No One's Coming

For me, one of the hardest parts of growing up was realizing that no one is coming to help you anymore.  Your dirty bathroom? Your job. Your broken windshield wiper? Your job?  Your broken heart? Your job.  Yelling for Mom in the night doesn't work anymore. 

This was a hard week, and I thought a lot about how much I missed the old days.  At home, the kids got sick, and it was my job to be there. On the music front, I threw out my back lugging a bunch of gear, and it was still my job to move it.  At the restaurant, we had no product for the local farmer's market, and it was my job to make it. 

(In my mind, I heard David Allen Coe singing "Take This Job & Shove It" more than once). 

And I don't say this to complain. Ultimately, I'm grateful to have things to work for, but I still felt lonely this week; it's frankly isolating to face your challenges alone.  But today I had a bit of a breakthrough: 

The reason no one comes to help me is because I didn't ask them to. 

Reader, it dawned on me that--if I wanted help moving gear--I could've asked for it.  If I needed help making food for the market, I could've asked for it.  And when my heart breaks, I could be calling a friend instead of assuming I have to tackle it on my own.  Just because we can't call for our parents anymore doesn't mean we can't call for someone. 

The moral of my week? Even strong badass adults need to get the help they need. After I spent the whole day preparing food for the market, a few friends pitched in to help me get my tent set up, and it was such a relief.  Imagine how much more relief is in my future if I could unlearn the adult mindset of taking on the world alone. 

Lean lean lean this week, and I'll see you next Monday. -Em

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