The duality of give and take

A short while ago, I was telling a friend that I was volunteering to be a mentor to students from my alma mater. Then, I told her, I think you'd make a great mentor. Did you think of applying?

She immediately replied: I am in dire need of a mentor myself. How can I be one when this is the case?

I agreed with the first part of her answer, but not the conclusion she drew from it. I too need a mentor. Does that mean I cannot be one to someone else?

This persisted in my mind, bringing up parallels from a book called Maybe you should talk to someone, where a therapist talks about seeing a therapist herself and how that causes her patients to doubt her credibility. I also remembered my mother telling me that she could never go in to the clinic looking or sounding sick, because no patient wants to be treated by a sick doctor. Maybe this is a commonly held perception then, I thought. 

I myself have been guilty of harbouring this notion. Whenever someone tells me to publish my writing, I tell them: I am not there yet. I am still learning to write. 

When my music teacher asks me to sing in a recital, I refuse, giving random excuses. My thought: I am still learning. How can I perform? 

But then, I realised the flaw in thinking this way. 

Does it make sense to put off teaching for when you have nothing left to learn? Does it make sense to start writing only when you have nothing left to read? Do you need to have a perfect life to be a therapist? Do you need to always be in good health to be a doctor? 

If all of us waited around thinking this way, we'd probably never get started. 

Life is a duality of give and take. Of learning and teaching. Of creation and consumption. They form a harmonious cycle. When we consume, we are inspired to create. When we teach, we learn some more. When we give, we get back so much. 

Why then, do we look at it as a binary choice? 

Why do we restrict ourselves when we can do both? 

Dear Reader, if there's something you've been wanting to do and haven't because you think you aren't there yet, take that first step. It could be unsettling or scary. But I promise you, it'll be worth it.