I know when women come to us men with a problem, most of the time they just want cuddles, not solutions.
It’s hard for a guy not to fix problems.  It’s what we do.  
Cuddles don’t solve problems.  Cuddles don’t pay the bills.  Cuddles won’t cure cancer.  Cuddles didn’t develop iPhones.  Elon Musk didn’t build space ships out of cuddles.
The amount of effort it takes me to NOT offer up solutions to Kate’s problems is overwhelming.   So I always cave in and offer it.  It’s how I show I care.
Today I found myself in exactly this situation.  Not cocooned…  but Kate came to me with a major problem.  There was a simple and obvious solution.  She rejected my resoonse ( inutially).  I guess she just wanted sympathy, not a fix.
This is completely alien to me.  Thd pain will go away once the problem goes away.
How can we make the world a better place if we don’t actually solve the problems?
John Vogel