True story: a quiet connection in the grocery store
Chapter 22 of the Empowered Healing Series
Link to Chapter 21: https://calm-core-cozy-layers.blog/2025/04/16/bend-breathe-begin/
Empathy doesn’t always arrive with tissues or grand gestures.
Sometimes, it just stands beside you in sweatpants, scanning the cereal shelf, and says, “Yeah, I’ve felt that too.”
AI-GENERATED IMAGE — A VISUAL NOD TO A REAL MOMENT OF EMPATHY.
It was a regular Tuesday. The kind of day you go in for almond milk and walk out with five things you didn’t plan on — emotionally included.
I was in aisle five, mentally debating between crunchy or soft granola, when a woman beside me let out a breath that felt… heavy.
She wasn’t talking to me, but the space between us felt charged.
She turned slightly and said, almost to herself,
“Do you ever feel like you’re one minor inconvenience away from a full meltdown?”
I looked up.
She gave a half-laugh — the kind that tries to cover vulnerability with humor. We all do it.
And in that split second, I had a choice: offer a polite nod and keep comparing granola labels… or pause.
I paused.
The Granola Aisle Became Sacred Ground
For the next ten minutes, that aisle turned into a tiny therapy room.
She opened up about her mom’s illness, the burnout of being “the strong one,” and how even small wins feel exhausting when you’re running on fumes.
I didn’t offer solutions. I didn’t say, “have you tried yoga?” or “maybe a gratitude journal?”
I just stood there.
No interruptions. No interjections. Just presence.
And presence, I’ve learned, is deeply underrated.
She Didn’t Need Fixing
She didn’t need a therapist. She just needed a moment.
Someone to hear her without flinching.
A stranger who could say, even without words,
You’re not crazy. You’re not alone.
It felt like a quiet agreement between us:
Two women in a grocery store, holding space for each other in the middle of life’s messiness.
We didn’t exchange names or numbers. There was no movie-style ending.
But as she walked away, she smiled and said,
“Thanks for letting me fall apart near the oats.”
I smiled back,
“Better oats than alone.”
The Power of Quiet Presence
That night, I sat with a cup of chamomile tea — no almond milk, I forgot it entirely — and thought about what had unfolded.
It brought something back to me—something I’ve come to believe over time:
Empathy isn’t about fixing things.
It’s not about saying the perfect thing either.
Sometimes, it’s just about being there.
Being the soft space where someone else can fall apart, without fear.
No answers. Just presence.
The Invitation to Pause
We live in a world that’s quick to talk and slow to hear.
But sometimes, being someone’s accidental therapist — in a grocery store, a waiting room, or even the comment section — can ripple further than we realize.
So the next time you find yourself in aisle five, or anywhere really, and someone’s truth spills out unexpectedly…
Just pause.
You don’t have to fix it.
Your presence alone might be the thing they didn’t know they needed.
–Nitya
🌟 Ready for the next layer?
👉 Read Chapter 23
