Problems
Lately I’ve heard people talk about problems. About running from problems. I hear people talk about such things, and I have questions.
What is a problem? The dictionary says it’s,
“…a matter or situation regarded as unwelcome or harmful and needing to be dealt with and overcome…”
A problem is a state of mind, a place in your head. I agree that you cannot “run from your problems”. Your legs have a strange habit of taking your brain along with them wherever you go.
Thousands of actions and reactions occur around us in any given moment, and we are able to process an infinitely small portion of these events. Every time we observe an event, it’s filtered through a complex framework that we’ve developed, genetically and socially. There are billions of potential problems we could perceive around us, but if we were always processing them, we’d never have time for anything else.
If your eyes take in the fact that you’re standing on the edge of a cliff, neurons fire in your brain telling you that it’s in your best interest to keep a good distance between yourself and the edge of the cliff. The cliff is a potential ‘problem’ for your desire to live. If you obey the biological instinct to stay away from the perceived threat to your survival, you’ll avoid one problem. Base jumping is an entirely different way of dealing with the problem of a cliff. If you need to get to the bottom of the cliff for some reason, it could be a far more efficient way of dealing with the problem, even if it goes against your instincts.
Survival examples are pretty straightforward, most of us tend to regard dying as something to be avoided. The societal framework that we determine problems by isn’t anywhere near as clear cut.
I have a friend who recently made a life changing decision. He made major steps towards his goals and asked people he cared about for feedback. Several of the individuals who had a very different set of values from him said that they thought he was running away from his problems. Coincidently the ‘problems’ they referenced were situations related to them, situations my friend had no control over.
It’s all too often that people are dissuaded from paths of great adventure and growth by the opinions of others, of people that claim to care about them. I’ve been around too many people who wait for a person to have an idea, and experience some sort of reassurance in themselves, by casting doubt and trying to create ‘problems’ within the ideas of others. Most of the time they don’t even realize what their doing. I’ve seen more people dissuaded from trying to do great things by the care and concern of people around them than by any real circumstance.
The truth is, my friend was running from some of his problems. He was running from an environment where stagnancy was applauded and going to an environment where he’d be encouraged to reach his potential. The individuals who thought he was making a bad decision assumed that their system for spotting problems was universally applicable. It wasn’t. Thankfully my friend realized that and didn’t allow their opinions to dissuade him.
Lately I’ve been watching myself to see how often I create problems that don’t really exist, both for myself and others, it happens a lot more often than I would have liked to think. The more I become aware of this, I’m able to change my habits to create a positive reality. I’m creating and achieving goals rather than creating and wasting time worrying about problems. Circumstances tend to be difficult enough on their own, why make things any harder for yourself than you have to?
Marshall has a serious case of wanderlust, and writes about his wanderings at the wonderfully entertaining LazyVoice.
