Will Anyone Help Me Figure Out How To Learn AI?

Why "I don't have anyone to explain this to me" is the loneliest excuse - and how help is already closer than you think.

Elena has been staring at the same article for ten minutes.

 It's supposed to be a beginner's guide to learn AI, but every paragraph seems to assume she already knows things she doesn't. Words like "algorithm" and "neural networks" float past like ships she can't board.

She thinks about asking her coworker, the one who's always talking about new tech. But he's so confident. So sure of himself. What if her question sounds stupid?

She thinks about asking her younger brother. He's good with this stuff. But he's also busy, and distant, and their last conversation was awkward in that way sibling conversations can be.

She thinks about asking her boss, but absolutely not. Never.

So she closes the tab. Tells herself she'll figure it out later. Alone.

If this sounds familiar, you're not alone. Elena is one of you. She's young, she's capable, and she's quietly convinced that everyone else has someone to help them - except her.

Where This Excuse Hides

For Elena, it's "I don't have a tech-savvy friend or family member to explain things".

For Nora, it's "everyone at work is too busy to hold my hand through this".

For Clara, it's "my friends all seem to get it already. I'd be the only one asking".

For Patricia, it's "the people who could help me are my kids, and they're busy with their own lives".

The excuse sounds different for each woman, but underneath it's the same story: I'm on my own with this. No one can help me. I'll have to figure it out alone - or not at all.

Here's what Wayne Dyer taught me: feeling alone is not the same as being alone. And the belief that no one will help you can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Who Was Wayne Dyer?

Dr. Wayne W. Dyer (1940–2015) was an American psychologist, author, and motivational speaker who became one of the most influential voices in the self-help movement.

After earning his doctorate in counselling from Wayne State University, Dyer worked as a high school guidance counsellor and later as a professor at St. John's University in New York. His first book, Your Erroneous Zones (1976), became one of the best-selling books of all time, with over 35 million copies sold worldwide.

Over his career, Dyer wrote more than 40 books. His work evolved from psychological themes like motivation and self-actualization to deeper spiritual teachings influenced by thinkers such as Abraham Maslow, Lao Tzu, and Swami Muktananda.

This blog post is a part of a series based on Dyer’s book “Excuses Begone! How to Change Lifelong, Self-Defeating Thinking Habits”, which was published in 2009 by Hay House.

Dyer's gentle, compassionate approach reminds us that we're capable of far more than our excuses would have us believe: a perfect starting point for our conversation about AI and staying human. 

What Dyer Knew About Help and Isolation

Wayne Dyer often said that our thoughts create our reality. When we believe "no one will help me", we stop looking for help. We stop asking. We stop noticing when help is actually being offered, because we've already decided it isn't there.

For the excuse "no one will help me", Dyer offered this affirmation:

"The right circumstances and the right people are already here and will show up on time"

Notice he didn't say "people will drop everything to help you the moment you ask". He said they will show up on time - when you're ready, when you're open, when you're willing to receive.

Help is not a vending machine you insert a question into and get an answer instantly. Help is a garden. It grows when you plant seeds, tend the soil, and stay open to what emerges.

The Kinds of Help You Might Not Be Seeing

When you believe no one will help you, you often look for help in only one form: a person who sits down with you for an hour and explains everything patiently, answering every question perfectly.

That kind of help is lovely when it happens. But it's not the only kind. Here are other forms of help that might already be around you: 

Kind of Help	What It Looks Like	Where to Find It
Indirect help	Someone mentions something about AI in passing. A friend shares an article. A colleague uses a tool you're curious about.	Everyday conversations, social media, newsletters
Asynchronous help	A YouTube video. A blog post. A Reddit thread where someone asked the same question you have.	Search engines, video platforms, forums
Communal help	A Facebook group for women learning about AI. A Substack community. A local workshop.	Online communities, libraries, community centers
Delayed help	You ask a question, and someone answers three days later. You sign up for a newsletter and learn something weeks after.	Email lists, forums, Q&A sites
Help you didn't recognize	Someone offers to explain something, but you're too embarrassed to accept. You read something months ago that suddenly makes sense now.	Past conversations, old bookmarks, saved articles

When Elena tells herself "no one will help me," she's usually looking for the first kind - the perfect helper, available immediately, who explains everything exactly right. And because that person isn't standing in front of her, she concludes she's alone.

But help is already all around her. She just can't see it yet.

Learning AI: One Small Thing You Can Do Today

Here's a practice I borrowed from my own life. I call it the "One Question, One Place" rule. 

Pick one question you have about AI. Just one. Something small and specific.

Then pick one place to look for the answer:

• Not five places.

• Not "all the places".

• One!

• Type your question into YouTube and watch one short video.

• Search for your question on a forum like Reddit and read one thread.

• Ask one person one small question - not "explain AI to me," but something specific like "what's a podcast you'd recommend for beginners learning AI?"

That's it. One question. One place.

You're not looking for a complete education. You're not looking for a mentor for life. You're just looking for one small answer to one small question.

Once you find it, you'll have proven something to yourself. Help is available. I can find it. I'm not alone.

A Gentle Invitation

I keep a small notebook where I write down the questions I'm afraid to ask out loud. Not because I'll never ask them, but because writing them down first helps me see them clearly. Helps me realize they're not stupid questions. They're just questions.  

Sometimes I find answers on my own. Sometimes I work up the courage to ask someone. Sometimes the answer arrives months later, from a source I never expected.

If you're someone who finds clarity on paper, I make journals for exactly these moments. A place to capture your questions, your small discoveries, your growing sense that you're not as alone as you thought.

But even a sticky note works. The important thing is to start asking - even if only on paper, at first. 

The Truth About Help

Here's what Elena discovered, when she finally tried her own version of "one question, one place".

She wanted to know: "What's the difference between AI and machine learning?" She typed it into YouTube, found a 6-minute video from a channel she'd never heard of, and watched it while eating lunch.

She didn't become an expert. She didn't find a mentor. She didn't suddenly feel confident.

But she learned one thing. And that one thing made the next article she read slightly less confusing. And that small shift made her think: Maybe I'm not alone after all.

Help doesn't always arrive the way you expect. It doesn't always look like a person sitting across from you, ready to explain everything. Sometimes it's a video made by a stranger. Sometimes it's a comment on a forum. Sometimes it's an article you read months ago that suddenly makes sense.

The right help shows up. Not always when you want it. Not always how you expect. But it shows up.

You just have to stay open enough to see it.

Come back soon. There's more to talk about.

Warm greetings

 Maria