Sometimes, what you need most isn’t advice or a strategy session.
It’s a weekend away with someone who gets you. No filters. No roles to perform. Just quiet companionship, shared laughter, and deep exhale moments.
That’s what Cameron Highlands gave me. Not just cold air and hot tea, but space.
Space to pause. Space to feel seen without having to explain.
And in that space, I remembered something I tend to forget when I’m too deep in doing.
Sometimes, you don’t realise how heavy it’s been until someone gives you a moment where you don’t have to carry anything.
Not your responsibilities. Not your schedule.
Not your carefully managed energy. Just you as you are.
No filter. No role to play.
That’s what this weekend gave me.
In the stillness of Cameron, surrounded by fog and laughter and conversations that flowed easily I felt something soften.
I didn’t need to be “on.” I didn’t have to explain why I was quiet, or tired, or just present.
I was with someone who knew me outside of what I do.
And being known like that is a kind of restoration I didn’t know I needed.
Sometimes, leadership isn’t about knowing all the answers. It’s about knowing who you can sit next to when you have none.
Friendship like that is medicine.
It reminds you that you are more than your inbox. More than your titles. More than what you hold together for everyone else.
It brings you back to your humanness; the part of you that needs joy, softness, stillness, and safe company.
Because when you are well-held, you lead from a place that’s not just capable but also grounded.
We often think rest is a solo thing. That to recharge, we need to isolate.
Yes of course solitude has its place. But sometimes, healing comes in shared silence. In laughter that doesn’t ask you to be impressive.
In a warm cup of tea handed to you by someone who sees the version of you that exists before the responsibilities.
So here’s what I’m learning:
You don’t have to carry everything alone to prove you’re strong.
You don’t have to be “on” all the time to be respected.
And leadership, a true leadership makes space for friendship, too.
Because with the right people beside you, you don’t just come back rested:
You come back remembering who you are.
