Ok, you have a dream. Your heart is burning with a desire to see it through. You even understand the path you need to take to achieve your dream. But, there are one or more roadblocks. Maybe you don’t have the initial money you need to get started. Maybe a critical ingredient or part or other necessary component is not readily available. What do you do when you can’t achieve your dream by yourself?
Simple. Ask for help. Yes, you want to achieve your dream by yourself. The sense of accomplishment you get for seeing something difficult through to completion can never be beat. There is also a pride factor. It’s YOUR dream and you want to make it a reality so you can show the world what YOU can do. There is absolutely nothing wrong with these beliefs. After all, doing something that others don’t believe you can do, or even something that has never been done before always makes us feel accomplished and successful when we achieve what it was we set out to do.
But still, sometimes, in spite of our best intentions or abilities, we simply can’t do it alone. Guess what? It’s perfectly fine to ask for help. In all likelihood, you will find eager assistance from friends and family. Perhaps even from adversaries or “the competition”. Why? Because even in this world of “me before you” that we live in, most of us want to see and help others succeed. After all, not only does doing the impossible make you feel good, but helping someone else do something difficult or impossible is just as rewarding.
I would offer this one example of how an offering of help gave Sara Tucholsky, a softball playing college senior, her first home run, EVER. You see, in a late season game, she hit a home run with two runners on base. And, while running the bases, she missed tagging first base and turned to go back when she tore her right ACL. And, since she couldn’t run the bases, the home run wouldn’t count if her teammates tried to help her. That was when the opposing team’s first baseman and shortstop asked the Umpire if they could assist Sara. As they said, she hit the ball over the fence. She deserved to get her home run. They carried her around the bases, letting her gently touch each base as they passed it until they reached home plate and delivered Sara into the waiting arms of her teammates and coaches. Sara achieved a lifelong dream of hitting a home run because she got help, from adversaries no less!
The moral of the story??? Don’t be afraid to ask for help. If the offer of help is sincere, accept it. Don’t let pride or a stubborn desire to go it alone keep you from reaching your goal. And, by accepting an offer of help, you not only see your goal get a little closer, making you feel good inside, but the person offering their help gets to feel good for assisting someone in need. All in all, it’s a win-win for both of you.
