Don't or Can't?

Every single one of us has faced one of those "Eureka!" moments, when something that has us completely worked up pushes us over the edge and we think, "You know what? Whatever, I don't care anymore."

But that's never what we really mean, is it?

We can attempt to fool ourselves into believing we don't care anymore, but what we honestly mean is that we can't care anymore. The act of caring has thoroughly exhausted our minds, to the point where our determination kicks back into an armchair and soothes itself without an episode of Friends and a bag of cookies, and instead of acknowledging that we're still bothered by problem X, we slap on an "Oh well!"

Is this healthy or realistic? No.

If problem X still frustrates you to think about, you still care. Therefore, instead of either eradicating or coming to a conclusion over the problem, you've just buried it for the time being, leaving a door for it to creep back up on you, and force you to shamefully realise that your eureka moment wasn't so eureka after all.

I'm 200% guilty of the hot-headed, heat of the moment "I don't care anymore!" In fact, if it was an Olympic sport I'd win a gold medal at it. But recently I've realised that it just doesn't work for me; I do care, it does matter.

So what do I do instead now?

I work even harder to resolve the problem. Once it's reached that crushing stage where you're so wound up that you know you can't keep caring anymore, it means the problem must go. I know it is never that easy, but if you invest yourself enough into anything there is always a loophole, and don't feel that it would be weak to find support from those around you too.

As long as you're able to acknowledge whether you don't care anymore or whether you can't care anymore, you will be able to find your solution.