Sunny Wellness of Honey

As a therapist, I often hear people say, “I just need help!” or “I need support!”—and while they might sound like they’re asking for the same thing, trust me, they’re not. Let’s break it down, shall we?

Help: The Quick Fix (Like Calling Your Friend Who’s Good at IKEA Furniture)
Help is that immediate, “Get me out of this mess right now!” kind of thing. Think of it like this: You’re staring at a heap of IKEA parts, instructions that look like a cryptic treasure map, and a sinking feeling that you might never have a functional bookshelf again. Enter your friend who actually enjoys this sort of torture—they swoop in, Allen wrench in hand, and suddenly, you’ve got a bookshelf. Crisis averted.

Help is the quick fix, the Band-Aid, the “Oh my gosh, can you just do this for me?!” It’s essential, it’s life-saving, and sometimes, it’s the only thing standing between you and a total meltdown.

Support: The Long Game (Like Your Therapist, But With Less Tea Spilling)
Now, support—support is a different beast entirely. It’s not about someone doing the thing for you; it’s about someone helping you figure out how to do the thing yourself (even if that thing is life, and life sometimes feels like IKEA furniture with missing pieces).

Support is your friend sitting next to you as you wrestle with that Allen wrench, reminding you that you’re totally capable of doing this, offering a glass of wine when it all gets too much, and telling you that even if the bookshelf ends up a little wobbly, it’s still standing—and so are you.

Support doesn’t just get you through the problem; it teaches you resilience, helps you build confidence, and gives you the tools to tackle the next challenge. It’s like a GPS for your emotional journey—recalculating when you miss a turn but never letting you stay lost for long.

Why You Need Both (And Why They’re Not Interchangeable)
Here’s the thing: you need both help and support, but they serve different purposes. Help gets you out of immediate jams—support helps you grow through them. Help is what you need when you’re stuck—support is what you need to keep moving forward, even when things get tough.

Think of help as the hero that saves the day and support as the guide that sticks with you on the journey. They’re both important, but they play different roles. You wouldn’t call Batman to help you move (unless you wanted all your stuff mysteriously broken), and you wouldn’t expect your therapist to show up with a moving van (unless they’re super cool—and even then, boundaries, people).

So the next time you’re feeling overwhelmed, take a moment to ask yourself: Do I need help, or do I need support? And remember, it’s okay to ask for both. After all, even superheroes need a little help—and a lot of support.