If a 1000-lb horse stepped on your foot, what would you do?

Me? I stayed silent and suffered for it.

Here’s what happened:

I was at a horse ranch with colleagues, guiding horses in a round pen. Suddenly, the alpha horse lifted his hoof and landed squarely on my foot.

Ouch.

My eyes widened, pain throbbed through my foot. Instead of speaking up, I suffered in silence, trying desperately to free myself.

A colleague noticed and asked, “Tiffany, is he stepping on you?”

“Yeah,” I admitted weakly.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

Why indeed.

***

This was a big lesson in the cost of over-independence.

I’m not alone in this.

We all have our own “1000-lb horses” –

Challenges we try to handle on our own.

Often, we avoid asking for help because we fear vulnerability. This self-reliance may seem empowering, but it traps us in a toxic cycle of isolation. We feel isolated, believing others won’t understand or might let us down, and then confirm our fears by not reaching out. This cycle keeps us stuck.

By clinging to control, we block the very transformation we desire.

*

If asking for help feels unfamiliar, that’s okay.

You don’t need to have all the answers. Simply acknowledging your need for support initiates the healing process. It’s in these moments of vulnerability, through the cracks in our armor, that light enters.

This shift from independence to interdependence is the key to intimacy – with humans, and with Spirit.

It doesn’t need to be elaborate – just real and open.

Remember:

We suffer alone; we heal in community.

*

PS. Here’s me being shuttled through Vancouver airport, cared for by a dear friend.