Help

• When have you received help?
  • From whom do you receive help? How do you/did you feel about these events?
• When have you given help?
• To whom have you offered help?How do you/did you feel about these events?

Anyone who thinks that they have gone through life without getting help from somebody is lying to themselves. Don't get me wrong there are some people who have gotten much more help than other people. That would include myself. I will never forget how much help people have given me throughout my life, and I am always grateful for it. Sometimes I actually think that my parents shouldn't have helped me so much, and actually made me work a little harder. Pretty much all the way up until I graduated from college I was purely dependent on my parents and for most of that time I was fine with it, because my sister had gotten that help before me, so I kind of expected it. It was after college when I still needed that help when I began to lose my self-esteem, specifically when it came to money. When my parents help me out with money now it lowers my self-esteem, but as I become more independent, it increases my self-esteem.

When it comes to other help, besides money, I have a much better approach to it. When I need help from somebody, for example with moving, I deal with it much more positively. My thinking is that if I ask my friends to help me move, I won't feel bad for it, because I will pay them with pizza and beer and I know that when they need help moving I will help them out. My belief is that I don't feel bad asking for help, when I know I will be able to return the favor.

I have in turn helped out many people, my sister mostly though. I have helped move her countless times. I have also volunteered often since I have been in college, such as habitat for humanity and feed my starving children. Whenever I do help when it is asked of me and not demanded of me, I feel great because it was my decision to help. Generally, when I am helping my sister, I feel obligated to do it because of many reasons, so I don't feel as good about it. I always try to offer help whenever I can. I like feeling useful, especially at work. I never like to have my work ethic questioned, so I always try to be the hardest working employee, so that no one can question how hard I work, though it still happens. Whenever I help somebody, I feel like I have put some good back into the world, hoping that as long as I give more in my life than take, then it will be a life well lived.

Joe Nikkel