Just Because You’re Awake Doesn’t Mean You’re Present

Just Because You’re Awake Doesn’t Mean You’re Present

There is a silent crisis unfolding in modern workplaces, especially among executives and knowledge workers. It isn’t burnout in the dramatic sense. It doesn’t always look like collapse. It looks like calendars full of meetings, emails flying, and people showing up… but not really being there.

We have learned how to stay awake while being completely absent.

Back-to-back meetings have become normal. Online meetings have made it worse.
We move from one digital room to another without ever resetting our nervous systems. No pause. No breath. No space to think. Something has to give, and what gives first is you.

The Two Faces of Fatigue

Look at the image for this post. One woman has collapsed on her desk, visibly exhausted.
The other looks alert, engaged, even productive. But here’s the truth:

Neither of them are present.

The first is overwhelmed. The second is operating on adrenaline. One has hit the wall.
The other is heading for it. This is what hidden fatigue looks like in the modern workplace. It hides behind professionalism, performance, and polite smiles. But under the surface, the body is depleted and the brain is foggy.

· You may be delivering.

· You may be responding.

· You may be ticking boxes.

· But you are no longer fully there.

Why Online Meetings Are Draining You

Digital meetings are uniquely exhausting. Your brain has to:

· Process faces on a screen

· Interpret tone without body language

· Stay focused without physical cues

· Sit still while pretending to be engaged

This constant cognitive strain is not natural. It forces your nervous system into a low-grade stress state for hours at a time. You don’t notice it at first. But by the end of the day, you’re irritable, tired, unfocused, and somehow still wired. That is not productivity, it is depletion.

The Cost of Never Stopping

We have confused busyness with value. But your best thinking does not happen in meetings.
Your best leadership does not come from exhaustion. Your best decisions do not come from a fried nervous system. When you don’t schedule pauses, your body will eventually take them for you, through illness, burnout, or emotional shutdown. And the person who pays the highest price is not your company. It’s you.

What Presence Actually Requires

Presence is not about being visible.
It’s about being available — mentally, emotionally, physically.

That requires:

· Space between meetings

· Breaks to reset your nervous system

· Moments without screens

· Time to breathe, walk, and think

These are not luxuries. They are performance tools.

The Quiet Question

So here is the real question: Are you truly present, or are you just awake?

Because the difference between the two is where health, leadership, and longevity live.

And no title is worth losing that.