Ernest Hemingway once wrote, “Please don’t try to fix me. Don’t take on my pain or push away my shadows. Just sit beside me as I work through my own inner storms. Be the steady hand I can reach for as I find my way.” This really validated how I feel about being given advice.

We don’t always need advice, we have the answers inside us, we just need to know how to reach them. And the only true way we can help others is to help them come up with their own advice. We can be empathetic towards other people but when it comes down to it, we are all on our own and must deal with our problems on our own. Having said that, it helps to have that someone sitting beside you as you work through your problems. Positive people might think this is negative thinking but in reality it’s just the cold hard truth. We need to be strong enough to fight our own demons, because no one can fully understand what you’re going through or how you are feeling. Whilst it’s nice to have a hand to hold onto, we need to deal with our demons in our own solitude.