Presence Is Enough

I just spent an hour with a young person today.

He played Fortnite.

I sat next to him.

I asked a few questions about the game. Nothing deep. No breakthroughs. Just curiosity.

When the hour was up, I asked, “Would you like me to leave now?”
He said, “Yes, I would like that.”
So I said okay, and I left.

It would be easy to label this visit as uneventful. But that’s not how I see it.

Apparently, he doesn’t talk much with anyone. So an hour with someone quietly present in his world? That might be huge.

And maybe that’s enough.

Maybe that’s the work.

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I’m learning that I don’t need to force anything.
I don’t need to fix anything.
I don’t even need to say the perfect thing.

I just need to show up.
With presence. With respect. With patience.

Not only with young people.
But with myself. With my son. With partners. With the parts of me that have waited years to be seen without being repaired.

This lesson is slowly changing everything:
Presence is enough.

And when I truly believe that, the pressure falls away.
There’s no rush.
No performance.
Just being.

It turns out, that’s where the real connection begins.

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