Problem vs. Solution Thinking: You’re Not a Victim…You’re the Answer

We all know what it feels like to sit in the problem. It’s heavy. It’s sticky. It loops in your head like a song you didn’t choose. And sometimes, it feels justified, because life is hard. But staying in the problem is like staring at a locked door and refusing to try the handle.

Living in the solution doesn’t mean ignoring pain. It means acknowledging it, honoring it, and then choosing to move through it. As Viktor Frankl wrote,

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

That’s the pivot point. That’s where growth lives.

The Problem Mindset

When we live in the problem, we often adopt the role of the victim. Not because we’re weak, but because it’s familiar. It gives us a script: “This happened to me. I can’t do anything about it.” But that script robs us of agency. It keeps us stuck.

Problem-thinking is seductive. It feels like we’re being honest, even noble, by sitting in our pain. But honesty without movement becomes stagnation. And stagnation breeds resentment, self-doubt, and disconnection.

The Solution Mindset

Living in the solution is not about toxic positivity. It’s about radical ownership. It’s saying: “This is hard. I didn’t choose it. But I choose what I do next.”

It’s the nurse who speaks up about burnout and then helps redesign the workflow. It’s the founder who faces rejection and uses it to sharpen their pitch. It’s the parent who’s exhausted but still shows up with love. These are not easy choices. But they’re powerful ones.

As Brené Brown reminds us,

“You can choose courage or you can choose comfort. You cannot have both.”

Living in the solution is choosing courage—again and again.

The Reward: Self-Worth

Here’s the paradox: the harder the thing, the greater the reward. Not in applause or accolades, but in how you feel about yourself. You do hard things, and afterward, you know something deeper: I can trust myself.

Self-worth isn’t built in comfort. It’s built in the trenches, when you show up, when you push through, when you choose the solution even when the problem is louder.

Real Talk

This isn’t a call to hustle harder or pretend everything’s fine. It’s a call to shift your posture. To stop staring at the locked door and try the handle. To ask for help. To take the next step. To live in the solution.

Because the solution isn’t just a strategy, it’s a mindset. And it’s available to you, right now.