When I was in high school I was constantly sick with a cold. My best friend was convinced I had some sort of cancer (she is a little bit of a hypochondriac :))
The colds were never bad enough that it significantly impacted my life but I was always low-energy and foggy. I thought that this was just the way my body functioned and accepted it for a long time.
It wasn’t until I intentionally started working towards a healthier lifestyle years later that I understood what the real problem was. I realized I wasn’t taking care of the deeper issues that were the actual causes of my colds in the first place. I didn’t exercise; I didn’t know healthy boundaries with my energy so I said ‘yes’ to working too many shifts at the party store (my first job!); I didn’t know how to handle my emotions; I had terrible sleeping habits, etc.
Rather than just resting and taking medicine to address my symptoms, I looked at how I could improve my health for the long-term by creating better habits and tuning into my body more.
When I work with businesses I look at it from a similar perspective. Whenever an issue (a symptom) comes about, I stop and ask “are we addressing the illness or just the symptoms?”