Do you ever feel like you can solve everybody's problems except your own?

No, I have friends and coworkers that I worry about, and I have no idea how to help them with some of their issues. I wish I could.

I feel like I can offer a outside look at what they have going on. They can do the same for me.

A fresh pair of eyes that isn’t emotionally attached to the situation can be a good thing.

Interesting question. It seems that we as humans are completely responsible for our predicaments, whether we are responsible for ourselves, someone else, or something else. What’s interesting is that we (as humans) have a giant wealth of collective experience. We can share this experience to achieve truly astounding results, as well as to share light bulb effect, or whatever it may be. For example: Consulting Fluther could be an attempt to include more collective experience in to the mix for something. Getting a fresh vantage by getting an outside viewpoint is always good. Fluther and Yahoo Answers are both awesome – we all have limited experience, but like a puzzle is put together out of it’s pieces, all of our experience can grapple together to form a bigger picture, include more experience, or take more things (as in multiple viewpoints) into account.

to an extent. maybe i just don’t take my own advice. when friends come to me for advice on things i haven’t even had experience with, they tell me i give good advice, but i can never seem to help myself with my own problems.

Ya i do. I love helping other people. But when it comes to my own problems I don’t know what to do. lol. I cant fix must of them, but some things if it happens to someone else i can fix it, but if it happens to me I don’t take the time to find a way to fix it. I just jump into it and try to fix it.

I frequently feel like I can’t solve anybody’s problems, even my own.

No

Sometimes its easier to look at someone else’s problem rather than looking inward to fix your own is always easier. However some people’s problems go too far or you just never seem to have the right answers to say to them to make them feel better.

Nope.

Yes, at times.

I used to be like that. I used to be the one that everyone turned to for help and everything would be OK and I’d just shut my own problems out. Now I’m just useless at all of it.

The only problems that I can give real advice on are the ones I have come across in my own life, and have been able to work through. Aside from that, all you can really do is lend support. Too much inferring can get ugly.