My drop in the ocean

A problem. Needs to be solved. Easy to solve. No one knows of problem's existence. Chances of it being solved? Very less.

If I go to my doctor and say, 'Doctor, give me something, I'm feeling terribly unwell', chances are that my doctor's first question will be along the lines of 'What's wrong?'
If I reply 'I don't know, I can't tell exactly, but I feel everything is wrong and I'm panicking - I don't know what to do', it's not going to help the good doctor cure my ailment. For that he needs to know exactly whats my issue. If it's a really bad cold+headache, he can prescribe something to clear my airway and soothe my nose and lungs. He can advise me to take an aspirin to relieve me of my headache. But for that he has to know my problem. For that, I have to know my problem.

Have you experienced this? Most things in life seem to going against you, you don't know what the problem is, but you seem to be swimming against life in most aspects. There is a feeling of unease, that things are not what they should be, circumstances can and should be better, why isn't my job satisfying me, why is my love life not fulfilling, why don't I feel happy around my family? If you have, join the club....

If you do get this feeling of something being wrong, there's pretty much only two things you can do - wait and ride over the feeling, or pinpoint what's wrong and get down to resolving it. The first option is we often (involuntarily) choose. We give in to the sinking feeling, brood for a couple of days, become irritable and moody, and wait for the gloominess to slowly wear off. But this is the passive approach. We don't improve, we certainly don't learn anything, and worse, the feeling can and does come back.

The second option is recognition - try to realize what's wrong with you. If work is a source of sorrow, track down what is causing it. Is it an incompatible colleague? A demanding/irritating boss? Unsatisfying work? Less pay? Lack of recognition of your efforts? A feeling of going nowhere despite working your ass off?
Once you have a draft of your list, you can classify the problems into the ones you can do something about and the others which are beyond your control. The second category is not worth worrying about, so you can set out formulating action plans for tackling the first set of problems. This builds confidence, and basically gives you something to do, rather than mull about, blaming your fate. Once the items start being stricken off the list, you get a sense of progress in your endeavour, and your attitude improves.

The bottomline? By a simple strategy of recognising and putting your specific problems onto paper, you can chalk out a plan to defeat those nitty-gritty issues, and emerge a much better....and happier person. Again, sounds theoretical I know, but it is working for me, and it might work for you.