I know that there is always something I can do to make things better.

Some situations don't have a fix in them.

A diagnosis, a redundancy, a marriage coming apart — nothing you do will reverse any of it.

What stays available is smaller and less satisfying. You know how the benefits form works. You have a car on Tuesday. You can sit in the room while somebody makes the phone call they've been avoiding.

Better rarely means solved. Usually it means slightly less alone, or one fewer thing on the list — a low bar, and the one that actually gets cleared most days.