The BSSG Series - #2 of 20

When everything feels personal, step back and see the system at work. After you realize work is affecting your well-being, the next step is to look at it more objectively. Ask yourself: Why is this bothering me? It’s easy to get stuck on the who—the difficult boss, the dismissive colleague, the team that left you out. But when you focus only on people, it can start to feel personal and impossible to fix.

Often, what’s really causing the strain isn’t just an individual—it’s a pattern.
- Maybe decisions keep happening behind closed doors.
- Maybe communication flows one way, but not back.
- Maybe speaking up feels risky, no matter how respectfully you do it.

When you zoom out and name the patterns, or see the system, you move from reaction to understanding. You start to see how and why the situation is affecting you—and what part of it is truly yours to carry. Naming isn’t about blame—it’s about reclaiming perspective. Because once you can see the system, you can start to change how you move within it.

⭢ REFLECTION: When you zoom out, what do you notice about the system shaping your experience?