Problems of Prosperity

In the Where the Rubber Meets the Road Department . . . . 

I was confronted today with a problem.  As a general rule, I do not like problems, but I also don't like working on solutions, either; this is a really crappy technique which I don't recommend because obviously I'm going to run into the occasional problem no matter how hard and fast I'm moving in the opposite direction.  Some of these problems are a little quicker than I am.  

The particular problem I encountered today falls so firmly in the Problems of Prosperity category that I can't even bring myself to talk in specifics.  There might be some people who would love to be in a position to have this kind of problem.  I know when I was getting sober I felt like punching anyone who complained about these kinds of problems.  Still, as Spandex reminded me, that doesn't mean I can't get upset about the odd Problem of Prosperity.  I'm a human, after all.  Really.

Normally when I'm pondering a potential problem I assume the worst case scenario; this is usually me alone and penniless, battling tuberculosis and mutant vampires in a post-apocalyptic nightmare world.  So far this hasn't happened.  But that doesn't stop me from imagining the worst while simultaneously avoiding any work on the solution.  This is a hobby of mine - fearing the worst and wallowing in the fear.  The problem, of course, is that the worst is rarely as bad as all of the suffering I go through not working on the solution while preparing for a terrible outcome that doesn't come. 

So today I worked on the solution.  It was immediately apparent in this case that what was going to happen was the worst case scenario.  But you know what?  No vampires.  No TB.  No bleak landscape devoid of all life, pulsing with radiation.  A bump.  A minor obstacle in my very pleasant life.  

I spent some time drawing up a few contingency plans.  I'm upset so I'm not going to do much of anything right now in terms of forward motion.  I don't make very good decisions when I'm upset.  My experience is that if I let all of this stuff stew and percolate in my head then the right answer will come.  I'm going to try to relax and take it easy, to not fight everything.

I could swear I have heard this somewhere.