From campsite chaos to clarity - my new problem solving method

Have you ever been in a situation where the problems are coming at you so fast, you are paralyzed?

Just me?

That was me over Memorial Day weekend when my husband’s back gave out, while camping. With a group of friends. And all our kids.

He has had a bulging disk for a long time, and it flairs up on a six-month cycle. He’s been pushing it lately, so by the time we rolled into our campsite on that Friday night, he was starting to do his classic “bad back shuffle.” 

Still, he was managing. So we pushed through. 

On Saturday, I returned from the beach to see him playing corn hole. Wouldn’t be my first choice, I thought. But what are you going to do?

An hour later, he was laid out in our little tear drop camper, unable to walk. 

We figured he might just need some ice and a real bed. But within an hour, I found myself asking, Do I need to take him to the ER?

It was getting dark. Our kids were running around feral in their pajamas. 

I ended up driving to get him some medicine to see if that would help. 

It didn’t. 

With seemingly little other choice, he decided to power out the night in the camper. 

The next morning, I woke up at 5 am spiraling. 

What do I do with the kids? 

How do I get him into the car? 

What about all of our camping gear? 

Where do we go, to the ER or urgent care? 

My husband and I listen to survival story podcasts on our long car rides. These are crazy stories of survival that make you realize how resilient people can be when push comes to shove. 

As the worries circled in my brain that morning, I started a new train of thought.

This isn’t being stuck on Mt Whitney with a broken back in a snow storm, I thought. 

Then another thought landed:

Just solve one problem at a time.

The last one unlocked all of the answers I needed.

Problem 1: The kids. 

I called my niece. Within an hour, her dad came to get them. Our other niece watched them at our house.

Problem 2: Getting him out of the trailer. 

I cleared out of our SUV, laid down the seats in the back, made him a bed with a Thermarest and a sleeping bag, and backed it up to the trailer. Our friends helped him in.

Problem 3: Our campsite. 

Those friends packed everything up, towed our trailer to a grocery store lot where we could grab it later.

I drove my husband to the ER, where they gave him enough pain meds to knock out a linebacker. 

Later that night, when we got home, my kids were safe. My husband was ok. And the crisis was over. I felt a huge sense of relief. And also, a bit of a revelation.

Only two days later, I felt the same spiral in my business. Too many moving pieces. Too much to figure out. Too little time. 

Solve one problem at a time, I thought. 

I did. 

And it worked again. 

Too often in our businesses, it’s not one issue that breaks us. It’s the pile up. The mental weight of everything all at once.

If you can break it down, on decision, one next step, the chaos starts to clear.

I’m curious: Where are you feeling overwhelmed right now?

Try solving just problem. Then the next. And then the next.

You’ve got this.