Into the Word Vortex: “Essential”
Does this ever happen to you? A word comes up and it just keeps coming up in different conversations and different contexts. You start to notice it and wonder why. Then you hear it more and think, there must be something to this. You hear it, use it, think about it, maybe it even starts to sound funny. Before you know it, you’re in the ‘word vortex’.
For the last few weeks, the word ‘essential’ has been showing for me. A lot. So I did what I do and I Googled it. Of course, I know what the word means but I wanted to explore whether there was more to notice. And, of course, I came away with questions.
According to Webster’s, ‘essential’ has three definitions. Loosely expressed, they are:
Necessary – basic or critical, indispensable
Inherent – the essence of something, belonging by nature or habit
Primary – existing in and of itself, with no obvious cause or precursor
Necessary. Needed. Critical. As the world has experienced the coronavirus pandemic, we have reshaped our definition of essential workers. Historically we thought of emergency services – police, fire fighters, electric utility restoration crews, emergency room personnel – and these people remain and always will be essential. But as the pandemic has caused countless businesses to shut down, we now have expanded our definition to include grocery store employees, delivery workers, all the people who ensure we can have the things we need without putting ourselves at personal risk. If you work in one of these jobs, being essential is a double edge sword. There is meaning to being needed; but having to leave home and go to work when others are being encouraged, sometimes required, to stay in place, can be a burden, especially when the rewards are meager.
What’s essential in your life – what are the things, and who are the people, that are indispensable?
Natural. Permanent. Essential as inherent can exist in both a scientific and a spiritual lens. There are elements of life in all its forms that are essential. There are certain elements that biology demands are essential to various forms of life – compounds without which that lifeform doesn’t exist. But the essence of something can also be a sense, a feeling, something hard to define yet very much felt. The soul.
What is your essence? What makes you, you?
Primary. Idiopathic. The definition of essential as primary is often used in medical terms – primary hypertension is high blood pressure that doesn’t have a known cause – it just is. Like a primary number can’t be broken down into smaller whole numbers, the hypertension itself is the thing.
If you were to view yourself as primary – not a product of your upbringing, surroundings, circumstances – what would be possible?
In contemplating these definitions, I think my awareness of the word “essential” incorporates all of them. I spent many years prioritizing my time and energy based on what others demanded of me. I did all the things I needed to do to be what I thought I was supposed to be. My focus now is on recognizing what is necessary for me, my family, those dear to me, and dialing down the volume on the things that other people tell me are important. I’m learning to understand who I am and what my purpose – my essence – really is. And I’m not spending time dissecting the things that brought me to where I am. While I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason, I don’t need to know the “why”. I am quite happy being in the present, being my whole self.
I am essential. I am enough. And so are you.
