When should you say ‘no’ to someone who is offering you help?

Growing up, you see how adults manage their lives, and you can’t help but think, «I can do it better». People might tell you that getting a job is hard, or that buying a house is almost impossible, but some hopeful part of you tells you that you will somehow crack the code and succeed in life without batting an eye. Adulting is easy if you simply set your mind to it.

Well, we all know now how stupid we were as kids.

Adulting is not easy, getting a job is an exhausting task, and buying a house or starting a family might still feel like light-years away from you. And once you come to terms with the fact that the adults in your life were right when they told you that life is hard, you might also turn to them for help navigating this crazy world.

But even though they were right, it doesn’t mean that you should always rely on them for help. While their years of experience in adulthood might help a young adult get a head start, it can also set them back. Confusing, we know, but that is just another part of life. Learning from your elders and relying on them to solve your problems are two different things, and it’s up to you to find out where that line is crossed. If you don’t, you might end up like the young adult who shared the story below.

This 21-year-old knows that her grandfather tends to meddle a bit too much in his family’s lives, so she is always careful with what she asks of him. However, when he offered to help find her a job when she graduated from college, she thought the extra set of eyes on job postings couldn’t hurt, and agreed to have him help. It was only when she started getting emails from companies she never applied to that she realized that her grandfather was sending her resume without her permission. He took the job search too far, and now she has to find a way to make him stop…