Life Lessons

It occurred to me today that in life there are certain lessons we learn over and over again, and one of them is this: if you want something done, it is best to do it yourself. This is true no matter how wonderful your support system is (and mine is phenomenol), no matter how much people love you and wish they could help you...in the long run and in the short run, too, it's best to do it yourself.

For many reasons:
1) no waiting. Your priorities are your priorities and they do not have to be synchronized with anyone else's.
2) job satisfaction. The reward of a thing well done is to have done it...and all of those sentiments.
3) learning opportunity. Often we think we need someone else's expertise in something because we are avoiding learning what it will require to become experts ourselves. We don't want to do the homework, but if we don't do the homework we don't learn...and we will need the expert to help us again.
4) serendipity. When we try something new that takes us out of our comfort zone, we are likely to stumble upon dormant talents and new interests. Self-reliance excavates skills. We learn to live by our wits.
5) action is powerful. We seize power over our circumstances when we take action to alter them in any way, large or small. Action is a powerful tool we would not voluntarily relinquish if we understood the consequences of doing so.
6) empathy with our fellow man. If I am willing to care for myself as a human being, to do what is required to survive and thrive on this planet, I will automatically have things in common with my fellow man who is surviving and thriving in much the same way.

But all life lessons teach another lesson, too - balance. Self-reliance has its requisite opposite. We do depend upon one another - we simply must. More about that in another post...