Slow down without announcing it
Matching someone's pace is easy. Doing it without commenting on it is what preserves their dignity.
The BeingKind editorsPublished How this is written
Why it lands
Being slow is bearable; being visibly waited for is not. The announcements — “take your time”, the theatrical pause, the offered arm — convert a walk into a demonstration of someone's decline, performed in public. Simply walking slower and finding a reason to stop that has nothing to do with them achieves the same thing without the commentary.
How
Set off slower than you need to. If you need a pause, invent your own reason — a shoelace, a shop window, a phone call. Offer an arm only if they reach for one, and stand on the side of the traffic or the uneven curb without mentioning why.
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