One.
Our family has a monumental challenge in 2022. Sometime this year I’m sure I’ll tell you about it.
I’ve been thinking a lot about how to approach this challenge. A couple days before Christmas a modification of my approach to design work merged with a reframing in my head.
The way I approach design work is the solution is in the problem; the form is in the content.
The reframing pushes my approach further to become the problem is the opportunity.
This is not new, obvs. Two millennia ago Marcus Aurelius wrote, “What stands in the way becomes the way.” Ryan Holiday popularised the idea in his book The Obstacle is the Way. A long time before both Marcus and Ryan, the ancient Hebrews told a story about their ancestors walking through the very sea they were trapped by.
What is new is that I saw this reframing applied to my challenge. It went from theoretical to practical. And here’s the real point of today’s post1: the reasons I had this useful insight are
I have confidence that when I work on a problem, I will find a path to a solution.
I did the work. I spent time tumbling the problem around in my head.
(As long as you do 2, you will get where you need to go. 1 makes the process less stressful.)
Two.
A majestic Sonoran Desert horse surveys her territory from atop a prickly pear cactus.
Three.
“Don’t get distracted / Just take some action”
If today’s post grabbed your attention and you have three minutes to spare, have a read of this other thing I wrote: “How truth becomes profound”.
Grow slowly
Jeff
Unless you got something else out of it, in which case that’s the real point.
This approach is true to Marcus Aurelius’ school of thought, stoicism, but sometimes eliminating the stress in being faced with an obstacle or problem is hard to overcome. In your reframing, when something seems too big to tackle, how do you refocus and rid yourself of being overwhelmed and overrun with negative emotions?
Challenges can be so complex with moving parts. I’m finding rv lifestyle to be exactly this. I maintain 2 vehicles with moving parts, a 30’ class A and a fiat 500. It’s what I chose to do with passion a year ago. Moving parts break. Problem? No. Solution. Peace, stillness required to assess, evaluate and execute the fixing of the thing. I’m confident in the process. There are only solutions. Isn’t that so?