I am at peace. There is no heavyweight holding me down or worries spinning in my head. I’m not saying I have no problems. I’m simply saying that they do not consume me. Freedom is not eradicating “the bad,” but the ability to control how you respond to it. Problems are inevitable. We all have something to complain about or something new that worries us. Even during calmness, we find a way to create our own problems. When I used to encounter a problem, my immediate response was finding a solution. I thought that not finding a solution to problems made them linger, but it’s really denying problems that make them last. In other words, you can acknowledge a problem without having to have a solution. No solution is a solution. Sometimes doing nothing is doing everything you can. Sitting with discomfort created by a problem instead of constructing a quick fix can be a solution in itself.

 Let me give you an example.

Let’s say you feel lonely. If you choose to “fix” this problem by surrounding yourself with friends, you have relieved the feeling of loneliness for the next few hours. While this may feel like a great solution, in the next few days, you will notice this feeling of loneliness return. Instead of finding a way to retract the feeling of loneliness, it is sometimes better to sit with it. Let yourself feel an emotion without guilt. Through this process of sitting with your emotions, you will learn how to be alone without being lonely. Is this process more difficult? Maybe, but you can’t grow in what’s comfortable. 

In certain situations, when we have a problem, we often think of the word “solution” and an action we can do to solve the issue. Don’t deny the problem. But don’t always jump to fix it either. We move so quickly through life, we never give ourselves time to feel emotions. In aspects of life that are out of our control, no solution is a solution.