Work the Problem

What do you do when you get stuck?

A few years ago I made a quick stop to pick up one of my kids at a birthday party and left unexpectedly inspired.?Here’s how.

Quick setup:?kid birthday party at someone’s house.?Dad was an ex-Navy SEAL, Mom had been battling cancer.?

He had recently lost his job in financial services and the family was in the process of selling their house and moving out of the area.?No doubt this has been the subject of gossip, whispers and texts in social circles – people mostly just felt bad for them.?

In the backyard was a decent sized “shed” that inside they converted into, of all things, a rock climbing wall from floor to ceiling – outfitted with huge padded mats on the floor.?

They had helmets and gloves for the kids.?I was both impressed by how surprisingly elaborate it was and a little self-conscious that his kids got that from their dad while I thumped my chest after setting up the Xbox at Christmas time…

What caught my eye, however, were the various writings covering the wall in marker between the footholds.?Some were obviously done by kids and some adults.?

There were arrows and instructions:?“This one is tricky”, “Get going!”, “Super easy.”?Then I found one that captured my attention in large bold block letters close to the ceiling in one of the more difficult sections:?“Work the problem.”

Think about it:?you are a kid trying to conquer this rock wall and you have gotten yourself almost to the top. But you get stuck.?What do you do? Cry for help? Give up? Drop down to the nice cushy mat on the floor? Ask for an adult to point out where to go next??

Nope. Not in this shed.?

Here you take what is given to you, understand your strengths and your limitations, and you muster up the courage to create a solution. Maybe climb down a few steps and regroup.?Whatever you choose, you must?work the problem.?

Isn’t this something we all face from time to time??

Whether it is in our personal or professional lives, we all find ourselves in situations where we are climbing a wall and we get stuck. We ask ourselves “how did I get here?” or “why am I in this situation?” or “what do I do next?”?

We seek pity or relief because, damn, this just sucks and we are far from stable ground!?It’s so easy to feel sorry for ourselves, blame others or simply want to quit because it all seems insurmountable.?But none of that is constructive nor will it get us out of the situation.?You have to?trust that if you were able to get yourself to this point, a solution exists to get you past the obstacle.??Work the problem.

As I walked back to the car and left the scene, it was not lost on me how this directly applied to what that family must be experiencing right now.?Adversity and setbacks seemed to be compounding for them yet, in the face of it all, they themselves were working the problem.?That is all they could do.?I don’t know them well and we have since lost touch, but that day feeling sorry for them stopped being a primary emotion when I tthought about their situation.

Something tells me they are okay no matter what else has been thrown their way.

XOXO

Dave

This was adopted from the April 14, 2018 intro to my weekly "Friends of Dave" newsletter, which is accompanied by interesting links I curate each week. If you would like to see past full issues, please click here?>>>?https://www.getrevue.co/profile/davidafrankel