Change your focus....and poof! Things aren't so hard

Once again, as soon as we decided to confront a problem that has been lingering over our heads, it instantly isn't a problem anymore.

Let me explain.

For years now, the State of Maine has insisted that Tim owed them taxes for the year 2000, even though he lived in Massachusetts for all of that year. He had previously submitted all kinds of paperwork to them, his Mass tax return and federal tax return for that year, his lease in Massachusetts, etc.

But Maine kept insisting he owed them money.

We've ignored it for a long time. At one point, Tim called someone he knew in Maine who was an accountant, but we never did anything further.

But one by one, we've been knocking off outstanding stuff that has just been hanging over our heads, and each time, it's not as bad as we feared, and in most cases, it instantly got better. In some cases, the answer appeared as soon as we decided to address the problem.

So Tim decided it was time to deal with Maine. He was going to call the accountant he knows in Maine, find out how to get a lawyer in Maine and pay the lawyer to contact the State Department. He was preparing to go find all that paperwork again.

And so he went to look at one of the letters that Maine sent him (assuming it was just one of the bills they keep sending). The letter said that the State department had reviewed the paperwork Tim had submitted and accepted them. There is a $0 balance and Tim doesn't owe them any money.

That's it. Poof. Problem gone. We've had this letter for months, but never looked at it (part of us ignoring stuff), just assuming it was one of the bills.

Once you face the problems and challenges in your life, I think they have a lot less hold over you, and you can get through them...sometimes easier than others, but they really won't go away until you confront them.