I struggle with these feelings too. I’m always on the lookout for someone expressing distress and I tend to attend to their needs at the expense of my own work. It is important for me to recognize when someone actually wants assistance or if I’m just “mansplaining,” which would be annoying and demeaning.

Sometimes, if I don’t understand the problem myself, I find it very interesting to learn how to solve it, and the experience is usually mutually beneficial.