The Intimacy of Being Witnessed

I became very good at carrying things quietly.

What I didn't understand at the time was that there is a difference between being capable of carrying something and never having anyone to carry it with you.

Recently, I discovered a word that has changed the way I understand myself:

Witnessing.

Not fixing. Not rescuing. Not giving advice. Not making someone else's fear disappear.

Simply being there while something moves through them.

And when I could say, I'm scared, and have another presence there without needing to make the feeling disappear, something unexpected happened:

I didn't feel quite so alone.

Maybe the answer was never to need less.

Maybe it was to finally understand what I needed.