Asking and Inviting

How to stop doing it all yourself and embrace collaboration

“Help me please…”

His little voice was shaky from the tears that had preceded this simple request. After trying hard to put the tiny straw into the juice box for a few minutes, he was frustrated and had shouted “I can’t do this!” before melting into a puddle of emotion.

Softly, I prompted “Mommy, help me please.”

Silence. Then more frustrated tears.

Until he was ready to ask.

How often do we wait until we’re overly frustrated with something we can’t do before we reach out and ask for help?

Admitting when we aren’t capable of doing something is hard and can even be pretty scary (especially something we should able to do). After all, we want to come across as capable, have-it-all-together people who offer help to others – not admitting we need help ourselves.

Teaching my young children to ask for help instead of escalating into an emotional tantrum was a healthy reminder for me that we need others and they need us. And that we may have to ask.

Help me please…

These three words are a powerful invitation to collaborate and accept something from someone else.

This month, we’re going to be exploring the value of collaboration and how we can work together to be even better, starting with asking and inviting.