When Presence Moves First, Life Follows

We just returned from a week on the Gold Coast — and as I sit here in my comfy clothes, surrounded by the gentle quiet of home, I feel the pull to share what this week showed me.

Before we left, Matty and I had agreed:

“We’ll relax by the pool. We’ll do nothing. Just rest.”

But life had its own plans.

And somehow, life’s plans were even better than ours.

Each day was full — beach swims, walks, pool, Dreamworld adventures, family dinners, spontaneous ice cream trips, browsing shops, family time, busy mornings and early nights.

It wasn’t the “stillness” we imagined.

But it was alive, and it was easy in a way that surprised me.

There was no exhaustion.

No tightness around making the days “perfect.”

No invisible checklist of “what a holiday should look like.”

Each day simply moved — and we moved with it.

We weren’t managing the experience.

We were living it.

And for the first time in a long time, I realised:

I didn’t need to hold it all together for everyone else.

As a parent, it’s so easy to unconsciously slip into the role of keeper of the peace, planner of days, ensurer of happiness.

We think:

• If I organise everything just right, no one will get upset.

• If I keep everyone entertained, the day will go smoothly.

• If I carry the invisible load, we’ll all have a good time.

But what I found this week was something deeper:

When I let go of constructing the days…

when I stopped trying to steer every experience…

there was more space for everyone to find their own flow.

Including me.

• The kids found their own rhythms.

• Matty and I found more natural moments of connection.

• I found more ease inside myself.

Even when emotions flared,

I didn’t collapse into guilt or control.

I simply noticed it, moved through it, and trusted that presence was already holding it all —

without me needing to fix, manage, or perfect the moment.

Presence didn’t mean nothing happened.

Presence meant everything that happened could be allowed —

the laughter, the tiredness, the tiny frustrations, the surprising sweetnesses.

Presence held it all — so I didn’t have to.

There’s a bigger movement underneath all of this too.

Matty and I have felt the pull to move our family to Queensland next year and this trip made it very clear that, it is our next step.

Because our energy has outgrown the density around us where we are.

Life is inviting us to plant our family in a space that breathes more easily, more openly, more freely.

We are not escaping.

We are expanding.

And what I lived this week showed me that expansion isn’t something we force.

It’s something we allow.

Just like the holiday days unfolded without management,

this next chapter is unfolding because we’re willing to trust life to carry us, not control it.

This wasn’t just a good holiday.

It was a living memory — a reminder that joy, flow, love, and ease are not rewards we earn through control.

They are the natural outcomes of trusting life enough to live without grasping.

If you’re a parent — or simply someone who carries a lot of invisible responsibility —

I hope you feel this too:

You don’t have to hold it all together.

Presence already holds it.

You can let go — and life will still catch you.

You can breathe — and love will still move.

You can trust — and the days will still bloom.

I’m not waiting for perfect conditions anymore.

I’m not waiting for stillness to find me.

I’m not waiting for the “right” place or plan.

I am presence, already living here, already unfolding, wherever life moves me next.

And for the first time in a long time,

it feels like everything — even the busy, messy, beautiful parts — is exactly as it’s meant to be.