“Problems possess the power to change us permanently.”

 “Everyone has problems, and we need to solve them”. I think this statement has been there for a long time, as I used to hear my grandfather say this multiple times.  Hence, during my growing years, I too continued to live this statement. But it is also true that I did have my set of problems, which used to happen randomly and when least expected, surprising or shocking me.

However, I did not feel comfortable as I went through the problems. It was not just the problems but the multifarious thoughts and different elements of my personality that were all coming up at one go. This caused turmoil within me and I did not have a choice but to go through the process of problem solving.

One day I was in the midst of a problem and wanted to solve it. With a lot of effort and support, the problem was solved, and we heaved a sigh of relief.

As I sat back and automatically got into the process of mentally reviewing the instance in detail, I realized that in addition to the problem itself, many of my personality traits, habits, beliefs, principles, and values were involved in the process. I also realized that there were changes to my overall outlook, which were born out of the learning that had occurred during the process of solving the problem. On the face of it, I did have to undergo some pain and discomfort, but from an overall perspective, I did realize that I learned a lot from it and that whatever I had to undergo was, in one sense, worth it.

That’s when it occurred to me that problems change us and help us to grow and become a better version of ourselves.

Chetlur S Prasad

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