Martha Beck wrote an interesting piece in the current Oprah Magazine about 'problems'. Basically, she proposed that we should be thankful for the one big, seemingly unsolvable, problem that some of us consistently stress over all of our lives.


For the past many, many years, my problem has been my weight. Each New Year, it is at the top of my resolve list and almost every September, I vow that I will take off ten or twenty pounds before Christmas. And, many, many times I have been successful in doing just that. I have probably lost over three hundred pounds at one time or another in my life. Unfortunately, I have mostly gained it back and often added a few pounds. In the last three years, in my seventh and longest attempt at Weight Watchers, I have managed to maintain and consolidate a series of small losses and except for one extended 'four month holiday', have not seen too many big reversals in weight. Yet weight loss is still right at the top of my list of priorities and a constant struggle. For this I should be thankful, at least, according to Martha!


Martha's reasoning is this: This big insolvable problem is the lid of my Pandora's box of more frightening problems. Spending all of my time stressing about a problem that can appear to be solvable allows me to ignore the others. If I did not have a weight issue I may be forced to deal with other overwhelming issues.



There is a lot of truth here for me. I am a master at avoidance. Fortunately, Martha has a solution. She doesn't want me to discard my obsession, at least not yet.

What I need to do is recognize this problem is what she calls 'the designated issue'. Once it is labeled as such, it can be handled. What I need to do, from time to time, is to mentally set aside this 'issue' and open the lid to examine other issues dwelling beneath the surface. I need to take one out at a time and take some small steps to begin to resolve it. Then push the lid back on.

In time, the pressure cooker that is holding all my issues will begin to lose steam as progress is made. When this happens, in theory at least, my designated issue should itself begin to diminish in importance because it too will become easier to resolve.


I think this approach is worth a try.


http://marthabeck.com/blog/


At the end of all this, I need to keep my big 'problem' and be thankful that I have one because it is keeping a lid all my really unmanageable problems.