You can solve all problems with your friends. you’re not alone.

Friends rarely arrive holding the answer, and the answer is rarely the first thing needed anyway. What they change immediately is the size of the thing.

A friend who came round and did the washing-up without being asked hasn't fixed anything. But the kitchen was clear afterwards, and the evening turned out to be survivable in a way it would not otherwise have been.

That's most of what help is: not answers, but weight taken off in small unglamorous units. Which means asking doesn't require a well-defined request. "Can you come over" is a complete sentence.