Asking for help: The Strength we don’t talk about enough

Real strength and courage come from knowing when to ask for help.

I had a potting table for Christmas.  I love to garden when I have the chance, and for as long as I remember, I’ve wanted my own potting table, but I could never justify the cost of one, and I wasn’t going to settle for any old potting table that I’d have to replace within 2-3 years.  I knew exactly what I wanted, it was expensive (for a potting table) and it came with a 10-year warranty.  The trouble is I had to screw the legs and bottom shelf to it when it arrived.

Now, I’m not great with a screwdriver.  Yes, I’ve put flat-pack furniture together in the past and it’s served its purpose, but this potting table is far better quality.  The only pre-drilled holes were in the legs, which meant I needed body weight and pressure to screw the screws into the ‘body’ of the top of the table.  I am not known for my upper body strength!

I managed it, but it wasn’t robust and it felt a bit wobbly. If I was on my own, I would have just accepted I’d done the best I could with what I have.  But Mr M is around and he’s significantly stronger than I am and way better with a screwdriver.  So, I undid the work I’d done and asked for his help.

He had offered to put it together for me a few weeks ago, but I refused as I wanted the pleasure of unpacking it and putting it together myself.  And I didn’t want to fit into the trope of the weak, incapable woman.

I could have left it as it was and over time I’d have got used to it wobbling a bit and not functioning 100% as it should.

But when the help is there, available, and far better equipped than I am at ensuring my potting table will be long-lasting, robust and worthy of the job, giving me years of pleasure, it is daft not to ask for it, and to take it.

Mr M is happy; he loves tinkering with things like that. And I’m happy because I know it won’t collapse after its first use.

Asking for help was the hardest thing I ever did, but it enabled me to get the best results.  It gave me the clarity I needed to enable me to move forward and create my Blockbuster Life.

Asking for help is not a sign of weakness, it’s one of the bravest things you can possibly do and shows just how strong you really are.

So if you’re holding things together that feel a little wobbly, quietly coping, telling yourself you should be able to manage alone please know you don’t have to.

Behind the Mask is a gentle space to take off the armour, ask for support, and create something stronger, more solid, and more aligned without judgement or pressure.

Sometimes the bravest step isn’t pushing on…
It’s allowing yourself to be supported.