Mapping my essence was not an easy task at all, but I think it was necessary. I needed time between calls to truly understand the magnitude of the things that move and define me. In the end, I arrived at four pairs of interconnected Essences.
My map combines elements that I see as inseparable: education and ancestors (as I am the first woman in my family to graduate), trauma and body (because our bodies carry both the beautiful and the painful moments), love and motherness (through caring for others and my immense love for humanity), and finally, the smallest yet equally important part nature and the sacred. I actually had doubts about including something sacred in my map. Even though we talked about sacredness as something that goes beyond religion, I did not initially think that there was anything within me that I would define as sacred. I was brought up Orthodox Christian, but I have always had a complicated relationship with religion, particularly when it comes to the status of women within religious institutions. When I first saw the word sacred in this exercise, I felt that I did not really have that part within me. However, through the additional explanations and reflections on sacredness, I came to realize that I do have sacred things in my life, they just do not take a religious form.
But after a lot of reflection, I realized that I connect sacredness with nature with greenery, with bodies of water, with the outdoors. These are the spaces where I ground myself, recenter, and find the strength to keep moving forward during difficult times. For some people, sacredness may mean going to a temple or a church. For me, it is spending time outside, surrounded by nature. I get this immense energy and fulfillment with breath of fresh air or life, and I believe that is closest that I’ll get to understand what religion feel to other people, not that I am trying to find an alternative for myself. That is what helps me reconnect with myself when things become overwhelming, and that is how I connected the sacred to nature.
Nature has also shaped the way I lead and how I think about care. I think that in this capitalistic world we often place too much focus on self-care, sometimes pushing collective care out of the way. Nature constantly reminds me that collective care is just as important as self-care. Everything in nature exists in relationship with something else, and nothing thrives completely on its own. In the same way, I do not believe that we can be truly happy in an unhappy world or balanced in an unbalanced world. We can, however, share our happiness, solidarity, and support with others to build collective strength and resilience. This understanding influences how I approach leadership and community-building, always reminding me that our well-being is interconnected.
I have also realized that nature influences the speed at which I move through life and leadership. It reminds me that growth takes time and that not everything needs to happen immediately. One of the ways I reconnect with myself is through what I call my Sunday reset. Whenever I can, I spend an hour or an hour and a half taking a long walk in a park. During that time, I try to limit screen time, touch the grass, listen to the birds chirping, notice the smell ofwater, and be present in the moment. These walks help me recenter myself, process difficult situations, and regain the energy needed for the week ahead.
In many ways, this realization surprised me because I never thought the sacred was part of my Essence, but it turns out that it is. Through this expedition, I think my understanding of the sacred has deepened. I learned that sacredness does not look the same for everyone and that it can exist outside traditional religious spaces. For me, it exists in nature, in the moments where I feel most connected to myself, to others, and to the world around me.
