The Courage to Ask

I was sitting outside a coffee shop in Islington with Bob. It was a very hippyish place; inside the walls were covered in little bits of philosophy. Sayings, mantras. Little slices of wisdom.

One had jumped out at me as I’d ordered my coffee.

‘Be strong enough to stand alone, smart enough to know when you need help and brave enough to ask for it.’

It made me think immediately of Bob.

When he’d been injured, he had managed to remove himself from the danger he faced and position himself in my block of flats. He had somehow worked out that it was his best chance of getting some help. As it turned out, his instincts had brought him to me.

Of course, his experience echoed my own. When I’d been homeless, I’d put myself in terrible danger. But I’d found the strength to remove myself, to recognise that I needed to beat my drug addiction and to seek out the treatment I needed.

These days, when I’m doing charity work, I am frequently asked to offer advice to addicts or homeless people who feel lost and unable to escape their fates. I often refer to that saying in the coffee shop.

At our lowest ebbs, we all need to find the strength to stand alone, the intelligence to know we need help – and, most of all, the courage to ask.