So many people were stubborn. So many people though that pride was an advantage.
It was the opposite.
"You know," he said philosophically, giving the skin of Delphine's knee a playful pinch while he worked the muscles in her shin back to a more functional state, "when I take the train to work in the morning, I don't think anyone around me is questioning whether or not I'm capable of walking places on my own. And I don't question it, either -- I know I can. But like any human being, I have limited resources -- and expending them on something like a fifty block walk in to work would be a pretty silly waste, when there are other things I can do with my time and energy. I don't have to prove everything to everyone."
Lazarus gave her a concerned frown. "You think not asking people for help proves your self-sufficiency -- but actually all it does is show people that you don't value your own time and energy, so neither should they. And it makes you look like an echo chamber of one . . . like you don't think you can learn anything from anyone else. That's going to hold you back in your career."
He sighed. "I want you to make it your mission this week to ask at least one person for help with one thing -- and to do at least one thing that relieves your stress. Will you try that out for me?"
Beejoux
