You don’t need the right words to sit with someone who’s hurting. Just don’t leave early.

People stay away from someone in pain because they are afraid of getting it wrong. The thing is, the right words mostly do not exist, and the ones that do come out clumsy. What actually helps is far less impressive than that: a person physically there, not filling the silence, not fixing anything, not glancing at the time.

If a friend is having the worst week, go and sit with them and plan on staying past the comfortable point. Say you do not know what to say, which is true and better than a slogan. Bring food. Leave later than you meant to, and text again the next day.