The Camel Boy: Stop Struggling and Ask for Help!

Raise your hand if you’ve ever felt silly or afraid to ask for help? And, how about if you’ve ever felt overwhelmed with all the stuff you need to do?

I’m willing to bet that all of our hands just shot up, myself included!

As I sat down to write today’s blog, I decided to do something different. I usually pick a topic from a running list of ideas. Today I was feeling a bit restless and overwhelmed with all the stuff I have to do, especially after being sick last week. So, I decided to put my list aside and ask Spirit for a message on what topic would be most helpful to everyone. I closed my eyes and was amused to “see” the Camel Boy from my Wisdom of the Hidden Realms Deck. The Camel Boy is all about asking for help and taking small steps. Don’t you just love synchronicities?

Though the Camel Boy’s message seems simple, many of us find it quite difficult to ask for assistance and focus on the smaller steps to our goals. We live in a world that tends to emphasize the importance of self-sufficiency and accomplishment. Requesting help seems to suggest weakness and also opens us up to rejection. So, we believe we must do it all now and all by ourselves. We juggle, run around, and analyze as we try to single-handedly move mountains! Then we feel scattered, overwhelmed, and frustrated about all the stuff we’re trying to do on our own. Yikes!

The truth is, we’re all connected and meant to do things together. You aren’t supposed to bear all the burdens on your own. In fact, this “I must do it myself” type of mentality is partly the work of our Goblins, that wounded ego we all have who likes to keep us trapped inside our “Me Bubbles” and separate from the world around us. I talk quite a bit about the Goblin in my first book, Remembering the Future. Our Goblins keep us stuck and focused on our underlying fears— abandonment, anger, rejection, addictions, arrogance, and so on. When you’re Goblin runs the show, he breaks your connection to the greater world around you, to Spirit, and to your intuition. When you reach out and allow for a balance of giving and receiving in your life and community, you’re not only able to continue to move forward, but you’re also nurturing all that you’re connected to.

The Camel Boy is also about trusting that when you ask for help, you’ll get just what you need. If you’ve ever let fear of rejection stop you from asking for support, remember that’s just your Goblin trying to keep you stuck. In fact, I was recently reading an interesting article about several studies that found that people underestimated how likely others were to help them by as much as 100%. Many of the psychologists attributed the drastic underestimation to people being stuck in their heads so that they had no idea what was going on with the person they were asking help from. So, remember that Spirit will always deliver the help you need. All you have to do is ask.

And, what about those projects and dreams you want to make happen in this very instant? Sometimes no matter how much you work to move forward, things stay at a standstill. The Camel Boy reminds us not to forget the importance of taking care of the small aspects of our lives. Trust the Divine will take care of your big dreams in appropriate timing, and get back to all the little things you’ve put on hold—the chores, cleaning out your closet, getting that oil change, etc. And, think of small steps you can take towards your goals, while also trusting that the bigger steps will be taken care of as soon as you relinquish complete control.

Exercise:

Ask for help! What is something you would like help with? Perhaps you need help with a job search or advice about a relationship. Or, maybe you’d like your partner to start to help with the laundry or your neighbor to help you move a few boxes. You might also need help from Spirit in the form of a message about something you’ve been struggling with. Just use your intuition and be clear and gracious with your request. Remember, you will get the help you need.