Requesting Path

For when you were taught that needing things was the problem.

I needed Requesting Path even more than I needed Boundary Scripts.

Because asking for what I need has always felt harder than saying no.

I was the one who did everything. I took care of everyone. So, asking for something myself felt selfish because that's what I was told. And if I asked the wrong way, with the wrong tone or the wrong words, I was ungrateful or disrespectful.

There was no safe way to need anything.

So I stopped asking. Or I asked so carefully, that whatever I needed got lost.

Requesting Path is for that. For the person who has been taught, over and over, that needing things is the problem.

What helps me most isn't even using the scripts in the moment. It's just looking at them. Seeing the words and knowing that asking for help is a real thing a person is allowed to do. It's like proof, and it doesn't happen immediately, it takes time to believe. So I keep reading the same ones over and over, favoriting them, revisiting them in quiet moments when things are calm.

And I can pick and choose. Do I need to ask gently today, or do I need to ask firmly? The options are already there. And even when I don't remember every word, it doesn't matter. Enough of it stays with me to get the point across. The script isn't something to recite perfectly, it's a guide to help me find what I mean to say.