It’s not a secret that American culture glorifies self-sufficiency and hyper-independence.  We want to go it alone, do it all ourselves, and have all the control.   When we encounter a speed bump or road block, the internal messages we hear sound like: buck up, soldier on, suck it up, just deal with it. Like, dude, what's wrong with you?  Just GET OVER IT.  

Not that it’s bad to pull yourself up by the proverbial bootstraps or motivate yourself to go on in the face of hardship.  However, the subliminal message to this cultural value and norm is: If you need anyone or anything to help you, you’re weak.  If you can’t do it alone, there’s something wrong with you.  When we feel that the burden is all ours whether we need help or not, it can get very heavy.