Everybody Needs Somebody

This life was never designed for you to make it on your own. I learned this lesson the hard way in college. I took to college the same mindset I had when in high school. In high school for the most part, I made it on my own. I was proud of my accomplishments. I studied alone. When I would ask my brother Kevin for help, he would look at me as if I should have already known the answer, which was always so obvious to him. I will not bore you at this time with my many accomplishments in school, but I made it through with flying colors.

I was in for a rude awakening, however, in college. I started out with great courage and matter of fact-ness. My grades plummeted. It was nothing like high school. What happened to all of my smart? Just months earlier I was “smarter” than all of my teachers. But in college I was doing everything I could to hold on to my scholarship and not be put out. For once in my school career I was way up the river without an oar. I was drowning in waters in which, I just knew I was prepared to swim. To make matters worse, my peers seemed to be doing just fine.

It was then that I discovered work-study groups. I learned that most of them were not geniuses. Most of them were not going at it alone. These people were helping each other, and there I was struggling. I was struggling only because I hadn’t learned that life was never meant for me to go at it alone. And because I needed help was not an indicator that I was weak or unintelligent. I needed help because I was trying.

Maybe you are carrying a load or burden that’s about to weigh you down or take you under. Consider that your burden was never meant for only your shoulders. Get some help. Share your burden. Ask someone for counsel. The best and strongest of men and women need assistance at times.

I love being reminded that it’s not how heavy a glass of water might be. What matters is how long a person has to carry that glass of water. Carrying eight ounces for 3 minutes might not be a challenge. But if you try to carry eight ounces for 3 hours, you will then have a problem. Let someone else, however, help to carry the eight ounces and a dead weight will become light as a feather. We all need somebody.