[Blank] helps those, that helps themselves.

There is an old saying that "God helps those who help themselves." I, personally, believe that whole-heartedly after you subtract out the God part.

We all have problems. Yes, some are more major than others but I feel strongly that people can overcome anything, if they want to. (Orphans have become doctors, etc.) What a lot of people seem to not understand or just won't accept is that you have to help yourself for this to change. People in a bad spot seem to think they will never get out of it while in fact it can be as easy as a change of mind that can catapult one out of their current squalor.

I constantly observe people that I have known for years that seem to be stuck in their own self fulfilling prophecies. For one reason or another they have had a rough couple of years recently and they feel that those years have dictated the path of their lives for the foreseeable future and that nothing can change that. These individuals often embrace such characteristics as instability as the norm when they don't have to be. Because these individuals believe that they can do no better than their current state they do nothing to advance themselves in anyway and therefore are stuck in that state.

I have wished many times to just grab these individuals and shake some sense into them so that they can see what everyone else sees but I don't think that would solve anything. They have to want to change, want to have a better way of life for anything real to take place.

What I am trying to say is that nobody is going to help you if you don't want help. Sometimes you have to swallow your pride and ask for it. We all need help at times.