There are moments in life
when movement stops.
Not because we are lazy,
or unwilling,
but because something inside us is rearranging.
From the outside, it can look like hesitation.
From the inside, it feels like standing at the edge of oneself.
This is when support matters most.
Not the loud kind.
Not advice.
Not urgency disguised as care.
But the kind that stays.
Support is not fixing.
It is not solving.
It is not pushing someone back into motion before they are ready.
Support is a person who does not measure you by speed.
Measure people by their direction,
not by their pace.
Sometimes support looks like this:
Someone sits with you while you speak.
They do not interrupt.
They do not reassure.
They do not hurry you toward optimism.
They simply remain.
The room is quiet.
The silence is not awkward.
Nothing is being corrected.
And somehow, that is enough.
People often think strength is demonstrated by action.
But there is another strength —
the strength of not interfering
when fear tempts you to.
The strength of allowing another human being
to move through confusion
without being treated as broken.
If you have ever stood beside someone
while they were uncertain,
slow,
or inwardly rebuilding —
know this:
Your presence mattered more than you realised.
You did not need the right words.
You did not need solutions.
You did not need optimism.
You only needed to stay — without fear.
Some people walk ahead.
Some walk behind.
And some walk beside us
until we find our rhythm again.
This is not weakness.
This is how direction is protected.