How Bold Are You Going To Be Today?

Asking for help…why is it so hard to do? I’m fairly certain that we’ve all had at least one time in our lives where we greatly needed help, but for some reason we failed to ask for it.

Maybe it’s pride.

Maybe it’s stubbornness.

Maybe it’s because we think that we need to prove our capability.

Or maybe it’s because we’re scared of what the response might be if we muster the courage to ask. 

I think about how many times I’ve sat in class with a question in my head, but just sat there silently wondering what the teacher meant. I’ve feared that my need for clarification would make my peers think less of my intelligence. 

I think about my experiences in middle school and how I was racially bullied time and time again merely for being who I was. I accepted the hatred, and didn’t ask for help. I didn’t want my peers to think that I was helpless and part of me didn’t want to bother anyone else with my personal fight. 

I think about the number of times I’ve been in an unhealthy state of mind, but never spoke a word of it. Why? Because it was my problem, and nobody else’s. I needed to ‘just be happy,’ and figure out how to do it on my own. Probably like you, I was raised by society into thinking that it wasn’t okay for me not to be okay…I had to be okay. It was expected.

Instances such as these three happen to countless people every single day. But why don’t we just ask for help when we need it? 

Sometimes I think that media portrays these outrageous actions like saving the damsel in distress or saving the world to be the most courageous thing someone could possibly do…but that’s not realistic. There’s bravery hidden in every day. 

It takes courage to tell someone how you feel.

It takes strength to communicate what you need and want. 

It takes a great deal of bravery to be vulnerable when you don’t want to be. 

And it takes immense boldness to ask for help when you need it, no matter how big or small. 

And so my friends, how bold are you going to be today?