I recently fractured my ankle, which required me to be in a boot for four weeks. Not only was getting around extremely difficult, I was also instructed by my doctor to not drive. As you can imagine, as a mom, this was beyond hard. I was so disappointed that I would have to rely on others to take my older kids to and from school. I would have to find someone to help with my two year old twins for the first few days as I got used to the crutches and boot…and then eventually just the boot. I knew the next few weeks were going to be difficult, and that I would have to accept help. This was problematic for someone like me who always responds with “we’re fine” when people ask what they can do to help.
Almost immediately after, I got a text from a friend at church. She asked what she could do to help, to which I of course, I responded “we were fine.” She followed up with a text saying that she would send a dinner sign up around and they would provide a few dinners to help my family out. I think she knew by now, that was the only way I was going to accept the help, by not really giving me the choice. After that I realized I was going to have to accept a lot more help, because it just wasn’t going to be possible for my husband to do it all virtually on his own.
What happened next was amazing. My village stepped up immensely and my family stepped in to take my big kids to school. I had so many people offer to take the twins, go grocery shopping for me, send me goodies and even just come sit with me so I didn’t get bored. As much as I wanted to resist all the help, and pretend like I could handle it on my own, I knew it just wasn’t going to happen. Then I came to this realization: there is no reason why I should feel bad that I need the help. I don’t know why I was trying to prove that I could do it all on my own. My village was there for me, and it is always a two way street. If any of them needed help, I would be there in a heartbeat, so why not just accept that sometimes I am going to be the one needing the help?
I know when I help other people it always makes me feel good, now I know it’s important to let others feel that as well (as long as they are willing to serve.) So next time you are put in a situation where you need some help, don’t be afraid to let people help you! It will can be beneficial for everyone involved.
