A few days ago, I had a lesson in humiliation. As are many of life's important's lessons, this was a small incident, but its effect on me was powerful.
Since surgery, I have been wearing white support stockings. (Yes, they look as hideous as they sound.) Thigh-high, they take some doing to get on. And off.
Usually, my husband helps me. But on one afternoon, when I was home alone, I longed for a shower. I removed the left stocking, but struggled to get the right one off. As part of my post-surgery instructions, I am not supposed to bend from the waist. I worked and worked to get the stocking down my leg and finally succeeded in getting it to my ankle.
I couldn't coax the stocking any further. It flopped around my foot, making my already cumbersome walking even more so. Still, I persisted. I thought about calling my husband, begging him to come home and get the wretched thing off me. And, embarrassing as it would be, I could also call any number of friends who had offered their help. I resisted. Surely a fairly intelligent woman could figure out a way to take off a stocking.
We (the stocking and I) continued our battle of wills. Frustrated, I tried to kick it off. I could have fallen and easily damaged my new hip. While I was hopping around on one foot, it occurred to me that maybe I could stand on the loose end of the stocking and pull it off that way.
At last. Success.
What was my lesson? Don't be afraid to ask for help. I could have saved myself considerable time and frustration if I'd swallowed my pride and embarrassment if I had done just that. But, no, I had to do it myself.
This I know for sure: asking for help doesn't make me weak. Sometimes, it just makes me smart.
Maybe you could have video-taped this and sent it into America's Funniest Home Videos and won $10K. But as funny as the picture in my head is, what you write is true in that we need to ask for help more. It is a lesson I have learned in part, but still need reminders.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you just needed something funny to write about to make me laugh today! I really needed it. My fridge went out last night. It's working now. I don't have a funny story about it yet because it's just too fresh (or not so fresh, as in the case of the dairy products I lost!). Thank you!
ReplyDelete