Adulting::Growing in Maturity

The other day I walked into a Michael's looking for velcro. 

That's like walking into a Safeway and asking where they keep the food. 

There's not a section of the store that couldn't feature velcro and you have a lot of ground to cover. This overwhelming task could be made simple by asking one of the employees where they keep the velcro. That is what a reasonable human person who is familiar with how stores work would do. 

So, naturally I wandered around the store for 10-12 minutes searching high and low. Within the first few moments a concerned staff member saw the look of confusion on my face and asked if I needed help finding anything. 

"I'm all set, thanks!"

I found it eventually, but this experience exposes my deep and abiding inability to ask for help before the point of desperation. I think I have some ideas as to why I struggle in this area and I'm curious if you've ever felt similarly. 

1. I Don't Want To Be An Inconvenience - Almost every time I'm asked to help someone I feel honored instead of inconvenienced (which reminds me of this great bit from Nick Swardson). I assume that asking for help is a burden to others, so I won't say anything that could be perceived as a problem to someone else. 

2. I Don't Want To Appear Insufficient - Sometimes I think that asking for information that I don't have is a sign of weakness. The assumption is that I should be able have everything that I need in life to deal with every challenge that comes my way. 

3. I Don't Want To Depend On Others - Asking for help is to need another person. No longer do you feel in control and you certainly don't have the experience to back up that what you're being handed is trustworthy. 

Ultimately God gave us a whole world of people who have strengths where we are growing. Part of maturity isn't having everything already, but being aware of where we need to grow in maturity. The belief that we are complete already actually leads to greater amounts of confidently walking around in our own ignorance. There's a spiritual act in acknowledging what we don't have so we can receive what we need for our journey.