Saturday, April 19, 2014

Asking for help is generous

I just want to say that giving people a chance to be in your life, especially when you are down and needy, can be a gift to them.

This week someone I barely knew committed suicide. We only had one interaction, but we had a lot of mutual friends, and I feel like I can see her story clearly because we shared some similar life experiences.

I am going to resist turning her story into a neat narrative or object lesson. She was in pain, that makes me sad. Maybe I know some of the reasons, maybe I don't. She didn't want to share that with me and that's her right. But I feel sad about all the barriers that made it difficult for her to talk about her pain. Maybe it felt like an imposition. A lot of people would have related to her story of pain though, whatever it was.

This week a person reached out to connect to me through my blog. She had questions and needed a community to support her, and luckily we were able to quickly connect her with that. She and I both have had bad things happen in our lives, but it makes those experiences feel meaningful that I can help even a little bit.

Every single person alive has asked for help before and will do it again. All you are doing, when you ask, is saying: "We are connected."

Connection is a gift that anyone can give.

2 comments:

  1. <3 Just had someone leave March 5, 2014. I'm sorry for your loss.

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  2. Thanks, hoping for peace for you too and the person's family and friends.

    ReplyDelete