Who are you when nobody needs you?

Original concept essay

Take away the work for a moment. The requests. The small emergencies. The usefulness that keeps your days full. What’s left when nobody is asking you to be anything?

Being needed can give a man purpose. It can also give him somewhere to hide. You can spend years answering everyone else and never sit long enough to hear your own answer.

Perhaps the self is less settled than we like to believe. A story we tell, a set of habits we defend, a reflection returned by the people around us. Some of it chosen. Some of it handed down before we knew we could refuse it.

Who are you when nobody needs you? Stay there for a moment. Notice what you rush to fill the silence with.