Last week I got a group text about organizing a used book / curriculum sale, so I volunteered to post the date and time to the online calendar and notify a Facebook group about the event.
Before long the question came up: how to take reservations for table space.
On the fly, I came up with a workable solution.
Afterwards, I told my husband what was going on, and I said, “It’s not like we needed to solve all the problems immediately…just the next one.”
As I heard myself say the words aloud, they really resonated with me.
It’s something I need to remind myself of…all the time!
I don’t need to solve ALL the problems…just the next one.
Often I trick myself into thinking that if I don’t have all the answers RIGHT NOW, then I won’t ever have any of those answers.
It’s simply not true.
When you bring that tiny baby home from the hospital, you may have problems, but there are lots of problems you don’t have to concern yourself with — potty training, looking both ways before crossing the street, learning to read, having the sex talk, driver’s education.
Those are all problems for another day.
How often have I convinced myself that because I don’t see an answer to all the problems I won’t ever have answers to any of the problems?
How often do I rain on today’s parade trying to solve tomorrow’s troubles today?
So, next time your brain takes a wrong turn, remember you’ve reached a certain age, and so far you’ve got a pretty good track record for figuring out solutions to problems, and you’ve got a 100% success rate for staying alive.
You don’t have to solve all the problems…just the next one.
This is exactly what I needed to hear today. Thank you.
Hi Val–Glad to hear it was helpful. I tend to take on too much (just as my husband), so “just solving the next problem” is something I don’t need to remind myself of all the time.
It’s taken me lots of years, but I think now “I get it.” That whole reframing concept is so true. I find that I am now constantly feeling blessed and doing much better at living in the “now” moment. So glad Bonnie Hunter blog included a link to you and your blog.
YES! The current book I’m writing is called The Positive Reframe, and it’s about this emotional resilience tool. Being able to reframe things is a huge help.