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     Life is full of problems. Life is full of troubles. The more we try to solve them, the more new ones appear. The more we try to identify them the more unidentified new ones arise. The more we try to overlook them the more they become prominent! The more we try to escape them, the more they come closer to us. We can be annoyed. We can be enraged. We can be sad. We can be depressed. We can be ‘this’, we can be ‘that’. But whatever we do or whatever we become… at the end of the day a problem remains a problem. Our lives are enveloped in problems!

     Since ‘problem’ is a fact of life and we can not anyhow avoid a problem by trying to sweep it away under the carpet or trying to ignore it, we have to accept this fact first. The only way we can solve a problem is by facing it with enough confidence. We should try to develop some skills, some techniques, on how to handle the problems of life or how to deal with them.

      I can remember, in March 2007, almost two and a half years ago, I faced the worst problem of my life. The problem was so perplexing that I did not have even the idea that what to do! I was really confused. Then in hope of getting some good suggestions and helpful ideas I started reading essays and writings on the topic, ‘how to solve a problem in life.’ I read around 150 essays on the same topic in that period. I read them with rapt attention. Those essays I read then were undoubtedly wonderful, highly informative, brilliantly written, pleasure reading etc and I thoroughly enjoyed them also. But unfortunately the main purpose was not fulfilled; unfortunately my problem was not solved. Moreover it was getting worse everyday. I was entering a period of depression. I had lost the required strength to face the situation.

     Then suddenly and miraculously I discovered Bruce’s ‘the spider on the cave wall’.  I realized that no one, simply no one can solve my problem until I myself try to solve it. Nothing can help me a bit unless I myself start helping me. A good friend or a well written essay can only motivate me or encourage me or give me some suggestions. But all the motivations, all the suggestions and all the encouragements will be useless until I gather enough courage in me to confront the problem with confidence. Sooner or later I must have to face it. Problem never excuses an escapist.