High Quality Problems
1 June 2009 in Miscellaneous, SocietyWhile deciding to stay in my profession or to leave, I struggled daily for months with the pros and cons. Now that I have officially completed my last day, I am still conflicted. Easily, this was (and is) the most difficult and lengthy decision of my life. Taking a step back from it all, anyone should be able to see that my career-break decision is a “problem” that 99% of the world’s population would love to have. In other words, it is a high quality problem.
All of my problems are quality problems. Every single one. Most of them are high quality problems. If you are reading this, most, if not all, of your problems are high quality also.
Quality problems are not real problems. Rather, they are positive situations requiring decisions. Decisions take effort. Effort induces stress, making us feel like we have real problems. Some of these quality problems are of higher quality than others. All quality problems, however, have higher percentages of positive outcomes than real problems.
Real problems are situations endangering our immediate personal security or basic necessities such as food, water, and shelter. So long as we are safe, fed, and sheltered, we should be content with life and see every situation as a positive one in which any decision will result in a favorable outcome. This is easier said than done.
Considering our “problems” to be high quality is difficult, but crucial to having a different, perhaps better, perspective. We trick ourselves into thinking we have real problems. Objectively looking at the world’s real problems is a great way to stay thankful for what we have and to make our personal issues seem much more manageable.
What do you think? Do you have real problems that don’t meet my simple explanation? Do you have other ways to cope with tough life decisions? Is flipping a coin an easier, healthier way to avoid the stress that comes with high quality problem decisions?
I know how you feel. Felt like that when I quit a good job to go back to nursing school. Yea, nursing going to bring a nice career an all but had to live broke for 3 years to do it. Did the same thing to start travel nursing. Left a great job and coworkers that are like family to go travel. But I found myself out there. Only came back for my son to finish high school. Two more years and I’ll be back out there myself. It was wonderful. Minute in comparison to what your about to do but its all relative i guess. Im excited to follow you around the world via this internet site. Good luck……..
My life is FULL of high quality problems. How do I cope? I can’t do it without God’s help. And I ain’t talking about Budda or any such god but the One of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob of he Bible. You have made a difficult decision based on emotional and spiritual growth rather than on physical comfort and stability. It sounds like you took months to make your decision, therefore it is apparent that you calculated the costs. I applaud you. My only prayer is that you are kept safe in your journey of travel.
Wendy thanks for sharing. Yes, everything is relative.
em, I’m glad you have some coping mechanisms to deal with your quality problems. All of us have “problems” and there are many different psychological, physical, and spiritual ways to keep pushing on to the next goal and a new day. Thank you for seeing what many others often miss: that there is bigger meaning behind what I’m doing than simply “traveling.”
I will be editing this article. It is too short to express well the “quality problems” idea.
All articles are subject to editing because it is simply not possible to articulate a complete idea definitively. Things change, ideas come to mind, and experience grows, leaving room for better defined articles.