Honor your problems. Don't love them, just honor them.
I am sure you know people who love their problems. Since they have no dreams to cherish, they would be lonesome without problems to wallow in. They would be permanently speechless if they didn't have problems to talk about.
I once did a tape for close friends on "problems," and I remember that one thing I said was, "Don't tell me your problem. When you do, you put it in two heads instead of one and thereby double its power."
I know that statement is funny, but it also has truth in it. We are all a part of many group consciousnesses (America, Chattanooga, our family, church, workplace, etc.), and when we talk about problems, we add them to the consciousness of each group. When any group gets loaded down with a problem consciousness, it becomes overwhelmed and powerless.
So it's great to laugh about your problems. Every problem has an angle that is humorous. Keep thinking about it until you see the humor, and when you do, you will pull out its stinger.
In his "Road Less Traveled," Scott Peck said, "It is in this whole process of meeting and solving problems that life has its meaning. Problems call forth our courage and our wisdom. Indeed, they create our courage and wisdom. It is only because of problems that we grow mentally and spiritually."
My personal journal records the day-by-day horrendous challenge I went through when I got fired. But that problem caused me to run for public office. I never had any plans to ever run for office, but I thought the firing required me to restore the good name I had built in 25 years of employment in this community.
In the ensuing six-month campaign (primary and general elections), I lost 20 pounds and shook so many hands my hand was sore for weeks after the elections. I met thousands of people I would never have known if I hadn't had the problem of being fired.
The memory of getting fired is still painful, but the excitement of beating a Ph.D. in political science and a millionaire was a large transfusion of strength. Frankly, it would never have happened if I had not been knocked to my knees by a problem.
At least once in our lives some really big problem comes along that runs over us like a Patton tank. We can let it completely defeat us, or we can honor the situation with our highest and best self and make the problem a launching pad for one more shot at the moon.
Really, what other choices do we have? People ask what I would have done if I had lost. All I know is I would have gone on to my next challenge with the knowledge I had tried my best to respond with grace and guts to a problem.
Problems are doors to the many rooms of our selves where powers lie dormant, waiting to be roused to action. A little David lies sleeping in one of those rooms with a stone to kill your Goliath.
Even if little David does not answer your call, you will always find in your problem a teacher you will always honor and love for the lesson imparted to you. It's these teachers that make a life worth living.
Email Dalton Roberts at DownhomeP@aol.com.