The Difference Between Treating Symptoms and Changing Structure
- Details
- Category: Systems Thinking
Your back hurts, so you take a painkiller. The pain fades for a few hours, then returns. You take another pill. The cycle continues. Meanwhile, you never adjust the chair you sit in for eight hours a day, never question the way you're holding tension in your shoulders, never address the fact that you haven't moved your body in any meaningful way for months. You're treating the symptom. The structure that creates the pain remains untouched.
Why Quick Fixes Feel Good but Don't Last
- Details
- Category: Systems Thinking
There's a specific kind of satisfaction that comes from solving a problem quickly. You're overwhelmed with clutter, so you spend three hours cleaning and suddenly your space looks completely different. You're behind on work, so you pull an all-nighter and clear your backlog. You're lonely, so you download a dating app and start swiping. Something was wrong, you did something about it, and now it feels better. The relief is immediate and tangible. Your brain rewards you with a hit of accomplishment. For a moment, everything feels under control.