There’s a story about a drunken man at night crawling around on his hands and knees on the sidewalk, under the streetlight.
A police officer sees him and comes over to find out what’s wrong.
The man says,” I dropped my keys.”
The police officer offers to help him find them, and after a few minutes of them both crawling around on their hands and knees not finding anything, the police officer says,” are you sure you dropped your keys here?”
And the man says,” Oh, no. I dropped them over in the park.”
The police officer says,” Well, why are you looking for them here?”
And the man says,” The lights better.”
It’s an example of a tendency many of us have to solve a problem using the easiest way possible, not necessarily the best.
It’s also an example of a tendency not to share the problems that we’re having with other people.
But there’s three important reasons why you should.
- Telling a problem to another person can help you feel less alone about the problem.
- The other person may have solved that problem already, and can help you find a similar solution.
- The more people you share a problem with, the more help you get solving it, and likely find the solution much, much faster, whether it’s keys or anything else that you’re searching for in life.