When you are
dealing with a difficult situation like a serious illness, at any
given moment you will probably have at least a dozen problems that
need to be solved. It’s tempting to try to solve them all before you
get any new problems so you can coast for a while, problem-free.
I hate to be the
one to tell you this, but there is ALWAYS going be some sort of
problem to solve. Problems are just a part of life, like eating,
breathing, and sleeping, so if you’re living for the day that you will
be 100% problem free I’m afraid you’re going to be sorely
disappointed.
One of the
realities of life is that solutions to problems usually give birth to
new problems. It’s just the way things are.
For example, my
wife loves her horse (Keno) and wanted him to live on our property
instead of boarding him. So, we built a little ranch where Keno would
have the space he needs, but that presented a new problem: horses are
herd animals and they need other horses around. Keno would be alone
on our property… so we had to buy another horse.
That problem is
solved, but now we have two horses and have to buy twice as much
feed. When the feed was delivered it attracted mice and gophers, so
that was a new problem to deal with. The horses produce about 50
pounds of manure a day EACH… what am I going to do with 100 pounds of
“used hay” every day? We decided to have it hauled away so they put a
small dumpster at the end of our dead-end street, but now we have a
new problem because the trash truck comes roaring up at 6:00 in the
morning, disturbing everyone.
Another new
problem is getting the manure INTO the dumpster. I don’t want to do
it and Chris can’t do it, so we hired a young man to come over a
couple of days after school and he does it, but now we have a new
problem. He doesn’t always have a ride home… so we have to take him.
You see how this
works? We solved the problem of boarding Keno, but that gave rise to
a new problem which, in turn created new problems and so on.
If you or your
patient has a lot of pain, you can give him/her medication. The
medication may solve the pain problem, but cause a new problem such as
nausea or sleepiness.
The point is
that you will never be 100% problem-free: you have to learn to manage
the problems that you have. Just concentrate on one at a time, and
don’t expect to solve them all without having new problems in their
place. Lowering your expectation will relieve a lot of stress.
