Learning to Reach

Learning to Reach

On asking, receiving, and letting myself be supported

Dedication

For anyone who learned to survive by carrying everything alone—

and for the moment you realized you were allowed to rest

in someone else’s care.

I used to believe

needing help

meant I had failed

some invisible test of strength.

I thought courage lived

only in standing alone,

teeth clenched,

hands full of what was already too heavy.

But the truth came softly—

in exhaustion,

in the ache of carrying myself

without pause.

Asking for help

didn’t break me open.

It let the light in

where my arms had grown tired.

I learned that reaching out

is not surrender—

it is recognition

that I was never meant to do this alone.

Accepting help

is not weakness.

It is trust made visible.

It is the moment I let love

touch the places I was guarding.

Some hands steadied me.

Some only brushed past.

Both reminded me

that I exist in a world

that can respond.

Now when I ask,

I do not apologize.

I breathe.

Help arrives

not as rescue,

but as reminder:

I am allowed

to be held

without being undone.

— Flower InBloom 🌸