What Is Essential?

Credit: @theomzproject

I’ve been thinking about what “essential” in our lives truly means. 

At the beginning of our lives, we need very little - a place to sleep, food to eat and little else. Everything else, we fill in with our imaginations. Late in our lives, it seems pretty similar. 

It’s the stuff in-between that, I think, confuses us.

We broaden our definition of what essential really is, influenced by our environment, our peers, our own aspirations. Which isn’t a problem in and of itself, but becomes one when we broaden it too far.

I don’t mean so much in terms of material possessions, though that can be a problem (in some senses, you will never have enough). I mean it more in terms of what we need to be happy. What’s really important? What matters? What will we treasure the most, 10, 20 or 30 years from now?

Values we upheld, regrets we made sure we didn’t have, time we spent with those we loved. 

I’m fairly sure those are the yardsticks though they don’t always tend to translate into practical specifics.  Most of the time we know what is essential, other times it gets lost in the shuffle, in the fog of war. 

But we certainly and always know when we’re compromising. That’s what we need to watch out for.