Self-Help Is No Help

A look into its true meaning

The self-help world is starting to sound like a broken record, repeating the same advice over and over. So, why does it continue to play?

Many are out for clicks. Few sow seeds of a self-help movement.

I’m no saint. I want fame and fortune. But I can’t tell you what to do and when or how to do it.

We’re all wired differently. There’s no one-size-fits-all prescription. What works for me won’t necessarily work for you.

Self-help has taken a wrong turn.

Nowadays, anyone with trauma and Wifi can proclaim themself to be a self-help guru. I’m not discounting people’s struggles, throwing stones at anyone, or saying how people should be or act.

I’m just cautioning against putting your faith in those claiming to have all the answers.

My own self-help journey explains why.

I was 24 and had chronic pain from head to toe. I went from one medical professional to the next, looking for the “one” who could tell me what was wrong and fast-forward my recovery.

Nearly everyone purported to know what my problem was and how to fix it. Yet, each one contradicted the next and all their recommendations were equally useless.

That’s when I found self-help. It was a different crowd but the same ballgame. People here and there diagnosing me from afar, giving false hope.

I picked up a few good tips and tricks from the self-help space and doctors. Yet, no person, gadget, or listicle was responsible for my recovery.

I alone pieced together the puzzle.

It was a rigorous game of trial and error, cutting out what didn’t work and doubling down on what did. The secret to my success was wanting it bad enough not to quit until I found my way out.

So, self-help content isn’t useless. The human element of the stories is invaluable. The stories can touch millions and change them for the better.

Seeing ourselves in others helps us see our agency and possibilities.

If self-help exists, it lives on because of people who lead by example.

Harry Houdini comes to mind. Born into a household struggling to make ends meet, he took to the streets for a better life. He wasn’t an overnight success. It was decades before his name caught fire.

But when the world was watching, he told his story through escape art.

Houdini’s escapes were bizarre, claustrophobic, and death-defying. He escaped from straight jackets hung upside down hundreds of feet in the air, chains and handcuffs in icy waters, massive milk containers, and prison cells.

However dazzling the escapes, they were more than mere entertainment.

They symbolised human triumph over struggle and embodied Houdini’s real-life transformation from a nobody fated for ruin to a self-made success.

Whether this was Houdini’s intent is hardly the point. His feats resonated globally. He became a self-help guru without saying a word.

His escape art spoke for him.

Helping others doesn’t always work by telling them what to do. Self-help has more to do with what isn’t said.

Self-help world, follow in Houdini’s footsteps — show, don’t tell.