Have you ever asked anyone “dude, what’s your problem?” I’m sure I’ve said it to strangers when they were rude. I can remember some occasions where I said it so someone close to me. I have a handful of problems right now, but if someone (anyone) asked me what my problem was, I wouldn’t be able to answer them accurately. If they said, “what’s your problem?” I’d be like “Um…which one? There are too many to name at the moment. I can’t differentiate between them. But, thank you for asking what my problem is. It means a lot to me that you care.”

Problems happen all the time. And I (for one) think too much about them. I don’t want to sit around thinking so much about what’s hard. I want to focus on what’s positive and good in my life. Problems do come knocking at my door, sure, but that’s not the only thing that I have going on. It’s just that they can feel overwhelming and loud. I can try to focus on gratitude, making lists about the good things. But those damn problems want to interrupt me and make annoying faces at me, like when kids stick their tongues on glass windows to be intentionally annoying, but it’s funny at the same time. The difference between that analogy and the problem one is that problems want to distract and annoy you. They have no interest in entertaining you and they can break that glass in front of you. They’re like little goblins that burp loudly in your ears. They want to be a pain in the ass and that’s what they do best.

So, what is my problem? My problem is that I have a lot of things to take care of and I can’t talk about any of them publically. The things that I need to do are scary and overwhelming but ultimately will make my life better. There’s an incentive to do them! There is light on the other side of these problems (plural) but I can’t see it, because the light switch is like five miles away and even with my glasses on, it’s ridiculously far.

I know that these problems are not insurmountable. I cannot believe I just spelled that word right; I was guessing and it worked. Go me! Anyway, these problems are not forever, they can be overcome. I just feel frozen and I need someone to cook some hot water on the stove and pour it over the ice so I can move. It sucks feeling this way, but I’ve accepted that this is my “for now state” and it will change. That’s pretty normal I think. It’s okay to ask for help when you need it, and good friends are there with that soothing water to unfreeze you. I’ve asked them and they said they have some on the stove. Once I’m unfrozen, I’ll be ready for action, and then when you ask me what my problem is, I’ll be like “I have no problem, dude. I’m all good.”