Last Sunday my husband and I did a thing. We attended our very first in-person live community event in over eight months—a comedy show at our local theatre.
We saw Jessica “It’s All Good” Williams, perform her comedy special “We’re All Chocolate.”
“How many of you woke up on March 14th and realized you were non-essential?”
Oh yeah, I had to raise my hand for that one!
“Let’s give it up for all the non-essential workers out there!”
(Laughter and raucous applause. All 30 of us because—hello—physical distancing.) We did a good job trying to pretend we were actually hundreds of adoring fans.
But I started thinking….
What is essential?
“Many things are good, many are important, but only a few are essential.”
Surely Socrates or Confucious or Voltaire said something about essentialism.
THEY DID NOT.
But in 2014, Greg McKeown did write the definitive treatise on the subject. His book, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, went on to sell more than one million copies and even became a New York Times bestseller.
According to McKeown’s own bio, he has dedicated his life to discovering why some people and teams break through to the next level and others don’t.
The answer, apparently, is essentialism, loosely defined as doing:
The Right Thing
The Right Way
At The Right Time
He called it the disciplined pursuit of less, but better.
And I like that because essentialism is more than just access to food, healthcare, and education, which no one can deny are important, but let’s be real—the people are the real heroes.
So maybe the real question isn’t “What is essential?” but “Who is essential?”
The best asset we have for making a contribution to the world is ourselves.
Ourselves!
I think some of us have forgotten that what we do isn’t nearly as important as who we are. And nothing teaches us more about who we are than coming face-to-face with adversity, something 2020 has shown us time and time again.
If you and I were to sit down across the table from each other and I were to ask you, “What is essential?” what would you say?
Health
Family
Love
Laughter
Progress
Fun
Community
Friendship
Generosity
And you could probably add 100 more things to this list. Good things. Important things. True Things. But did you notice that all the things on this list would mean nothing without people?
Essential is subjective.
And one of the best ways to discover what’s essential in ourselves is finding time to play. That’s what I did on Sunday. Going to the theatre was a form of play.
I knew I was going to have a good time.
I knew I was going to confronted with some hard truths.
I knew I would think.
And I knew I would laugh.
During periods of play, we explore our innate creativity. Play helps us see possibilities and make connections. Through play, we create new stories about our environment. Play is an important component in helping us develop one of the most important skills for success in business and in life—ADAPTABILITY.
Has there ever been a time in history when humans needed to access the adaptability part of their brains more than now?
Some people even claim that adaptability is the number one characteristic that separates successful people from the rest of us.
Not to mention that the show on Sunday made me so happy. I needed the laughs. I really needed them.
Play is an antidote to stress. The laughing made me feel like I was playing, and all the stress from the previous week simply melted away.
You know, I’m ready for the pandemic to end, too. I want to go back to the way things were, when I didn’t have to wear a mask and could enter a theatre with hundreds of other patrons and enjoy a show without thinking about physical distancing or airborne viruses.
But I also know what is happening right now, though painful, might be the very thing that is essential to helping me become the best version of myself.
Have you ever noticed that every great story begins with a tale of adversity?
Maybe this terrible thing that is happening to all of us is essential to helping us be the heroes of our own lives.
So the question of what is essential or who is essential doesn’t really matter. If pressed, my official definition would be anything or anyone that is absolutely necessary. Is a pandemic necessary? Guess what? Hardship and suffering are never wasted. Are you necessary? Absolutely! We are all learning to adapt. Don’t let this thing that’s happening in the world bring out the worst in you. Keep going. I believe we can all figure out new ways to live wholeheartedly in the midst of what most of us would describe as a dark spot in our shared history.