Saying “I need help” out loud is a bigger risk to your ego than most adventures. Take it.

Jumping off something high risks your body. Saying you need help risks your picture of yourself as a person who copes, and that is a more defended thing. It costs four words and almost nothing externally, yet people spend months avoiding it while doing far more dangerous things cheerfully. The size of the fear is not a reading on the size of the risk.

Say it without the padding. No joke around it, no explanation of why you should not need it. Name the one thing you want help with so the person knows what to do next.