Have you ever seen a pothole in the street?
As a driver you try to avoid them so as to not cause damage to your vehicle. As a pedestrian you avoid stepping into them so as to not lose a shoe, sprain an ankle, or to visit the ninja turtles.
Potholes start out as cracks and as water seeps into the cracks, as cars and people pass over it, and as the temperature cause the water to expand and contract, the crack eventually causes the asphalt to sink.
Potholes get patched and filled and the road is again smooth, but, before long, the pothole returns, sometimes bigger than the original hole. Why? Because the pothole was given a temporary treatment, the hole was filled and smoothed over as a temporary fix to the symptom. And until the root, the foundation, is taken care of, it will continue to fail.
What are the potholes in your life?
What are the foundational issues whose symptoms you cover over or patch up to appear fixed?