I had a boss once who agreed with Linus. “No problem is ever so big you can’t run away from it,” he would say. I never quite agreed. I’m a walker, not a runner.
I’ve fortunately never been in a situation where I was in physical danger and I had to run to save my life. And when I’m in situations I don’t like I may fantasize about walking/running out the door and never coming back, but in practice I’m usually patient and proactive. I figure out what I want instead and work on finding a way to get closer to it before I walk away. It keeps me from feeling stuck and helps me focus on learning as much as I can from the existing situation. So when I do leave I’m moving towards something rather than just walking away. It works for me.
What about you? Have you ever run away from a situation? Did it work for you?
My husband (Tom) says, “It isn’t a problem unless you think it’s a problem.” He has no problems, therefore. Honest
I go looking for problems & then I find out it wasn’t really a problem, just a worry I didn’t need to do.
bikehikebabe,
I can well imagine Tom saying that. In general I love solving problems, so my eyes light up when some of them present themselves. It’s a completely different use of the word. 🙂
Tom loves your kind of problems too. He said there aren’t miracles, just probability.
Quote: “On computer Yukon of the 750 games I’ve played, I’d won 77.7%. I just won 38 games in a row. The chance of winning that is .777 raised to the 38th power, which is the chance of winning one in 14,588 games. But I only played 750. Highly improvable but it happened.”
What??? –Jean you’ll understand that.
P.S. Me: “Doesn’t that have to do with smarts?”
Him: “No, it’s probability.” He was emphatic about it.
I always run away…just to live to fight another day as the proverb has it.
Problems of life and love and relationships I try to avoid.
Problems of a practical or even intellectual nature I love. I may have to “put them to the back of my head” for a time but I enjoy them none the less.
Other people’s LLR problems I can deal with, I even analyse them.
As for the games …. they must be pitched too low in difficulty…or he’s pretty darn clever!
.-= Magpie11´s last blog ..The Crassness of Warhol….world famous for 15 Minutes? Another cuckoo. =-.
of course there are small problems, semi medium problems and then hugemongous problems – all require different solutions IMHO 🙂
I ran away from my marriage because of a couple of things…the guy was beating up my mental brain real bad, but I couldn’t see it! The relationship counsellor and a number of my friends could also see it
I ‘ran’ away from a different guy because he was a bit of a loser and his negativity was slowing me down (he wasn’t my partner, started out as my friend)
Many other smaller/medium things I could have run away from at the time but usually what I do is I never return i.e. a restaurant or something similar 🙂
I ran away from Philosophy subject at Uni…people said I took the wrong paper first, but what I really discovered was that I didn’t want to do another even like the Chinese/Japanese philosophy that would have a x-credit with my Asian studies major!
I probably have a couple of chapters up my sleeve on areas of my life I could/did/will run away from if I’m faced with them!
.-= Cathy in NZ´s last blog ..dyepots, rain & students +++ =-.
Running away can be sensible and useful. Sometimes it is very likely we will fail or be hurt – Run! And don’t wait to grab your coat.
Magpie 11 says: “As for the games …. they must be pitched too low in difficulty…or he’s pretty darn clever!”
These are solitaire card games. You play the hand you are dealt. (Random probability) He goes back over some games until he figures out how to win. If he can win 77% of the games, there are 23% that are impossible. i.e. A card you need is covered by a card you can’t move to another place.
He said he won 40 games in a row now. It’s takes skill to win the win-able games, but it very IMPROBABLE that 40 games in a row are win-able.
Comprendre, oui? It was hard enough for me to understand.
bikehikebabe,
If the game is like some forms of solitaire then probability does enter into it. That means some games can’t be won. It depends on the cards. I had never heard of computer Yukon, and when I tried to look it up all I could find was a game called Yukon Trail, which sounded very complicated. It was an adventure game, not a card game, so I’m confused.
Magpie11,
Yes, I’m mostly thinking of intellectual and practical problems too. I don’t have any relationship problems at the moment, but getting older does present some life challenges. They’re not exactly problems that can either be solved or run away from.
Cathy,
When you “run away” from situations do you also “run towards” something else?
Evan,
I’ll ask you the same question I asked Cathy. 🙂
I try when I ‘run away’ not to run towards something else that will end up as bad!
But sometimes that has happened especially when I am most vulerable (?sp)
But I try now to stay on a even keel even when things are leaning sideways…huge attempt to right the lean etc! Maybe when we get older we are more ‘sensible’ 🙂
Of course some of the things I ‘do’ are met with incredulous responses about why I am ‘doing’ said things. Just recently it has been the on-line grocery shopping where it is delivered. I have to explain over and over to those people who think I should be watching a budget/$$ is that it isn’t about the $$ it’s about the energy/time I don’t have. i.e. I don’t own a car and even though my nearest grocery store is a hop, skip & jump away – carrying bulky and awkward food items is tiresome and I canNOT get everything in one swoop!
.-= Cathy in NZ´s last blog ..dyepots, rain & students +++ =-.
You bet I have run away from a dicey situation. I have posted about it too. “Fate however had other ideas. A lady friend of mine wanted to get married to me, and I was not in any mood to. Things became a bit sticky and I had to leave the town that I was living in for obvious reasons. The admission that I had secured came in handy. I exploited that and scooted off!” in http://rummuser.com/?p=1494
.-= Rummuser´s last blog ..The Wildest Thing That I Did In My Youth. =-.
Cathy,
I find that as I get older my time and convenience becomes more important than the money saved. Your choices make sense to me. 🙂
Rummuser,
Great story! Thank you.
I don’t run away from problems anymore as when I was young, well I run a little. It’s called taking long walks. Usually any perceived problem is built on FEAR. We all know FEAR means F__k Everything and Run. and the other good mottos. are :This too shall pass. and What goes around comes around. No problem is too big for God to handle. Why worry about it anyway, it doesn’t help. Keep the faith and when all else fails just hit the eject button. I remember years ago in my forties I was doing something rather mundane outdoors and I heard a still small voice say, do you want to get off the freeeway of melodrama ? and I said yes. and He said it’s like the freeway with its exits. You just get off at any time you feel ready. Then I exited the ramp. and He said Now pull up[ a chair and you can can watch the rest of the human race’s drama from here.
victoria,
I don’t consider taking long walks as running away. It’s a good idea to detach once in a while and get centered. Thanks for coming by.
This is a nice article, I liked reading it. My father always says it is not wise to run from your responsibilities. I read your question but I never came into such situation where I need to run for my life, and if I am in such situation first I will try to tackle the situation and if it is not possible, then I will run for my life. 🙂
jagtrejser,
I agree with your father, and with you. 🙂