It's about choosing a lens that protects your peace without disconnecting you from the truth. Life is real, people will disappoint you. Things can go left, plans can fail. Still, anxiety does not need to have a huge microphone in your life every day. And that part right there, some people do not need more bad news. They need a better lens. Now, before somebody hears me wrong, let me be clear. I'm not saying to ignore any red flags. I'm not saying be naive. And I'm not saying smile your way through mistreatment or any type of dysfunction. What I am saying is that there's a difference between wisdom and living with a constant expectation of disaster. There's a difference between discernment and doom, between realistic and being ruled by negativity. Now, chicken litter gives us a perfect picture of what happens when fear starts interrupting everything first. Every delay feels loaded. And every shift that you make, every pivot that you make, that feels threatening. It can be inconvenience, starts to look like a sign that everything is about to collapse. And like I said before, you know people like that. You may be someone like that, or you may have been someone like that. But some people can turn a delayed text into abandonment, some sort of facial expression that somebody may give you into a rejection, even a closed door into the death of their purpose, and a correction into character assassination, and a problem into prophecy. That does not always mean that they are foolish. A lot of times, you know, they're simply tired. Wounded, we could use the word triggered, we can use the word protective, and this is where grace kind of comes in. Because sometimes the lens that you're wearing was handed to you, and maybe it came from childhood. Those lens, maybe it was from a heartbreak. Maybe the environment where joy was mocked and hope was treated like weakness, or it's a learned behavior that expecting the worst keeps you from looking stupid later. So now you do it so automatically in your life, you don't even know that you're doing doing it. You don't celebrate too soon, you don't trust too deeply, forget about dreaming too openly, or even keep one, you you keep one eye on possibilities and both hands on panic. But over time, that can be exhausting, and it is not the only way to live. Now, let's get back to my reference when I mentioned about the museum mirrors. If I stood in front of a stored mirror long enough, I might laugh at first, but if I had to look into that same mirror every day with nothing offering me any other different type of reflection, I could start believing that warped, that warped image was me. Right? So I know that I'm 5'10, but for some reason this mirror that I'm looking at makes me, I don't know, maybe 4'10. Nothing wrong with anybody that's 4'10. But because I'm looking at a mirror and it's giving me something different over time, I'm going to start believing that. Right? And so that is how distorted thinking works. So when criticism becomes so loud, like a soundtrack, you start expecting it. When chaos becomes normal for too long, when you're calm, that that just feels so strange. Disappointment has been your pattern. Good news starts to feel suspicious. And when your inner talk has been harsh for years, hope starts sounding irresponsible. That is why perspective is not some cute little throwaway idea, it's emotional wellness, confidence, leadership, relationships, what you attempt, what you avoid, and how quickly you quit. This is personal growth. This is resilience. And this is a kind of work that helps people unbox their brilliance instead of shrinking every time life starts to feel shaky. Now, here's another layer. Sometimes pink shades really do protect your peace. I know some people hear Rosie and think, oh, delusional. There's a word that they have I seen on TikTok called Dululu. I hear Rosie and think, I think hopeful. I think resilient. I think soften without being stupid. Somebody who refuses to let a hard world turn them, turn them hard. And to me, that's not weakness, that's strength with amazing lighting. Some of some of us need that because there's a way to stay open without being gullible, a way to stay soft without being spineless, and a way to believe for good without ignoring what needs attention. Pink shades can look choosingly, can can look like choosing possibilities, noticing what is still working, holding on to joy while handling reality, and protecting your mental space from constant doom. And that matters because a lot of people think if they stop expecting disaster, something bad will sneak up on them. So they stay braced, tense, guarded, suspicious. But peace is not irresponsibility, peace is power under control. And sometimes the strongest thing a person can do is stop feeding every anxiety, every anxious thought, like it is gospel, like it's a prophet. Because that was for somebody. I know that. Now, I also want to touch the other side because yes, pink shades can become a problem when they keep you from seeing what is plainly there. If a relationship is draining you, pink shades can't make that healthy. If there's a destructive pattern, they can't make that wise. And if somebody keeps lying, manipulating, or crossing your boundaries, pink shades are not supposed to become blinders. That is where maturity comes in. Healthy pink shades do not erase truth. They hold, they help you hold truth without drowning in it. This is the whole sentence right here. It means you can acknowledge a challenge without becoming consumed by it. You can face a hard fact without making it the center of your identity. You can honestly, you can be honest about pain without letting pain become your personality. Chicken Little could not do that. Everything became the biggest thing. Every moment turned into total collapse. And every problem got treated like the sky-level disaster. And when everything feels urgent, you lose the ability to weigh things properly. And that happens in real life. Some people treat inconvenience like devastation, uncertainty, like gloom, transition like failure, and discomfort like a sign to run. But growth is uncomfortable. Healing is uncomfortable, and so is leadership. Confidence is uncomfortable, and the biggest one of all, trying something new is definitely uncomfortable. And discomfort is not always danger. Discomfort is not always danger. Some people have made major life decisions based on avoiding discomfort. Then later wonder why they feel stuck, unseen, unfulfilled, and frustrated. Yeah. Because purpose will stretch you. Calling will stretch you. Personal growth will stretch you. And my biggest one is the brag will stretch you. You can't build a bigger life with lenses that keep announcing collapse every time growth shows up. And that is why I think Chicken Little is bigger than a cartoon character. He's a mindset, a pattern, a voice in your head that takes one piece of evidence and builds a whole courtroom around it. And let me tell you something else. That voice is loud, but it is not always right. Sometimes you're listening to old fair, like it is a fresh wisdom. Some of you are letting one painful season define what is possible now. Some of you are still standing in front of that old distorted mirror, trying to make the present-day decisions based on a warped reflection. No, ma'am, no sir, not in this season. This is a season to ask better questions. Not what if it all falls apart, but but try what if I'm seeing this through old lenses? Not why does this always happen to me? Maybe what story am I repeating that keeps shaping how I respond? Not what if I fail? What if fear has been exacerbating the risk? The shift changes a lot because sometimes the sky is not falling. Sometimes a little acronym just hit your head. I'm sorry, a little acorn just hit your head, and now you're building a whole emergency around something that needed a breath, not a breakdown. Some of us don't need any more panic. We need to pause, we need to stop, breathe, and ask what actually just happened. What am I assuming? What lenses am I using? Is this wisdom or wounded expectation? This is self-awareness. And self-awareness is one of the most underrated forms of confidence. Confident people are always asking, are always the loudest in the room. Sometimes they're simply the ones who know not to believe every dramatic thought that crosses their mind. That is also emotional maturity, leadership, emotional wellness. And that is how you protect your peace without floating off into some fantasy land. Now, let me make this practical. What do pink shield pink shades look like in real life? They look like refusing to start the day with chaos. They look like being selective about what gets in your spirits. It looks like not replaying those bad moments all day. They look like refusing to turn on bad conversations into a funeral for the whole relationship. Looks like noticing beauty, progress, joy, and possibilities, even while life is still life. Pink shades look like choosing a positive mindset on purpose. And yes, I said on purpose. Peace really happens by accident. Hope really happens by accident. You build that, you practice that and you protect that. And you don't stumble into them while soaking in mess all day and entertaining every negative thought like it pays rent in your head. Now, if I were coaching Chicken Little, here's what I would say. Who taught you to expect collapse? What happened that made you trust fear so quickly? Why does one moment get to decide the whole story? What mirror have you been using? What would change if you tried on some different lenses? The last question is a one I want to leave hanging in the room for a second for all of you. What would change if you tried on different lenses? Would you still call yourself, would you still call yourself behind? Would you still call that delay denial? Would you still call every closed door a rejection? Or would you realize some of what you call truth was really untreated perspective? This is why this matters. A lens can bless a room or break a room, it can create peace or panic, it can make a challenge feel workable or fatal. And it can keep a person grounded or keep them trapped. And if you are serious about confidence, self-worth, relationship, leadership, emotional wellness, personal growth, you have to pay attention to what lenses you are wearing. You can keep barring dark glasses from painful sessions and then wondering why everything looks so dim. That sentence right there. Now, I want to talk to you. I want to talk to the person who has been told all their life that they are too hopeful, too positive, too dreamy, too soft, and too rosy. Listen to me carefully. Everything hopeful is not foolish, soft, or you're not blind. Sometimes the person with the pink shades is the only one in the room who still remembers that life can hold beauty and truth at the same time. And in the world that trains people to brace for impact at all times, that kind of hope is not childish. Of course, those pink shades still need wisdom, boundaries, honesty, because peace without wisdom gets expensive and wisdom without peace gets hard, right? But you deserve both. That is the sweet spot. So seeing clearly while staying whole, facing reality while guarding your joy, telling the truth without worshiping the worst case scenario. That is the work, the goal, the invitation that I make to you. So today I want you to really and truly think about this. What kind of lenses have you been wearing lately? Are you using fair to interrupt everything? Are you standing in front of that distorted mirror and calling that self-knowledge? Are you assuming the sky has fallen every time life feels uncertain? Or have you learned how to put on the kind of pink shades that protects your peace without disconnecting you from the truth? That's the reflection. And here's the other one. Who gave you your current lenses? Was it family? Was it church hurt? Failure? Comparisons, social media, past betrayal. Because once you know where the lenses came from, you can decide whether it still deserves to sit on your face. You can decide whether it still deserves to sit on your face. So as we close, I want to remind you of this. One distorted reflection does not define you. One hard moment does not predict the entire life. One season of fear does not get to become your forever voice. Sometime protecting your peace is not about escaping life. It's about choosing a healthier way to see it. So this week, before you call a disaster, pause, hit pause, hit that mute button, hit the stop button. Before you assume the worst, just breathe. And before you let fear preach all day, check your lenses. Maybe the sky is not fallen. Maybe it is time for a different pair of glasses. So, sparklers, this has been Mosaic Ink with me, Leslie George. Want to thank you for joining me today. Until next time, keep showing up, keep speaking up, keep unboxing your brilliance. Remember to like, share, and leave us a review on this podcast. Until next time, bye.