We Have to Learn to Accept Help When It Is Available
May 07, 2026
Accepting help when it is available is an important lesson that everyone has to learn. But it happens at different times for everyone….
I was on a bike trip. I had just fallen and had a bloody knee. But there I was, standing at a payphone on the highway. This was before cell phones. I had checked my voicemail and heard my client’s distressing phone message. And I knew I had to phone her back.
She was kind of desperate for love, and she had answered a Personal Ad and traveled to another city. Now, she found herself in a hotel room with a guy who wasn’t nice to her once she got there.
So she called me. And very, very luckily, I retrieved her message. And we were able to get her out of that painful and frightening situation.
But it could have gone in a completely different direction.
After this incident, she realized that she should consult with me before she got herself into another pickle. I remember the moment when the light bulb flickered on in her head and she saw there was a better way.
“Well,” she said, “you’re always there for me after I screw up to help me after the crisis. Maybe I should allow you to help me before I create another crisis. Maybe I can untie your hands?”
Maybe you are capable of helping me, she was saying. Maybe I want you to help me. Maybe you are someone worthwhile. Maybe I can trust you to hurt me less than I hurt myself.
Maybe she could start accepting help when it was actually available.
It was a hard lesson. One she needed to learn. But it could have been a lot harder.
And she’s not alone. We all need to learn basic rules of travel:
- Drink when drink is available
- Go to the bathroom when there’s a bathroom
- Stock up on snacks when there’s a rest stop
Because the journey is long and hard. And supplies are often short. Ask for what you need when it’s there in front of you.
