#somebody else's problem

It was the living who ignored the strange and wonderful, because life was too full of the boring and the mundane. But it was strange. It had things in it like screws that unscrewed themselves, and little written messages for the dead.

becoming familiar with and internalising the SEP Field Theory (”Somebody Else’s Problem” from Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy) has improved my life NO END.

I mean, I’m a SUPER diligent & prone-to-stress person who always worries about things they should be doing. Accessing the SEP way of thinking helps me prioritise things.

“A random person sends a question to the school’s mailing list, and the question isn’t from my area of expertise - SOMEBODY ELSE’S PROBLEM.”

“A group of kids I don’t know aren’t wearing masks on the public transport. SOMEBODY ELSE’S PROBLEM.”

This DOESN’T mean that I won’t stop to help a person in need; that I’ll pass by if someone I don’t know asks for help; if my expertise (or sometimes just presence) is needed somewhere.

But what it DOES mean is that I can focus on the things that actually ARE my problem, my responsibility.

When something belongs in the SEP Field, then I can trust that SOMEONE ELSE will take care of it. I’m learning to trust that I’m not needed everywhere. I’m learning to say NO to things I can’t or shouldn’t do. I’m learning to say “that’s a good idea but I’m too tired right now to do anything about it.”

The SEP Field is saving my life in so many ways. Thank you Douglas Adams for inventing it!

But it was then that I finally got it. This thing we were debating...didn’t matter to him. It was an interesting question, one of those “controversial topics” they’d have you debate in school, an ethical conundrum, a thought experiment. But for me it was a matter of life and death. 

He didn’t think it was a game. He didn’t think it wasn’t important. He just thought it...wasn’t relevant. To him, it had no bearing at all on his life. He was discussing it because the so-called moral question interested him, not because the conclusion mattered. That’s why he wasn’t emotional. 

- Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe, and Everything