The Joy of Being Asked to Help

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Learning how to drive is a rare instance in a teenager’s life, Liz Krieger argues in a recent article: “This wobbly uncertainty, this return to a kind of innocence, is the rarest condition in a 16-year-old, and it lasts about as long as a learner’s permit does.” The best part of teaching her daughter how to drive, Krieger writes, is being allowed to help.

Even once we move beyond the fierce teenage desire for independence, asking for assistance can feel awkward and vulnerable—espsecially in America’s culture of individualism, Julie Beck noted last year.

But deciding to go it alone ends up depriving loved ones of the joy of participating.

“Pushing through discomfort to accept the help that was offered” in planning her wedding, Julie wrote, made it “feel less like a product we had purchased and more like something special that we had created with our friends, family, and neighbors.” Today’s newsletter explores what asking for help does for the people helping.

On Asking for Help The Last Thing Teenagers Will Let You Teach Them By Liz Krieger An interesting shift happens when a kid is learning to drive, and you’re both inside a box with your fear, moving 40 miles an hour.

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To Make Someone Happy, Ask for Help By Arthur C.

Brooks Generosity is like the circulation of the blood, healthiest and best when it goes around and around.

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A Wedding Reveals How Much Help Is Really Available to You By Julie Beck Big life moments offer permission to ask for assistance.

You should seize it.

Read the article.