My oldest cat, Casey, is fourteen years old. Yeah, we've had him for a good long while now. My little sister is barely older than him. Since we've had him for so long, we've always seen him as a small cat, especially when we compared him to our cat who passed away back in February, who had some weight issues, to put it kindly.

And then we got Macy, a tiny baby kitten, and just like that, we realized how big Casey actually was. A lot bigger than we gave him credit for.

Lame story, but it got me to thinking about how people tend to treat their problems as no big deal when it's actually a massive issue. We try to carry the burden ourselves, reasoning that it's not a real issue and that we should be able to take care of it ourselves. We need to stop being weak and oversensitive and just look at what that other person is dealing with all by themselves! It's obviously a bigger deal than our own problems, so it's time to stop being a crybaby and to man up and keep out stuff to ourselves. We'll figure out how to take care of it. Somehow. 

But that's not true. 

We were not meant to walk alone in this life. We were built for companionship and to help others and to let others help us. There are things that we cannot do on our own, even though we try to convince ourselves that we can and that it's not a big deal. Maybe we don't think it's a big deal because we don't have anything small to compare it too, only something bigger, but just because item two is larger than item one doesn't mean that item one isn't still big. 

Do not be afraid to ask for help. Don't feel like you need to keep all of your issues inside in order to not burden anyone. That's not being strong. True strength comes from knowing when it's time to ask for help. Give your issues some credit, they're weighing you down for a reason. If you're feeling just so overwhelmed with something but feel like you're being overdramatic or too sensitive, please realize that we all have our limits. Different limits, yes, but just because someone else's limit is higher than yours doesn't mean that you're weaker and they're stronger. We were just all built in different ways, and you are not weak for even having a limit. 

When you do reach your limit, please reach out to others. Overwhelmed with work? Ask for help. Can't understand something? Ask someone to explain for you. Drowning in negative feelings? Please please please go talk to someone. People are here to help people. I am here to help you, just like I hope you guys can be here to help me, for this is also a problem I struggle with a lot- feeling like I'm weak for being sad and getting worked up over things. Problems that are small to some people are huge to others, and that's something we need to recognize so we can work to help each other through these problems. 

Don't feel like you have to walk alone. Walk together. And then we can all face our issues and fears hand in hand. 

This weirdly random heart-to-heart chapter is brought to you by Casey: the best old man cat around. He may be bigger than previously perceived, but he's a good boy.