The theory of relativity has changed the landscape of physics. It surely changes the reality of most of us ‘perceived’ this whole time. It showed that time and space are not absolute—they depend on how fast you move and how strong gravity is.
That doesn’t mean everything is “relative” in the way we often use the word. Time and space are not the same for all of us anymore; your one minute may differ from mine. Everybody’s 365 days are different, under specific conditions, like traveling at very different speeds
It reminds us that even when we share the same moment, we don’t necessarily share the same experience. We are taught to see that everybody’s reality is different, even when some of us experience the same thing. We can be on the same sinking boat yet live through completely different realities. You might be on the deck, terrified, searching for a life jacket. I might be inside, curious, even distracted, wondering what the first-class cabin looks like. Both are realities; they are different even if they were happening at the same time on the same boat.
Learning relativity is to put yourself in others’ shoes, to not say that they are wrong just because we perceive a different reality. Relativity does not prove that every truth is valid.
I, being a 30-year-old salaried woman, might look different from other 30-year-old women. Some people my age are married with children. Others are single and building careers. These paths are often judged against each other, as if one must be more correct.
We are living on the same planet, in the same year, but not in the same experience of it.