Dead horse

Don't explain to me why it wouldn't work…

Ugh, I used to hear something of the sort from my father all the time. Every time he would give me an advice and I would try to tell him of all thousand and one reasons I thought it couldn't work for. That was his response after which I'd usually storm out of the room and… do exactly what he told me.

I am very much a worry-er. I cannot sleep when thinking of the problems in my life. I have panic attacks. I mumble to myself (in an odd concoction of Bulgarian and English). I sigh and walk around in circles.

But, I am very much my father's daughter, and I am very much a warrior. After panicking and all that jazz, I sit down and find out how to deal with the problem. And move on.


Story time (Problems vs. Solutions)

Problem
When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn't work at zero gravity (ink won't flow down to the writing surface).

Solution A
In order to solve this problem, it took them one decade and $12 million. They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees

Solution B
And what did Russians do?? The Russians used a Pencil!!! *


I've heard the story before from my dear husband but reading it like this (with the nice little conclusion on that site, namely: think simple, focus on the solution, not the problem) struck me with its clarity. I am a firm believer in acting and bringing in good in our lives instead of sitting around and waiting for the bad to happen. And then happen again. And again… it piles up like bad credit.

I have stumbled upon the basic concept that "life sucks" or better put by some '90s poet "I hate myself and I want to die" (heh)... the concept that bad comes naturally in life. But that somehow doesn't ring true in my ears. Only randomness is natural. Things happen, good and bad. But we're also given the opportunity, by birth, to influence our lives, more or less. Not that we're all that powerful, not that we could fight randomness (navigate it… just a thought)… Just most of the problems we're dealing with are not that bad. We focus so much on them, we sort of succumb into them and forget to look for the solution.

I am also not saying that solutions are always simple or easy, no… But I don't recall being promised a simple and easy life at any point. It's just life. It is a battle. It could be sweet, it could be bitter. But way better then nothing.

I am done.


* On a side note: yes, Americans won the Cold War, and yes, that happened because communism is crippling to any country, even one rich with resources of all kinds as Russia. Americans had more money, Americans won. But, maybe the deficiency of money helped the Russians come up with such a simple solution; they had nothing to invest in the research of the kind Americans conducted).