Sitting in my office looking out at the mountains the other day, I realized we’ve been in our New Mexico home for 3 months already! So much has happened, not the least of which is a wonderful by-product I’ve witnessed in all our family because of our relocation. Unfamiliarity has created a dependence of sorts, and it’s not a bad thing. In fact, I am cherishing this dependence because of the opportunities it brings in it’s wake. We are more prone to grow, learn, seek and discover when we aren’t just doing things the old, familiar way.
I’m trying to embrace it. I thought maybe you might be interested too, in case you’re in a situation that’s causing you to be dependent.
1. We have the opportunity to try new things.
Who knew Green Chile could be so good? 
I am a Midwestern girl at heart, but when you move to the Southwest, there are just seriously different groceries in the store! I couldn’t find my lovely “Top the Tater” sour cream chip dip last week. Instead, in it’s normal place of honor (I really like my chip dip, ok?) there was some crazy green chile dip. (New Mexicans really really really like their chile – not chili with meat in it, but chile as in the chili peppers that look like those little red and green Christmas lights…)
So there I was, faced with a monumental decision. And I decided I would try the evil dip that had taken my regular dip’s place. 
Guess what? It’s my new favorite food. (and now I’ll have an opportunity to kick a bad habit next!)
Chips and dip aside, dependence provides great opportunity for growth, if we’re willing to try the unfamiliar.
2. We have the opportunity to meet new people.
When you’ve lived somewhere a long time, you don’t realize how many people you could rely on in a pinch – for a ride, a favor, help with your kids, etc. So being the new Mom, with only enough friends to count on one hand, still with the same hectic schedule of 3 kids in sports/activities as before, I found myself in a pinch one day. My husband was traveling, one kid had a football game practically in the next state and another had volleyball at the same time. I desperately needed help getting my daughter home. I had one “sorta friend” on team who was also double-booked and couldn’t help. So I did what no self-respecting Mom would do: I had “sorta friend” ask “Mom I had never met” via text if she could take my kid home to her house after the game until I could get her.
Dependence can feel really hard. Can’t it?
But the most awesome thing happened. When I went to pick up my daughter at home of “Mom I had never met”, it turns out she was the most warm, welcoming woman I had met in a long time! She invited me to sit down, asked me all about moving and completely empathized with my situation. I enjoyed her immensely and we began to chat in the bleachers at every game after that as we watched our daughters on the court. Now I had “new friend!” to add to my list. (and so did daughter, by the way.)
I dare say if I had not asked her for help (dependence), it’s likely I wouldn’t have ever talked to her in the bleachers, or added her to my list of “new friends I wanna get to know better.”
As I traverse these new situations and strive to lean into this dependence, can you help me out by sharing your thoughts on this?
Do you struggle, like I do, with asking for help?
What would it look like if you embraced dependence?
What opportunities have you seen when you have?