A night light doesn’t brighten the whole house. It just makes the dark less scary. Sometimes that’s plenty.

Not every kind of help is supposed to fix the situation. Some support exists only to make the dark bearable while it lasts, and that is a complete job. Presence without a solution is often what people need, and it is the help most of us feel too small to offer.

For someone having a hard time, stop waiting until you have something useful to say. Sit with them, send the message with no advice in it, be reachable at the bad hour. And when you are the one in the dark, accept the small light rather than holding out for daylight.