Asking for help, giving up self-sufficiency

I was the queen of self-sufficiency.  I did everything by myself and hardly ever asked for help.  I had my entire college schedule planned out before I stepped one foot on my campus and I followed it completely minus a few hiccoughs.  Guidance counselors, academic advisors, mentors, and those with wisdom were simply used to confirm I was on the right track, never once did I seek “true” guidance from any of them.  However, today I look at that previous statement and what a 180 degree difference.  Today, I rely heavily on others, not because I want to but because I have to.  I can no longer be that lone ranger doing it all myself.  And you know what I have learned?  I like it better this way.  I prefer to have the guidance and help, because I don’t always know what is best for me.  This realization started about 5-7 years ago, before all this vision stuff started getting bad.  I would have some project or task to do and when I did it myself with no help, it would take hours, days, even weeks.  Then when I would break down and admit I couldn’t do all this alone and asked for help, those projects took a fraction of the time.  I’d get things done so much quicker with others. It was so profound that I noticed in a big way.  As the years have gone on I slowly started to give up my need for complete control and started enlisting the help of others, gratefully.  I was thankful I had folks to ask for help.  In the process I have made some amazing friends, gained great mentors and wise counsel.  So when my vision started to tank, I was already seasoned at asking for help.  It still takes some time to get past the feelings of imposing on others, being a burden, and wanting to just pack up and go it all alone.  But when I push through all those feelings, the benefits are far greater when asking for help than not.  I have to approach this journey like a marathon.  I have to enlist people to stand by and encourage and spur me forward.  If a marathon runner didn’t have anyone to give them a boost along the way, I personally think they would be at a higher chance of quitting and not making it to the finish line. Asking and actually allowing others to help, seems to go against the grain of our pride and instincts, but if you stick with it the results are worth it.