This weekend, I realized I was doing everything right… and still getting it wrong.
I thought my son was having a great weekend. He had snow days, spent time with a friend, and settled in to watch Marvel movies. Meanwhile, I was doing what I usually do — catching up on laundry, finishing doctoral work, paying bills, and handling responsibilities.
I assumed everything was fine.
It wasn’t.
On Monday, as I was heading out the door, my son quietly asked if I was mad at him. Then he said something that stopped me cold:
“Sometimes I don’t know how to talk to you.”
That’s when it hit me.
What I thought was a productive weekend… he experienced as loneliness.
So I changed course.
I picked up pizza.
We sat down.
We watched Doctor Strange together — no agenda, no multitasking.
Ironically, I saw a little of myself in Stephen Strange: driven, focused, always thinking about the next thing. And I was reminded that growth doesn’t always come from doing more.
Sometimes it comes from slowing down.
Leadership, parenting, relationships — they all ask for the same thing:
Presence.