As I look around the world I see so many people in need, but unable to ask for help. I also have become aware that I have gone through phases in my life when I have had trouble asking for help. There seems to be two reasons people have a hard time accepting help. One is that they think it is going to make them look week or vulnerable. The other is the illusion that people who appear to be successful in what they do, never ask for help.
Asking for help does not make one appear weak. Asking for help creates an atmosphere of environment. Asking for help not only creates an opportunity for others to feel blessed, but for people to empower themselves. Being able to accept help says to others, I may not have the answers, but I am willing to find them and make the situation better. Our inability to accept help can create more damaging situations then we originally experienced. For example, someone I know lost their car and lived in a space where she could not bring her daughter to visit. Rather than accept help from friends who had offered to drive her every other week to see her, she stopped seeing her and now is at risk of losing custody of her daughter. Her reason for not accepting help is her pride and not wanting to feel like an inconvenience.
Most people I know feel good when they have the opportunity to help others. When we accept others help, we provide them with the opportunity to feel that goodness as well. When we do not accept others help, we block that blessing.
In everything, I have read about successful people and their lives, the one thing they seem to do quite often is ask for help. They know where their strengths and weaknesses are and surround themselves with people who can help them. They ask for help, delegate, and accept help from others. In order to continue to be successful in what they are doing, they ask for and accept help.
It seems that one of the other reasons people do not ask for or accept help is fear, the fear that others will judge them for seeking help, or see them as weak. A friend of mine taught me an acronym for fear that says Fear is False Evidence Appearing Real. However, recently I was shown another acronym for overcoming Fear that says Face Everything And Rise. Fear can be overcome. Once we recognize that the fear is within us, then we can ask for and accept the help to improve our lives and situations.
We all experience situations where help is needed. So take the first step and ask for help. Bless yourself and others by accepting the help.