Life’s problems can be tough. And yours are clearly worse than anyone else’s. Or so you think. And so does everyone else about theirs.
The Yiddish word for trouble is “tsuris”. An old Jewish story about “tsuris” is that if we all threw our “tsuris” in a big pile and you had to pick one out of it for yourself, after seeing what everyone else put in there, you would take your own right back.
That’s an elegant way to tell you that you don’t have it as bad as you think you do. So how bad do you have it? And are there solutions to your woes?
In his song Watching the Wheels, John Lennon wrote, “There are no problems, only solutions”.
Was he right? Maybe. But some solutions may be too late or just impossible for you to implement.
Here are a few examples.
Problem: Kids get you up multiple times a night and you’re exhausted? Solution: Don’t have kids.
Problem: Have money problems supporting your growing family? Solution: Don’t have kids.
Problem: Grandchildren being corrupted by how clueless parents are bringing them up? Solution: Don’t have kids who have kids.
Though those solutions probably aren’t very workable – like, not at all – you can see how some jerk (in this case, me) might offer them up as just what you need. Which begs the question, what exactly do you need?
You need – actually, all of us need – to enjoy what we have and recognize that the good things we have outweigh the bad.
Is that always the case? No.
Serious health issues that threaten our lives or our loved ones’ lives, or situations we recognize as life altering in negative ways can rise above almost everything good we have known. We have to face those situations as best we can to overcome them and their effects on our lives.
But, for the most part, dealing with all our day-to-day “tsuris” can be done effectively and directly if we confront it, put our minds to it, and smile about the good stuff waiting on the other side. Like family.
We need the families that make our lives what they are. The parents, grandparents, kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles, and on and on.
It’s not easy dealing with everybody in our families. They are typically a mix of all kinds of personalities and attitudes. Some good and some, whoa, can you believe that?
And your family is clearly worse than anyone else’s.
But if we threw them all in that same pile, you would take your Crazy Uncle Ralph right back
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Marc Axelrod retired from the ABC Television Network after 37 years, starting as a Technical Writer and then filling various Training and Development roles in the Broadcast division. His writing has ranged from the technical all the way to Hollywood screenplays. He is currently a Professional Writing Consultant to the US Military Academy at West Point and the US Army War College. His favorite role by far is being Grandpaw to two amazing little grandchildren.
To read more of his thoughts on grandparenting, Marc encourages you to visit his website The Grandpaw Chronicles at: https://www.thegrandpawchronicles.com