Part 1. Hate making requests? You’d better get over it. They are key to having you fly.

Article contributed by Wilma Ham.

The little baby bird in its nest beside our front door is totally dependant on others for her survival and she knows it. There is no doubt about that when you see this beak and its clear request for food! She goes for it, no hesitation.

When MY survival is at stake, I am no different from that baby bird.

When I really need to, I can make those requests too.

Thank goodness I have not been in many desperate situations; however in the few times that I have had my back up against the wall, I was very capable of making requests.

When push came to shove, believe you me I asked.  I asked for things I never imagined I could ever ask for.

BUT … and this is the killer, as soon as the crisis was over I would immediately forgo my ability to make requests. I’d return as quickly as I could to my independence and I’d try to forget the instance as fast as I possibly could.

In my judgment, having to ask is horrible, horrible, horrible.

I HATE it!

I cringe when I think back on those times when I was dependant on others, I cringe about how helpless and powerless I felt.

And I vouch never to go there again, not if I can help it.

Thus requests have had an unjustifiably negative reputation in my book.

And it could have been so different.

Instead I could have looked back on those times that I needed to make requests, with gratitude and joy. I could have looked at the fact that my requests were indeed granted and that there were people who granted them so lovingly.

I never realized that requests are a superb safety net and are a tremendous way of accessing resources that could make my life amazing beyond belief.

Wilma Ham and Ann-Marie Fagan are both editors of Wilma’s Blog.
The blog is part of WomenLikeMe, an online learning program.
The blog and WomenLikeMe are encouraging women to embrace living life differently by questioning the status quo and becoming skilled to live into their greatness.