Asking for help can be difficult!
I could ask for help…in lots of places! Many times, I do not ask, because I have a story that I can just do the task better or more easily by myself. Sometimes I even go through the motions/words and actually ask the question. Yet I believe that the answer will be “no” so I deliver my request and push right through not expecting an answer. Or the times when I hint around, trying to prompt an offer from someone for what I want!
And, then, there are examples where I actually just sit and stew over the fact that I need or want something and am unwilling to ask for what I want. Like needing to clean up my laptop and instead of asking for the help, I put up with the slow running interruptions, getting more and more frustrated by the day! So I finally contacted support via chat and asked for assistance.
Asking…
So the normal niceties are exchanged and I explained the problem I was having on my laptop. The tech help person replied with what sounded like word vomit to me. I wanted to just close the computer and give up, but I realized that I really NEEDED help. So I took a second look, to see if I might be able to understand any part of what he just typed to me. Nope.
Adjusting…
So I reply: “Can you rephrase that in normal English?” The chat person’s first reply is that I may need to call so someone can help me. Then, something shifted, and he began to translate the previous paragraph, slowly and with helpful hints. The hints actually reminded me of how my dad would give driving directions in a rural farming community. He would use landmarks such as “the big oak tree in the front yard” or “just past the bridge next to the house with the brown dog.”
The slower pace and landmarks helped guide me. I was able to run the required program on my laptop! My learning here has been to ask specifically for the help that I am seeking, to make requests when I need something adjusted. Trusting the process is also something I am not usually able to do. When I first reached out for help, I could not see the end product. I actually wasn’t even quite sure how to phrase my question. Yet, once I began the request, I found that I didn’t have to control the whole scenario. I could trust the expert to be able to perform his job, and to ask for clarification from me.
