--- title: Don’t let your pride get in the way of asking for help in school description: My ego was big. I felt like getting help in school was a form of weakness. Here’s how I convinced myself to get academic help. slug: dont-let-your-pride-get-in-the-way-of-asking-for-help-in-school author: Jay Oliveras published: '2020-06-17T20:09:31.175Z' thumbnail: https://cdn-images.understood.org/p0qf7j048i0q/HHRfrS71irCCxaTR59Zte/df3065214ec0da2490febc317b9e8c53/Don___t_let_your_pride_get_in_the_way_of_asking_for_help_in_school.jpg source_url: https://www.understood.org/en/articles/dont-let-your-pride-get-in-the-way-of-asking-for-help-in-school lang: en --- # Don’t let your pride get in the way of asking for help in school Being prideful and having a strong ego can have its advantages, but it also can have its downfalls. At one point, my ego was big. Even though I have learning differences, I felt like getting help was a form of weakness. I refused academic support in high school because I thought, “I got this — this classwork is a piece of cake!” In reality, this was not the case. My grades in school started plummeting. I needed help immediately. But how? How could I trick my own mind to drop the ego? It took an entire week from when I first received the bad grade to get over my pride and seek help. One of the methods I used was to ask myself this: *What if someone I cared about needed help in school?* If they were struggling, I would be begging them to talk to the teacher, because school is important. Think about this. What if your friend or a loved one were in a bad predicament and clearly needed help — but they were in denial? How would that make you feel? How you would feel is exactly how your friends or loved ones feel watching *you *refuse help. This thought process led me to care for myself as much as I care for others. As weird as it sounds, another method I used was to look at one of my homework assignments with a bad grade and just stare at it. Stare at the low mark on the paper and think to myself: “If you don’t turn this 63 into an 90 or higher, then you can’t play your video games.” How did I get such a parent-like thought into my head? I have no clue, but it worked. I reached out to the tutoring office in my school and went each week. And eventually the 63 turned into a 90. It’s OK to ask for help in school. Everyone eventually needs help with something, and it’s not weakness to receive it. Let go of the pride. --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.understood.org/en/articles/dont-let-your-pride-get-in-the-way-of-asking-for-help-in-school#webpage","url":"https://www.understood.org/en/articles/dont-let-your-pride-get-in-the-way-of-asking-for-help-in-school","description":"My ego was big. I felt like getting help in school was a form of weakness. Here’s how I convinced myself to get academic help."},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://www.understood.org/en/articles/dont-let-your-pride-get-in-the-way-of-asking-for-help-in-school","name":"Don’t let your pride get in the way of asking for help in school"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","datePublished":"2020-06-17T20:09:31.175Z","description":"My ego was big. I felt like getting help in school was a form of weakness. Here’s how I convinced myself to get academic help.","headline":"Don’t let your pride get in the way of asking for help in school","url":"https://www.understood.org/en/articles/dont-let-your-pride-get-in-the-way-of-asking-for-help-in-school","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://www.understood.org/#organization","name":"Understood for All Inc","logo":"https://cdn-images.understood.org/p0qf7j048i0q/307jFAYQevghG8nQMCjh89/ccdbbec895765824db43f6d30b496e83/logo_lockup_navy.jpg"}}] ```