I had a lovely spa day with Niamh yesterday, during which we had lots of time to talk. Niamh told me that the first time she saw me using my walking stick, she felt quite tearful, though hid that from me at the time. This led to a general conversation about how it can be tricky to know when to offer help and if that could ever cross the line into “fussing”.
I remember an occasion when I was much younger and saw someone I vaguely knew waiting to cross a busy road. Knowing that she was blind, I went over and offered to help. She immediately replied “I’m blind not fucking stupid!”. I remember being upset that she had interpreted my efforts to be helpful as something insulting or patronising.
I realise this can be a bit tricky for people but my view is that people are generally kind and supportive and this is what they are expressing when offering help. So, I want to take this opportunity to say I will never take offence at any offer of help as long as you don’t take offence if I say “no thanks”.
My lovely work friends often offer help and a couple of them, rather than repeatedly offering have said “if we’re walking together, feel free to link me, it’ll always be fine”. This kindness means such a lot to me ….thank you ❤️