Can personal problems be as simple as that?

Well, everyone has problems. As analyzed prior to this, without problems, life would be boring, we wouldn't learn much, and we definitely wouldn't appreciate happiness as much as we do now. A few days ago, Mr. Rich was talking about how confessing and talking about things makes life more peaceful, easier, or something to that effect. Not just confessing wrongdoings or poor choices, but what about problems? When we tell other people about our problems, it certainly helps put them in perspective.

For example. I was in quite the predicament a few days ago. One night I wrote in my journal, "Well, I haven't been asked to Preference yet, but that's ok! Not much I can do about it, and if I don't get asked it's probably my fault for not being more social outside the realm of band." Well, the next day I got asked twice and was in a huge bind trying to decide which person officially asked me 'first.' (Long story.) I debated over the matter for the greater portion of 3 hours straight. I talked to my parents, I talked to my grandparents, I talked to a few of my friends, and I prayed about what in the world to do! I didn't want anyone to be upset or hurt, but it seemed entirely inevitable. However, as I talked, it became more and more clear that this wouldn't matter very much in the long run as long as I made the best of it as I could. As it turns out, I promised the girl I had to turn down for Preference that I'd take her to a play at the Hale. Problem solved (I hope).

When we keep thoughts and troubles in our own mind, we approach them with a very narrow-minded and one-sided philosophy. Sounds like I'm not giving much credit, but that's just how it is. We're only one person, and an insider's perspective to things isn't always the most accurate. It puts things in an entirely different perspective when we phrase out our problems to communicate them to others, because all of a sudden we can't find words to suggest, "How mean that was," showing us that maybe after all, the person that just got promoted on the 'hate list' really wasn't as rude as we envisioned previously. Inside our own heads, our thoughts wander all over the place. In communicating or transcribing them, it imposes organization on chaos and pieces of the mental puzzle we sift through at blindingly fast speeds.

Keeping a journal is great because it keeps an organized record of the majority of our lives that end up in the mental compost bin soon to be consumed by tomorrow's history lecture. Not only will the letters in pen on paper remind you, but there is a mental connection between writing things down and remembering them more easily later. Thoughts are easily stored and discarded when they are not anything more than wisps of mental energy floating through brain matter. When thoughts are attached to other mediums such as conversation or record keeping they are stored more permanently as they connect together. Have you ever had a lot of facts to learn by mere rote memorization? It's often a pain. Have you ever used a song, mnemonic, or pictures to help you memorize the same facts? No one can argue that it's easier to do the latter. Our minds just work that way. When we tie things together with more than one sense, they seem to stick longer.

So, going back to problems, we find that many of our problems can be solved and even... wait... learned from (? Novel concept...) when they are shared or recorded. In my journal, every hard day or difficult trial I come upon in life, I write about. Off in the margin I write "What I learned from this:" and answer that query as time goes on. It is when we try to keep too much inside that things become jumbled into what looks like one heck of a molehill. (Grab the climbing gear!) And when it seems like there's no one to share your problems with, there's always Deity and Dear Diary waiting for you to pour out your heart onto the tables of life. It's far better to have two people doing the puzzle out on a table than one person piecing together life with their head in a sack of loneliness. When problems cease to be a personal battle, they become something of greater worth than problems.