Perspective. It's all about perspective. As in the rest of life, there is much to learn from photography. As a Dorothy something-or-another once said "Photography is learning how to see without a camera". A good photographer notices things he previously would have been oblivious to. The wonderful way the afternoon sun lights up Chanaleh's hair. The spectacular swirls of oil in ate. The way the morning sidelight highlights textures. The flowers. The petals. The shapes and forms. The colors.
Another, and in my extremely humble (and proud of it) opinion, more important lesson is learning how to read yourself. Say you come on a what you think will be a great picture. Before you snap, you have figure out why this is interesting. What about this interests you. Once you qualify that, then you could figure out how best to express that in a photograph. Which perspective to use. Which lens. Portrait or landscape? Shallow or deep? What should you leave out and what should you keep in? Underexpose maybe a bit? Makes you slow down a bit, and it gets a little deeper each time, hopefully.
Perspective. That's how I started. There's a common misconception that a wide-angle lens gives a different perspective than say a telephoto lens. The truth is perspective as nothing to do with the lens, it has to do with how far you are from an object. A wide-angle lets you get closer, while still maintaining a wide angle, and the closer you get the more perspective changes.
For example (all pics were taken with a 24-70 @ 24mm and 2.8):
Here we have a wonderful picture of Chanaleh with a huge head and a ridiculously cute face. Her head looks so big because the camera is like 6 inches from her face.
The point is that sometimes theres this huge obstacle/problem/challenge that seems insurmountable by dint of its sheer brogdingnagianess. However, what you have to remember that the reason Chanaleh's head looks so big is because you are too close. Back off, take a breath allow other things into your field of vision. Broaden your perspective and Chanaleh's head won't seem as massive.
On the other hand since kids naturally have big heads, a close-up pic with a wide-angle lens (as long as their head isn't too close to the edge, then weird things start too happen) can magnify that cuteness. Adults on the other hand... No. Be very careful of shooting adults close-up with a wide-angle. They might never talk to you again. Even if you make their double chin disappear.
A few more examples:
