When I was getting ready to graduate from college, I was afraid. It was going to be a huge change, and I didn’t know if I was ready. I felt like I was falling apart.
So I asked my friend Charles to go hiking. Charles always seemed to handle all the pressure of college so gracefully, I thought if anyone could give me some counsel, he could. So while we were hiking I asked him, “How do you hold it all together?”
He looked at me and said, “Well, I’m a little stuck, because it’s always seemed to me like you held it together pretty well.”
***
Here’s the thing. You’re struggling? So is the person next to you. You think she has it all figured out? She doesn’t, and she’s terrified it shows. You think your neighbor’s got it all dialed in? He doesn’t.
No one’s life is perfect.
The only way to win is to stop keeping score. As soon as you start keeping score, you lose.
But when you share with someone else what you’re struggling with, you’ll be amazed at the support that’s out there.
Don’t fight that battle alone.
Patrick Day 
Reblogged this on bcputnam and commented:
This is so true, yet so easily misplaced or forgotten when you are troubled. Some of the hardest things to do are to ask for help from your family, friends and community. These people are the means of Grace and help that God often puts right in front of us and it takes us so, so long to notice.
Right on. You have to find that community and be a part of it in every way.
Just experienced this last week. I was feeling overwhelmed at my new job and thought the lady who started about the same time I did was adjusting with no problems. Figured she had more experience working for large corporations or was just more self confident than me. Then, in a team meeting, I sensed she might be having a little difficulty adjusting to her new role too. We started chatting in the hall and turns out we were feeling the same way, thinking everyone around us was smarter, more talented, etc. I invited her to have dinner with Sharon and I that evening and we had a great time discovering we were having a lot of the same feelings. We now know we’re not alone and have developed a sort of kindredship at work.
Sometimes it just takes the courage for someone to crack that shell. Once it’s open you realize you’re not alone. Good work.