“Don’t be ashamed of needing help. You have a duty to fulfill just like a soldier on the wall of battle. So what if you are injured and can’t climb up without another soldier’s help?”
MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 7.7
We struggle, we fall down. We need help, but we’re too proud to ask for it. Too concerned about appearing weak, or we just refuse to admit that we’re not perfect. It’s silly, isn’t it?
It is okay to ask for help. In fact, you could even make the case that asking for help is the mark of a strong person — someone who knows the limits of their own abilities and what their their weaknesses are. It’s a wise and humble person who doesn’t deceive themselves, and is honest when they need a hand.
In The Daily Stoic today, the author makes the very good point that we were all in need of help when we were young. We needed non-stop help, all the time. And that “was how you knew you were loved,” says Holiday.
I just love that sentence. Actually, I love the next one more: “Well, you are still loved.”
Gosh, as an adult, it’s really nice to read that. That we’re still loved, even though we’re not cute little helpless babies anymore. That we’re still deserving of help, even after all this time.
It’s perfectly alright to ask for a helping hand — you just have to drum up the courage and the humility to do it. We’re all in this together. Just ask.
