Today I got a lesson in the most basic rule of stress-free living: Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS). I was trying to figure out a problem with this new website; I only had one bar in the edit view and no “Visual” tab. So after poking around for an hour, and then looking through numerous forum pages, I was resigned to the fact that I would have to download yet another plugin and deal with that. Then a friend suggested the obvious: “Google ‘No Visual tab in edit view’ or something like that.” Well, DUH! So here it is I am getting myself all in a tizzy and halfway into freakout mode and then, wham! So being a good little boy, I Googled and found the answer. Then I followed the directions and it worked because … RIF (Reading Is Fundamental).

So there you have it folks; another example of me having to cuddle a problem and wrestle with it, and accomplish nothing instead of stepping back and seeing the big picture. (You know, the obvious.)

Every now and then we get so caught up in what we are doing, and trying to resolve an issue, that we miss the obvious solution that is right in front of us. Is this because we are not happy unless we are miserable and in the mist of some form of crisis, no matter how minor? Is it because if some endeavor of ours goes off without a hitch we feel cheated and guilty, like “That was too easy?” Is it our need to complicate everything to feel like we are accomplishing something of value? Do we have an innate need for constant struggle against the universe; especially those of us with abusive and/or addiction backgrounds? Or were we just being a dumb ass and missed the obvious?

Well today, I missed the answer right in front of me because I failed to look and “Keep It Simple Stupid.”