There is a reason a king was never easy to reach.
Not because he feared his people, but because access itself carried meaning.
Distance created gravity.
Silence created anticipation.
Presence became an event, not a habit.
Too much availability slowly dissolves value.
What can be reached at any moment stops feeling important.
What never requires effort stops demanding respect.
This is uncomfortable to accept in a world that worships openness and instant response.
We are taught that being reachable means being kind.
That constant access signals humility.
Yet human psychology works differently.
Value is not only created by what something is, but by how rarely it appears.
A ruler who stands among the crowd all day loses the weight of his presence.
Authority does not vanish because power is gone.
It fades because boundaries disappear.
Marcus Aurelius understood this well when he wrote,
“Respect yourself enough to walk away from anything that no longer serves you.”
Distance is not rejection.
It is discernment.
This truth appears everywhere, not just in history.
People who reply instantly to every message are slowly taken for granted.
Leaders who explain themselves endlessly begin to sound unsure.
Voices that speak all the time stop being listened to.
Scarcity sharpens attention.
Abundance dulls it.
In earlier times, access required process.
Messages took time.
Meetings required intention.
Silence was built into daily life.
Because access was earned, it was respected.
Modern life erased that friction.
Now everything is immediate.
Replies are expected.
Presence is demanded.
And slowly, meaning erodes.
I learned this lesson personally.
There was a phase when I made myself endlessly available.
Every call answered.
Every message replied to.
Every request accommodated.
At first, it felt generous.
Later, it felt invisible.
Requests increased.
Respect quietly decreased.
Not out of malice, but habit.
When access costs nothing, it is treated like nothing.
Power weakens when it explains itself too often.
Leadership fades when boundaries disappear.
Value collapses when there is no resistance.
A king protected his authority by choosing when to appear.
Not hiding.
Choosing.
Not ignoring.
Prioritizing.
This principle applies far beyond crowns and thrones.
Time loses value when it is always given away.
Attention loses weight when it is never guarded.
Presence loses meaning when it is guaranteed.
True strength is not loud.
It is contained.
True influence is not constant.
It is deliberate.
Too much availability does not make you important.
It makes you predictable.
And nothing loses value faster than something the world can always reach.
