The problem isn’t the problem. You read that correctly.
Really. The problem isn’t the problem: the problem is when we forget to focus
on the solution.
Take Ben Lovell, for example, a 42-year-old Englishman whose
right leg was amputated due to a life-threatening blood clot in 2017. He went
through it all: suicidal thoughts, depression, PTSD, the works. And then Ben
figured out it wasn’t serving him to focus on the problem, namely lack of leg
and his inability to walk for more than 20 minutes at a time.
So Ben started working on the solution. For him, it was
two-fold. First, Ben created AmpCamp, a fitness boot camp for fellow amputees,
which given that prior to his amputation, Ben’s fitness consisted mainly of
getting off the couch to stroll down to his local pub, was already a feat.
Secondly, Ben decided to climb England’s three highest peaks – he who had never
climbed a mountain in his life – and did so this year in 27 hours. Again,
despite the inability to walk more than 20 minutes at a go.
In other words, Ben stopped obsessing on the problem, lack
of leg and all it entailed, and turned his mind, heart and body 180 degrees in
the opposite direction. Which brought him success, purpose, and fulfillment.
Not bad!
Now you don’t need to lose a limb or have anything else as
drastic to occur in your life to re-focus from whatever your problem is to
tracking down a solution. It doesn’t matter whether the problem is as minor as traffic
or a bad hair day, or as major as an ailing child or loss of a job. Whatever
the problem is, it won’t disappear or be resolved by staring at it.
Your best bet, in all situations, is to follow Ben’s most
excellent example. Resolutely turn yourself from groaning about the problem to
figuring out a solution. Or several.
You can do this. Yes, you can.
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