First level of the pyramid: Physiological Needs.
Breathing: Why yes, I do have a steady supply of oxygen and the ability to process it.
Food: Check.
Homeostasis: Yes, my physiological system is stable.
Sex: Without going into it, check.
I think we can agree that I have mostly satisfied the first level of the pyramid (go me!).
Second level of the pyramid: Safety Needs
Personal security: I feel safe.
Financial security: HA. I am far from financially secure. I work a minimum wage job and I have crippling debt from student loans. My parents still pay my car insurance. My car is on it's last limbs and I don't have the money to replace it if something happens.
Health and well-being: Can we put a half check here? I have no major health problems, but I am overweight. I'm working on it and I feel like I need to get healthier and get more in tune with my body. Also, having two jobs means I don't get enough sleep.
Safety net against accidents/illness and their adverse impacts: Not really. I have crappy health insurance. If I get into a car wreck, I won't be able to replace my car. One of my jobs depends on my physical state, so if I were to break a leg or a hand, they'd have to let me go.
Uh-oh. Only at the 2nd level, and already we're seeing some major deficiencies.
Third level of the pyramid: Love and Belonging
Friendship: I feel like I have more real friends right now than I've ever had in my life, but I never have time to see them.
Intimacy: Check.
Family: I love my family very much, but I live far away from them and I don't feel as connected as I used to be. Sometimes I miss having my family around.
Fourth level of the pyramid: Esteem
Self esteem: Not at all. I am horribly insecure and I often just hate myself.
Confidence: Not really...
Achievement: People tell me I've achieved things, such as a Master's Degree, but because of my low self esteem I downplay them and I feel like I tell myself I didn't do enough, that I just got lucky or something.
Self respect: Not at all :(
Respect from others: If I do in fact have the respect of others, I don't know it. Because of my low self esteem I tend to assume that most people don't like me and I'm a burden on them. I assume that they are tolerating me to be nice.
Wow, I really didn't do well on this one! My low self-esteem causes problems for me in all aspects of my life. I know it, but I'm not able to do much about it.
Fifth level of the pyramid: Self Actualization
Let's just go ahead and assume that I'm not there.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Hello, I am a 23 year old, white middle class American female. I am trying to self-actualize.
Now, for those of you who are going to roll your eyes and say "Oh, another white kid whining about how hard life is," listen: shut up. This is how I'm choosing to deal with this clusterfuck called existence. Some people drink, some seek power, some buy things, some get into religion, some have babies, etc etc etc. I chose to ramble on and on in a blog, mainly to help myself organize my thoughts and track my thinking. Read it if you want to, or don't.
I digress. For those of you who are not familiar with self-actualization, look up "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs." Basically, Abraham Maslow came up with this theory in the mid 1900's. He was working off the assumption that every human being has a strong desire to realize his or her full potential and reach a level of self-actualization. Unfortunately self-actualization is really hard to get to because it has a lot of pre-requisites. Maslow listed these pre-requisites in the form of a pyramid, which I have included in the sidebar of this blog. At the bottom of the pyramid are the more basic neccesities, such as food and oxygen. You can't really achieve the stuff at the top without first securing the stuff on the bottom. You wouldn't, for example, worry about self-actualization if you were starving to death. Most of us glimpsed this pyramid briefly in high school or college psychology and never gave it a second thought. So, what got me thinking about all this again?
Well, my father called me up the other day and expressed his desire to see me reach self-actualization. He's worried because I seem to have fallen into a bit of a rut lately. Only my father, I thought. Most dads would worry about their daughter's financial state, or career path, or any number of practical day-to-day things. Mine is actively worried about me achieving my true potential and becoming at peace with myself. I'm pretty used to this kind of stuff with him, but he was really insistent and it kind of bugged me.
But the truth is, I have such thoughts all the time. I'm just never able to organize them and think about all of them coherently. But lately I catch myself thinking certain things I've always thought, or working off assumptions I've always had, and I stop and think "why do I think that? Why do I feel that way?" I feel like all my life I've been following prescribed paths that are supposed to bring me happiness (college, career, etc) and now that I'm at key points on those paths I'm looking for the happiness but it isn't there. I only see more anxiety, stress, and insecurity. Why do I have to care what others think? Why do I need my parent's approval? Why does my happiness depend do much on the opinions of other people? (Obviously I haven't achieved the "esteem" part of they pyramid. Heck, I'm still working on the "security" bit).
Well, you know what? This is MY life, and I'm of the opinion that it's the only one I'll get. I feel like the majority of people just follow those prescribed paths and never step back from them to self-evaluate and check if they're getting any closer to self-actualization. I believe it takes a conscious effort to identify who you are and what you need to achieve your full potential. It takes guts to look at yourself and see if you like the person you're becoming, and a lot of people would rather not. But I want self-actualization, damn it. I want to know and appreciate who I am, I want to achieve my full potential, I want to feel at peace with myself and get to the point where I can finally feel comfortable in my own skin. So, this blog is going to track my attempt at Self-Actualization. Let's see if I can move up the damn pyramid.
Now, for those of you who are going to roll your eyes and say "Oh, another white kid whining about how hard life is," listen: shut up. This is how I'm choosing to deal with this clusterfuck called existence. Some people drink, some seek power, some buy things, some get into religion, some have babies, etc etc etc. I chose to ramble on and on in a blog, mainly to help myself organize my thoughts and track my thinking. Read it if you want to, or don't.
I digress. For those of you who are not familiar with self-actualization, look up "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs." Basically, Abraham Maslow came up with this theory in the mid 1900's. He was working off the assumption that every human being has a strong desire to realize his or her full potential and reach a level of self-actualization. Unfortunately self-actualization is really hard to get to because it has a lot of pre-requisites. Maslow listed these pre-requisites in the form of a pyramid, which I have included in the sidebar of this blog. At the bottom of the pyramid are the more basic neccesities, such as food and oxygen. You can't really achieve the stuff at the top without first securing the stuff on the bottom. You wouldn't, for example, worry about self-actualization if you were starving to death. Most of us glimpsed this pyramid briefly in high school or college psychology and never gave it a second thought. So, what got me thinking about all this again?
Well, my father called me up the other day and expressed his desire to see me reach self-actualization. He's worried because I seem to have fallen into a bit of a rut lately. Only my father, I thought. Most dads would worry about their daughter's financial state, or career path, or any number of practical day-to-day things. Mine is actively worried about me achieving my true potential and becoming at peace with myself. I'm pretty used to this kind of stuff with him, but he was really insistent and it kind of bugged me.
But the truth is, I have such thoughts all the time. I'm just never able to organize them and think about all of them coherently. But lately I catch myself thinking certain things I've always thought, or working off assumptions I've always had, and I stop and think "why do I think that? Why do I feel that way?" I feel like all my life I've been following prescribed paths that are supposed to bring me happiness (college, career, etc) and now that I'm at key points on those paths I'm looking for the happiness but it isn't there. I only see more anxiety, stress, and insecurity. Why do I have to care what others think? Why do I need my parent's approval? Why does my happiness depend do much on the opinions of other people? (Obviously I haven't achieved the "esteem" part of they pyramid. Heck, I'm still working on the "security" bit).
Well, you know what? This is MY life, and I'm of the opinion that it's the only one I'll get. I feel like the majority of people just follow those prescribed paths and never step back from them to self-evaluate and check if they're getting any closer to self-actualization. I believe it takes a conscious effort to identify who you are and what you need to achieve your full potential. It takes guts to look at yourself and see if you like the person you're becoming, and a lot of people would rather not. But I want self-actualization, damn it. I want to know and appreciate who I am, I want to achieve my full potential, I want to feel at peace with myself and get to the point where I can finally feel comfortable in my own skin. So, this blog is going to track my attempt at Self-Actualization. Let's see if I can move up the damn pyramid.
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