I was thinking about the phrase "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps," and the attitude that goes with it. These were the first two youtube videos on the subject
I think it just boils down to a person's temperament. There's a story originating from India, I can't find the source at the moment, but it goes something like this.
Two gods were chatting it up with one another, when one of them paused and suddenly departed in haste, "I have to go, some one has called upon me for help." Within about less than a moment, the god suddenly returned; the other god said, "that was fast." The other god replied, "He helped himself, I wasn't needed after all."
Self reliance I think, is important to learn, can be difficult to learn, and sometimes is unavoidable. And, perhaps some things, no one but our self can do for us. Yet, and perhaps I'm wrong, I think this subject has a bit of a particle/wave duality to it. Perhaps sometimes, with some things, we couldn't have done without some form of external help.
I think it's a bit of both, to varying degrees, at different times. Probably the best of both worlds, would be a strong character and attitude of self-reliance, coupled with a "not afraid to ask for directions" attitude. heh..