The Courage to Ask for Help THE SHARED HEART: HEARTFULNESS By: Joyce and Barry Vissell
I have to admit; I have a hard time asking for help. I have that “false pride” thing about being able to do it myself, that if I have to ask for help, it means I’m helpless. I’m like the two-year-old who proclaims, “I can do it myself!” Now that I’m on the other side of the life spectrum, at 70, it means even more to be able to do things by myself. A recent weekend brought all of this to light. I pulled our 19-foot sailboat up to Lake Tahoe to experience sailing and camping on the largest alpine lake in North America. Yes, I was alone. I would have preferred that Joyce accompany me, yet she wanted to stay home and help with our newborn grandson, and I have a need for occasional solo adventures.
16 Conscious Community - OCTOBER 2016
By the time I launched, I only had a few hours of daylight left. The wind had died down, so I started my outboard motor and headed toward a small beach I found on the map. I didn’t get very far. The motor sputtered and died, and I couldn’t get it started again. When I pulled on the starter cord, the flashing red light proclaimed “low oil.” I forgot to check the oil level before launching. Did I have extra engine oil stored in the boat? Of course not! A faint breeze allowed me to inch into a private boat harbor and tie up to the only vacant mooring buoy as darkness was descending (a miracle in itself). I slept that night in the boat.