Even Strong Things Need Support

Support isn't a sign of weakness. It's often the reason growth continues.

Last week, one of my favourite things was... a stick. I know, not exactly glamorous.

But that simple stick gave a bent sunflower the support it needed to straighten up and keep growing. It didn't magically make the sunflower taller overnight, and it didn't remove the wind or the weather that had knocked it sideways. It simply gave the plant something steady to lean on until it was strong enough to continue on its own.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized life works the same way.

We often think support is something we ask for after everything has fallen apart. We tell ourselves we're managing. That we're just busy. That we'll figure it out. We keep going until one day we realize we're the bent sunflower. Not because of one dramatic event, but because of a hundred little gusts of life that slowly pushed us off course.

Recently, I was chatting with Farmer Jeff during one of our Friday CSA mornings. He told me his dream is to own a farm one day instead of leasing the land he grows on now. As his social media following has grown, he joked that if every follower donated two dollars, he'd probably have enough for a down payment.

Then he said something I hear surprisingly often.

"I just hate asking for help."

That sentence stayed with me.

It's funny because the reason I'm working at the farm in the first place is that I asked if there was an opportunity. He hadn't advertised for help. I reached out, and the answer was yes.

During our conversation, I also mentioned that I'm a Virtual Assistant. As his business grows, I can already see the administrative side becoming heavier. More emails. More paperwork. More moving pieces. Will he eventually need support? Almost certainly. Will he ask before he's overwhelmed? Like many of us, probably not.

I've seen the same pattern with business owners before.

My current client often tells me she can finally breathe again. But she didn't reach out because everything was running smoothly. She reached out because there was simply too much on her plate. The support came after the weight became difficult to carry.

I'm not judging that because I've done the same thing.

Whether it's asking for help, staking a tomato plant, or propping up a sunflower with a stick, we often wait until something is already leaning before we offer it support. We tell ourselves we'll deal with it later. We keep pushing through because we're capable.

Until capable starts feeling exhausted.

Gardeners know that support isn't a sign of weakness. We stake plants before the fruit becomes too heavy. We tie tomatoes before they snap. We build trellises so vines have somewhere to climb instead of sprawling across the ground. The support doesn't make the plant weak. It allows it to grow into what it was always capable of becoming.

I'm beginning to think business works the same way.

Maybe support shouldn't be something we reach for only after we're overwhelmed. Maybe it's something we build into our businesses before things start bending under the weight. Whether that's a better system, a trusted friend, a mentor, a book that changes your perspective, or someone who takes a few tasks off your plate, support has a way of creating space to breathe before we're gasping for air.

That little sunflower is still standing in my garden.

It isn't the tallest one, and it probably never will be. But every time I walk past it, I'm reminded that strength isn't about standing alone through every storm.

Sometimes strength looks like accepting the stick.

Sometimes it looks like being the stick for someone else.

Either way, growth rarely happens without support.

A question to leave you with:

What in your life or business is starting to lean that could benefit from a little support before it becomes a problem?