I was reminded this past weekend of just how many people I have around me. Many of these are people who want me to succeed and do well. I am so thankful that I have them to support and encourage me.

My brain likes to tell me that I have to do it all by myself. Because of that, I’m not good at asking for help. I struggle to ask for things, and sometimes I struggle to tell people ideas I may have. I keep a lot to myself for a lot of different reasons.

This past weekend I was on a girls trip. We started talking about a project idea. The ladies that were with me knew that I was creative and kind of designated the project to me. Whe. I mentioned that this project kind of fit in to a bigger idea I have, they all wanted to jump in to help. I was blown away that they didn’t think my original idea was silly and that they wanted to help me achieve it.

I hope you have people rooting for you. I hope that you have a support system. I often have to remind myself just how good my support system is.

Everyone needs a support system. Everyone needs people around them that show they care. It is extremely difficult to get through this life alone. However, there needs to be some give and take. If you constantly take support from the people around you, then they may feel like you don’t support them.

This is something I’m still trying to recognize and work on for myself. I can get so caught up in my own projects or ideas that I put blinders on and neglect everyone and everything else. I have seen this with my own personal goals. My reading this year has been great, but some of my other goals have slacked. I definitely have to work on providing support to other people and providing support to some of my own ideas.

I want to be better. I want to be better for myself and for the people around me. That includes being supportive of my loved ones’ projects as well as my own. It’s something I’m trying to work on to improve.

Find people who support you and your ideas. And find people that you can support with their ideas! It should be a pretty balanced relationship. If the relationship doesn’t balance over time, then it’s going to make at least one of the people feel upset.

When I first started my blog, I asked the people around me if they would read it. Having a blog was an idea I had had for a while, but it was their support that I needed. They gave me the push to start this blog, and here I am coming up on my 8 year anniversary!

I try to also provide support to others as well.  I try to let my friends and loved ones know that I’m cheering for them, even if I don’t know how to show it or don’t know what they’re working on.

Having support from others is also not the same as having blind support. A support system is not the same thing as saying “do whatever you want.” A good support system will question things that don’t make sense to them. I have asked my fair share of questions to people when their idea doesn’t make sense to me. Thankfully, they’re able to explain it to me in a way I can understand and answer my questions so that I can provide support. And I’ve had people do that to me too! That’s what makes a good support system. It’s not the blind faith in someone; it’s being able to defend ideas.

I’m getting ready to start a new school year. This is a skill I teach with all of my students. I like to give them opinion prompts. I tell them that there’s no answer that I’m looking for, but they need to be able to back up their answer and support it. You can’t just answer the question and expect to get full credit. One of my favorite examples was a comparison of Ghandi and Nelson Mandela. I asked my students if they had the option, who would they rather protest under. I received a number of responses on both sides of the argument. But they were able to tell me a reason why they believed the way that they did.

Support should not be given blindly, but it should be given to everyone. If you don’t have anyone to support you, reach out to me! I’m more than happy to include you into my support system!