Seven Words That Just May Change Your Life, and Your House

I’m going to tell you all something I wish I would have learned years ago, a lesson so important that I sometimes wish I would have tattooed it backwards on my forehead so I would be reminded every time I looked into the mirror.** Here it is:

There’s nothing wrong with asking for help.

I’m not saying this because I love our cleaning services (even though I do). I’m not saying this because I’ve received letters telling us how our cleanings have changed lives, sanities and a marriage or two. I say it because it’s true. It’s true for new moms. It’s true for people who work from home and for people trying to move from home. It’s true for just about everybody. Even men who refuse to use a map.

There’s nothing wrong with asking for help.

I recognize and identify with all the potential customers who will never become clients. The do-it-yourselfers, the have-it-all-ers, the ones who actually like to clean. I also recognize and identify with those folks who look at their crazy, messy homes and just want someone else to come in and clean under the couch, dust the fan blades, and, for the love of all things made with chocolate, make the bathroom look like something people would actually want to use.

There’s nothing wrong with asking for help.

In this day and age, we go above and beyond to stretch ourselves as thinly as we can. Stay-at-home parents work from the home; working parents attend every conference and basketball game. Outwardly or not, we compete with each other on how clean our homes are, how creative our birthday parties are, and how many yoga poses we can do. I’m not saying you can’t—or shouldn’t—have it all. I’m just saying it’s impossible without help.

And there’s nothing wrong with asking for help.

If having a clean home puts room in your brain and power in your sanity and love in your marriage and playfulness with your kids—and you can’t possibly do it given everything else that is pulling your focus, then ask for help. Think of it this way. You outsource your food, your clothing, and your plumbing fixes. You could learn to do those things, but they may take more time, energy and know-how than you can muster at the moment. You can’t do everything yourself. You weren’t meant to. We are meant to reach out, whether it means to help someone in need or ask for help for ourselves.

And there is nothing wrong with asking for help.

** Figuratively speaking, of course. For the record, never ask for help with a face tattoo. They are a horrible idea. Write in on a post-it note on your coffee maker instead.