Ask and it shall be given.....

I've had a couple experiences in the last two weeks that I feel really good about....and both of them involve asking for help and doing a bit of advocating for myself. At age 57, isn't it about time I learned how to do that?

In my Research course, our assignment is to write a pilot study, talking about how we would design an actual project. Since this is really a new area for me, I was feeling pretty uncertain about how to begin. So.....I contacted my great friend Don, who has taught Research at GVSU and asked for a meeting. In about one hour with him, I felt like I had a much better sense of direction and ideas on how to start. I went home and began writing, and a few hours later, decided to email my draft doc to my professor at Stritch to see if she also could check it out. Again, I felt really lucky: Carroll called me right away from Milwaukee, gave me two quick ideas but said the rest of it looked really well done.

I think my nature has always been to do my best and try not to impose or bother other people for help, but this week I learned an important lesson about allowing myself to be a little vulnerable. Opening myself to receive the insights of other people, I now have more of a sense of certainty about my work, and I've been able to correct things as I go along instead of playing clean-up after work is completed. I'm thinking this attitude is definitely the one I'll need to cultivate as I go further in this graduate work, and I'm so glad I feel like there are people to help----ports of safety in the storm!