Why don’t problems just go away?

Therapist M. Scott Peck commented that the whole process of life is about meeting and solving problems.  The difficulty is that facing problems means facing uncomfortable feelings.  Whether pain is a result of conflict, loss, circumstances or events, life is often difficult, full of pain but also joy at the most unexpected moments.  We need to understand that the real meaning of life is found in this process.   Not that the process is the meaning but who we become and what we do as a result of becoming wiser - becoming ourselves.  The wise among us have learned to embrace difficulties and learn from them; however, our natural tendency is to avoid pain. This can combine with cultural myths that tell us that we should cope by ourselves.  These myths cause many of us to procrastinate, hoping that things will get better by themselves or we pretend that it’s not that bad.  We can also distract ourselves with being busy, with other relationships or addictive behaviours.  The side effect of avoiding reality can become worse than the actual problem that we were trying to escape.