The Type of Support I Need

Our meeting topic yesterday was “Support.” About the people around us who support us, how they do so, and what to do if they don’t give us the support we need. I almost skipped the meeting, because I had some work to do and felt like I was neglecting it by sitting in a meeting about weight loss. I am so glad I stayed.

My leader’s first question was “Ask for the kind of support you need.” I wasn’t sure what she meant by that. Support is support, right? At least I never broke it down beyond that concept. The more she kept talking, though, the more I realized how wrong I was. I thought of my three most supportive people in my life right now: Hannah, Clay, and Kristi. They are all giving me the support I “need” without me having to tell them. Then I thought of other people who have tried to support me in my past and how I bulked at their support and ended up doing the OPPOSITE of the very thing they were supporting. It was because I didn’t realize they were offering me the wrong KIND of support and I was getting angry at their bossiness or they’re “you know that so-and-so is packed with sodium.”

Then my leader said a very common-sense thing and I was a little annoyed at myself for not having thought of it before: we give the type of support we wish to receive. And that’s just it. I support people the way I need to be supported. Luckily my support system was naturally in-step with my type of needed support, because I don’t know that I would have been able to pinpoint the issue otherwise (at least not before this meeting).

So thank you, Hannah, Kristi, and Clay, for giving me the support I need, and I hope to be an equal support to off three of you.