The Myth of Being ‘Fully Present’: Why Enough Is Plenty

"You don’t need to be a monk on a mountain to be present—you just need to notice what’s real."

Let’s talk about the pressure to be fully present. It’s the silent expectation in yoga classes, the whispered critique in wellness circles, and the unrealistic ideal that leaves many of us feeling like we’re not doing presence “right.”

But presence isn’t an all-or-nothing state. You don’t have to be endlessly grounded, alert, and radiant to count.

Sometimes presence is catching a single breath in a storm of thoughts. Sometimes it’s five mindful minutes before the chaos of the day resumes.

And that? That’s enough.

Why the “Fully Present” Ideal Backfires

In chasing a perfect version of presence, we lose the actual moment. We bypass our truth in the name of spiritual correctness. We judge ourselves for drifting, instead of gently returning.

You are allowed to be distracted. You are allowed to have off days. You are allowed to be in process.

Presence doesn’t mean eliminating noise—it means noticing what’s happening with the noise.

Practising Good-Enough Presence on Retreat

At REESET, we don’t ask you to be perfectly present. We invite you to be honestly present.

That might look like:

• Sitting in silence and feeling a million thoughts fly by.

• Showing up to practice even when you're not “in the mood.”

• Listening to your body say no, and trusting that’s enough.

• Lying in savasana thinking about lunch—and still getting something out of it.

We believe the power of a retreat isn’t in how perfectly you show up—it’s in the fact that you chose to. That you arrived.

This is what real presence looks like: wobbly, honest, and always enough.