All of us, at certain moments of our lives, need to take advice and to receive help from other people.-Alexis Carrel
It all beats down to the fact that a human can't live all by himself/herself. I don't know if it's okay to say that we are designed to need one another intervention with different stuff in life and it happens naturally.
Seeking help or advice isn't a bad thing, I used to know a friend who referred to it as a sign of weakness until he completed his National diploma. He did his Industrial training at a bank and he was offered a job after the training. He was so confused about what to do and one evening he strolled to my mom's shop to ask for her advice because I would have laughed at him so badly if he asked me.
Asking people for advice is similar to asking for help and it's never a sign of weakness because it's okay for me to admit that I need help than taking a decision and end up regretting so badly. No man is an island of knowledge, we do not and can't know it all.
One of the reasons why we have friends, families and others isn't just to celebrate good times, seeking help (advice) from them when the journey ahead looks twisted and we don't know what next to do isn't a bad thing to do. I have taken advice a lot of times just like I have advised people as well and I do my best to guide anyone who seeks my advice in the most sincere way I can.
After seeking advice from people, I don't just swing into action immediately. I take my time to check properly before implementing whatever advice I get from people because not all advice we get will favour us and you can't blame whoever gave it because they gave the advice based on their knowledge, understanding and exposure.
I have taken lots of advice that worked for me and my mom is my number one advisor. She gives advice even before I ask because she pays attention to everything happening in her children's life and I appreciate her a lot. Aside from Mom, many other people have given me great advice and I will share one of them as my entry for the prompt.
Image was designed with Canva
Mrs Oloyede was my boss who took me as a child when she did some findings about me. I was sixteen when I started teaching her kids after-school lessons and one of them is a graduate today.
I was with this woman for a while and she always disturbed me about furthering my education, she always said that I couldn't earn a stipend forever. Those discussions pissed me off always but I couldn't express myself properly to her.
"She is financially okay and I believe she doesn't know that all fingers aren't equal. After advising me, it wouldn't cost her anything to give me money to further my education," I always told myself this.
I got a job that wouldn't give me time to coach her kids again, she advised me to take the job and rescheduled the lesson time because she didn't want someone else to coach her children. After a year of combining jobs, she called me and asked when I was going back to school. That day, I couldn't hold things back and just explained everything about my life to her.
Because I show up at work always looking happy doesn't mean I am okay. I had a lot of things on me and the little money I was earning wasn't close to solving my problems.
She laughed at me and said, "You think I haven't done my research before giving you the coaching job, I don't just allow strangers in my home or allow them to have access to my kids."
"I know everything you are going through but you can't wait until you are comfortable before you make the move. If you don't try it now, you might not be able to further your education and it would be very terrible for you,"
She told me a story about herself and I learned a lot from her. That day, I had a sleepless night. I was completely confused because it wouldn't make sense for me to start what I can't finish and yet, everything the woman said to me was true.
I thought about it critically and took that advice. Honestly, I was mentally prepared for school but financially, I wouldn't last more than a year. It wouldn't make sense for me to end things halfway after staying at home for many years. While making preparations, help came from places I wasn't helping and this woman played a huge role for me. There was a time when my phone rang in the class and a lecturer seized it, she couldn't reach me for about two weeks and when I finally contacted her, she used her connection to help me retrieve my phone from the lecturer.
I am glad, I took the advice because it paid off. I learned a very huge lesson from everything that happened back then and those lessons still help me to date.
It's good to be prepared for things before attempting them but sometimes, we will never be ready because of just one thing. Instead of letting that one thing hold me back for too long, I just take the step and commit myself to it. Surprisingly, it has worked many times for me but there are times when it didn't.
Every decision we make in life can't be perfect and we can't be sure of the results until we take those steps.
