We are all familiar with the conversation that starts with ” I was talking with so and so, and they told me that they are doing well doing this or that.” You can fill in the blanks. Where they have their savings. Where or how they invest. The type of assisted living facility they are at. What diet they follow. What gym they like. What store gives them the best deals. The list is endless.
All of these examples are solutions to some problem. We find comfort in identifying ourselves with other people’s solutions because it gives us some certainty of success with our own problem. It also makes our life simpler when we are handed the answers to our confusion.
The danger in jumping into the certainty, is that we forget to consider what resources, constraints, and desires we face and cannot get away from. When we don’t consider these things, and adapt the same solution, we set ourselves up for disappointment and failure.
I find that other people’s solutions never fit perfectly and will always require some adjustment for them to be equally as successful in our own lives.
None of us can escape this.