The Quiet Power of Being

“In a world that rewards doing, producing, and proving, it’s easy to forget: your presence is enough.”

Not your performance. Not your polished version. Not the roles you fill or the endless tasks you check off.

Just you—breathing, showing up in your truth.

That’s enough.

From Director to Witness

I’ll be the first to admit, it hasn’t always felt that way for me.

For decades, I directed the show—front row, headset on, making sure the music swelled at the right moment and everyone remembered their lines.

And honestly? That kind of assertive busyness is appropriate for that season of life.

The harder work was learning how to climb out of that director’s chair and step back.

These days, I’m more inclined to sit in the audience, heart full, whispering “brava” as my grown-ass kids write their own stories.

It’s quieter here, but it’s also richer. I get to simply be—more present, more loving, less orchestrating.

This kind of stepping back vibe continues to impact other relationships, too.

In fact, I have an affirmation I repeat before gathering with others or even picking up the phone: “What is most needed in this moment is for me to simply show up as authentically as I can and be responsive to the moment.”

It’s basically a lot of what I call “matriarch-queening” energy. (Feminine, seasonal archetypes are my jam!)

Practicing Our Queen Energy

We spend the majority of our midlife years in the season of the Matriarch/Queen.

So, just take a minute & think about a well-seasoned Queen—she doesn’t need to hustle up five clever conversation starters or carry the weight of the entire gathering. She isn’t wearing a t-shirt that says “I ❤️ being busy.”

She delegates, she trusts, and then she glides on through.

This isn’t about entitlement—it’s about empowerment. It’s the confidence to rest in her presence rather than perform for approval.

And that’s our invitation too: to begin practicing inhabiting a smarter, kinder, and more loving—yet well-boundaried— version of our inner Queen vibe.

Well-Seasoned Practices for Presence Over Performance

So how do we actually do this? Here are a few practices that help us choose authentic presence over endless performance:

🌿 Be emotionally honest. Especially with the messy, awkward emotions. Presence doesn’t mean polished—it means real.

🌿 Offer compassionate feedback—when asked. A Queen doesn’t intrude, but when her voice is welcomed, she speaks with both kindness and clarity.

🌿 Manage your contribution to connection. Neither carrying all of the weight of keeping a relationship alive, nor refusing to carry any of it. Healthy connection is shared, balanced, and mutual.

These small practices shift us from proving to simply being, which is where our real power resides.

The Truth About Worth

You don’t have to hold everything together to be valuable.

You don’t have to people-please your way to acceptance.

You don’t have to perform your worth through busyness.

Let’s face it, too often staying busy is just another way of avoiding ourselves—our grief, our needs, our desires.

But here in midlife and beyond, we’re not going to keep calling perpetual busyness a life.

Brené Brown puts it like this: “Let go of who you think you’re supposed to be. Embrace who you are.”

Because the truth is, some people are going to love you no matter what you do. And some people will never love you, no matter what you do. So go where the love is.

Stop hustling for worth. Start resting in the truth that your grounded presence is a gift.

Your presence shifts the energy of a room. Your listening makes space for others to soften. Your being is impact enough.

A Gentle Invitation

This week, when the voice of pressure or self-doubt rises, pause and return here:

I am enough. I am not here to be everything. I am here to be fully, deeply, unapologetically myself.

The goal isn’t to perform your way into value.

The goal is to show up with presence, right here, right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.