Asking for Help is a Strength

“Ouch! Oh goodness,” I’m thinking as I slide out of bed trying not to wake CeCe. She is not too fond of early morning chit chat. My back is killing me and as I ease into the bathroom, I realize CeCe was right, again.

She warned me not to go to camp by myself yesterday. “You need someone to help you, Joey. You are not 30 anymore… or 40… or 50.” Whew, that hurt! But all I could think about was the urgency to get my new limestone spread around the cabin and driveway before it sets up into a hardened state like my head.

I planned to go slow and move just enough limestone to get by, then make another trip later in the month. 

Well, I got carried away, motivated to complete my task and moved all of it. Every last shovel full spread, smoothed and packed down. Beautiful!  

Today, I am paying for it. I absolutely overdid it yesterday. I’ve had one major event with my back before that put me down for a couple of days, and since then, if I do much lifting or other straining of my back, I begin to get these lower back pains. 

I only have myself to blame. In the wise words of CeCe, “You are hard-headed.” I am hard-headed and regret feeling compelled to do it all.

I see this in the workplace today, too. We tend to be hard-headed about lots of things.

Can you relate to any of these pain points?

• “They won’t do it like I want it done.”
• “I’m the only one that can do this.”
• “If I didn’t do it, it wouldn’t get done.”
• “Everybody else is busy.”
• “This is my problem.”
• “I want the credit/reward/recognition.”
• “It takes too long to show someone else how to do it.”
• “I can’t relax until it’s done.”

Chances are we are being a little hard-headed. Let’s take CeCe’s advice and try to be more helpable.