Are you sure you have real problems?

I find that 90% of the complaints I have when I get home every day are to do with work. Yes I measured it. My boss did this, so and so said that. This project is a mess. That project went well. You will never believe what I heard/saw/experienced today. All familiar phrases I’m sure. All relevant because I would have spent 9 to 10 hours of my waking hours in that environment.

It hit me recently, however, that most of us in the working middle class (self defined as not a billionaire, but not starving) do not have real problems. The fact that we have stress from performing some sort of work means that we have a job, business or meaningful occupation of some kind. The fact that we go home to complain means that well, we have a home. Whether rented, leased, shared or owned it means we have a roof over our heads. The fact that we have to actively diet (reduce calorie intake by the body) means that the availability of food is not a problem. In fact, we are preoccupied with actually avoiding food, not trying to find food!

The fact that we think mobile data costs are too high, or that your internet service provider is useless means that you have access to the internet. The fact that your dog gets scared when there are fireworks every New Years Eve means you have a pet for companionship or security or both and can generally afford to maintain its wellbeing in addition to the human members of your household. Whenever the petrol price increases and you curse at the mismanagement of the economy it means that you are one of the lucky few people who actually have access to or own a car. For you it may not be about the secondary effects of fuel as an input cost to food prices, but rather the primary effect of how one litre of petrol now costs more that one litre of your favourite Ice Tea from Woolworths.

Of course I’m being deliberately provocative as there are people in all spheres of life going through challenges. However, I just challenge everyone to really think about how blessed and fortunate you are in your own situation. Top of the list are that if you have access to water, food, shelter, healthcare, clothing, education and don’t live in a war zone…you may just not have real problems.

Final challenge, rather than being angry at me for my patronising words above, consider channeling that anger to solving some of the world’s real problems. Start micro in your own family and community. Make a difference somewhere and I guarantee that the scale of what you considered to be real problems in your life will magically reduce over time.