Each week, Samantha Lewis shares her insights on various topics, from exploring new health trends to reimagining personal growth.
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Comedian Nikki Osborne had a big month.
You might know her as the one who somehow got the prime minister to play Shag, Marry, Date on her podcast, and caused a national headline.
Poor Kylie. Albo, mate, “I Should Be So Lucky” was right there.
Missed opportunity for the headline writers.
I have recently become a genuine fan of Osborne’s.
In addition to being absolutely hilarious, she also has a way of moving from comedy straight into something real that lands with actual meaning, and then back again before you’ve even noticed the shift.
She was imparting advice based on “the moral of the story” of fellow comedian Kevin Hart.
The story goes that, years before he was famous, his car used to break down constantly on the way to auditions, and every time it did, he would stand on the side of the road trying to flag someone down.
Nobody stopped.
Cars just drove straight past him.
One day, fed up, he stopped waving and started pushing the car himself.
Within seconds, people pulled over.
Strangers jumped out and helped him push it the rest of the way.
The lesson is that people do not tend to help you while you are standing still waiting to be rescued.
They help you once you are already moving.
In true form, Osborne rounds out the sincerity of the moral with a gag, something about “unless it was a Tesla, then you probably deserved it”.
I do not know if the original story is word for word true, it has done the rounds online enough times that it has probably grown a bit, but I know exactly why it has stuck around.
There’s truth in its telling, and we can all do with the reminder.
We can all find ourselves standing on the side of the road, waving, hoping someone notices we need a hand.
Waiting for the phone to ring, waiting for someone to ask if we are okay, waiting for the effort to come from someone else for once.
It very rarely does, not because people do not care, but because a person standing still does not give anyone much to respond to.
Motionless can go unnoticed.
The moment you get up and start pushing, everything changes.
Not because the car got lighter, it did not, but because effort is magnetic in a way that waiting never is.
People want to help someone who is already moving.
It applies well beyond a broken-down Barracuda on the way to an audition.
It applies to the job you really want, the friendships you’ve been slack with, the health kick you’ve been “starting Monday” for six months now.
Nobody is going to push it for you first.
But the second you put your shoulder into it, even slightly, help tends to show up.
The same goes for those flat, stuck, lonely moments we all have.
If you’re feeling like nobody has checked in lately, chances are someone else is feeling exactly the same.
Don’t wait for them to cheer you up. Push first.
Check in on them, ask how they’re really going, let them know you’re thinking of them.
It might turn their week around.
It will almost certainly turn yours.
Stop waving. Start pushing.
The help arrives once you do.
Samanthalewis.com.au
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