Human nature is so constituted that all see and judge better in the affairs of other men than in their own.

Everyone judges other people’s situations better than their own. From outside, you can see the pattern, name the bad option and tell your friend exactly what to do, and inside the same problem you are surrounded by details, history and hope, none of which help. Distance is what makes judgement possible, and you never have it where you need it most.

Borrow the distance deliberately. Write your own situation out as though it were happening to a friend, in a short paragraph, and then answer it as you would answer them. You will usually find you knew the answer already and had been arguing yourself out of it.