Good morning! I hope you've all had a lovely week!
We FINALLY got to have our family Christmas. My sweet daughter who lives in Canada was able to get down for a visit after that horrible storm through a monkey wrench in our earlier plans. We've all had an awesome week together, eaten delicious food, and nurtured one another. Being the mom of these two girls is the best and most important thing I've ever done in my life.
Meanwhile, I sprained my ankle, so I'm wearing an aircast boot. Man that sucker is heavy and awkward but it really does help me hobble around. And that brings me to what I wanted to talk about today - accepting help.
Letting others help me goes against my very nature. I've always been an incredibly independent person and "I've got it myself" is my go-to response to nearly everything. Part of it is my nature and part of it, I think, being a single mom. If I hadn't figured out how to take apart a drain, for example, in a house
full of three chicks with long hair, my plumbing bills would have been out of control. I learned about mechanical repair so I could sell services at my job. I learned a lot of things that allowed me to take care of myself and my family without assistance.
And now, I'm supposed to stay off my feet.
Y'all know I want to be up cooking, cleaning, doing my girls' laundry and indulging in mom-dom, but instead, I'm trapped on the sofa with my foot up while they take care of me. It's humbling and difficult. But I know if I don't accept it, my recovery time will be longer and I have a trip planned for next month. There's literally no option but to accept help. And I'm incredibly lucky to HAVE help from people I trust.
As things continue to go sideways in our world, economically and otherwise, we all may have to accept help at times too. I'm not talking about charity or handouts, but just neighbors
helping neighbors, family helping family. I'm talking about the kindness of strangers.
To accept help is not a weakness, but instead, I think, more of a strength than always stubbornly refusing it. As long as you are a person who also renders assistance when you can, you still maintain your integrity and your independence. This is what communities are built from - cooperative efforts.
So while one of the foremost traits of every prepper I know is independence, know that one day, you might also need to accept a hand up from others. And know that there's nothing wrong with it. It's something to ponder on a rainy (at least here in North Carolina) Sunday morning.
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