What’s the #1 thing a butcher needs in order to craft excellent cuts of meat all day long? A sharp knife, of course! But what if, one morning, the butcher walks into his shop and realizes his knife’s edge is dull?
Like all of us in any given moment, the butcher has a million options. He could worry about how he’ll get through the day with a blunt knife. He could lament his inability to cut meat with a dull blade. The butcher could fear his boss’s criticism for producing bad cuts, or he could doubt whether he’ll find another knife in the shop. Of course, he could also just throw his arms in the air, start cutting, and let the chips fall where they may.
In the end, however, all of these options fall short. In Be Water, My Friend, Shannon Lee explains why:
“Worry doesn’t solve a problem; it makes a problem out of the problem. Pessimism doesn’t solve a problem; it makes a problem harder by implying it is impossible to solve. Fear doesn’t solve a problem; it stops us from attacking the problem because we are afraid of failing or making the problem worse. Doubt doesn’t solve a problem; it gives you an excuse not to solve the problem. And apathy doesn’t solve a problem; it leaves you uncaring about anything at all.”
Actually, the butcher does not have a problem at all. Just a tiny, additional to-do on his list of tasks for the day: sharpen his knife or find a new one. That’s it. “All this negativity,” meanwhile, “just blunts the tools you have at your disposal to overcome an obstacle,” Shannon writes. “It creates obstacles in front of obstacles.” The real wear-and-tear is not on the knife at all. It happens in the butcher’s head.
Circumstances come and go. The only real problems are the ones we project onto whatever circumstances we find ourselves in. “Realize that you are powerful,” Shannon reminds us. “Stepping stones or stumbling blocks—the choice is yours.”