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Having the essentials sets you up for success no matter what life throws at you.
Most of us are walking around with maps we were never taught to read, in terrain we were never given permission to explore. 🗺️
Most of us were handed a map at some point — by family, religion, culture, a career path, a relationship. We followed it faithfully. And then one day the terrain stopped matching. The landmarks moved. The roads closed. We were so, so tired of walking. And nobody told us we were allowed to draw a new one.
We are all wondering if the rest of our breathing days are going to be spent either in chaotic war or in an unending pivot for survival. Does a map even work when everything looks so different from one decade to the next?
A lot of us are burnt out or nearly broken down. A lot of us are trying to get back to basics because something feels desperately, deeply wrong.
Grasp The Essentials is a Substack exploring the essentials of life. We are distilling the reasons for doing things, finding the solid ground beneath all the superfluities. By holding on to these essentials, we can trust ourselves to make wise choices and not just survive the uncertainties of the future, but actively craft them and lovingly thrive in them. We are map makers.
Breaking Down the Newsletter Sections
💧I spent a decade and a half building a life in a cloistered convent. By popular request, I talk about what went heartbreakingly wrong and why I had to take my journey elsewhere in my ongoing Dear Celine Series. In doing so, I hope that my readers, particularly you, find stories you relate to, encouragement on your own journey, and new lights to light up your way. Because the systems that broke in the convent are the same systems breaking you outside the convent.
💧After leaving the convent, I had to start building my life again from scratch, while simultaneously backfilling my foundations. I could barely walk, had no support system, no credentials, no work history, no credit history, even had to refresh my driving skills. I became a massage therapist and craniosacral therapist with a deep understanding of what healing entails and a commitment to being the safe space for anyone who comes to my practice. In my Questions About Craniosacral Therapy Series, I explain the methods and usefulness of my specific approach (informed by Upledger Institute training) to psychosomatic recovery and wellness.
💧I bring a unique perspective as someone who missed the advent of the iPhone and did not emerge back into technology until 2023, since I had extremely limited access to computers and internet in the cloistered convent. The cloistered life is designed to strip down to the essentials so as to journey lighter and hopefully higher. I kept my talent for analysis and critical thinking alive during those years, and now I apply it to technology, advocating a balanced view and solutions for real problems especially when it comes to the advent of AI. These and other observations occasionally drop as standalone posts.
💧In the Too Deep And Colorful section resides my creative writing. Creative writing has been difficult since I left the convent—not that it was easy prior to that. This section is available to paid subscriptions only.
So, welcome, know that I appreciate engagement and I support your efforts toward sanity. Leave comments, DM me, restack if it resonates and I will check out your work, too.
Become an Essentialist
Chaos To Clarity LLC
My therapy business located in Orange County, California. Visit my website for location availability and scheduling. 15 minute free phone consults are available.
Gentle Touch, Powerful Results.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Essie Bourke is a certified massage therapist specializing in craniosacral therapy (Upledger Institute) in Orange County, CA. She is the owner of Chaos To Clarity, LLC, a private manual therapy business. She spent her early adulthood as a cloistered nun before leaving and rebuilding her life from scratch. She now works with the nervous system professionally and writes about what she notices — inside institutions, inside bodies, and inside a culture that keeps wondering why everyone is so exhausted.