There's a habit a lot of us carry without noticing it: answering on someone else's behalf before we've even asked the question. Assuming the favour is too much trouble, the job is out of reach, the conversation would be unwelcome. We do the other person's thinking for them, and then wonder why nothing changed.
What strikes me is how often the actual asking — when it finally happens — turns out differently to the imagined refusal. Not always. But more often than the internal no would have predicted.
So I'm curious about two things. First: what's something you never asked for — a bit of help, an opportunity, a difficult conversation with someone you loved — because you were certain of the answer before you opened your mouth?
And second: on the occasions you did eventually ask, what happened? Not necessarily a dramatic outcome. Just — what actually happened, compared to what you'd assumed would.