Maslow, life, and the Energizer Bunny

Ok, so who am I? This will be one of those blogs that may seem unbelievable at first, but I can assure you that every post is true. The methodology I plan to take is temporal, meaning that I will start at the very beginning and move forward through the different phases of my lives. This is one of those stories that doesn't make sense because the odds were never meant to be in my favor. However, with enough ambition and drive, it appears that one can make most things happen.

It's a bit like Maslow's heirarchy of needs (yes, I know I alread mentioned him). Ole Abraham was what we call a humanist. This means that he believed in the potential of people to push through the hard times to reach higher levels of understanding and comfort in life. Perhaps Maslow is the best way to describe the several lives I have lived in this one life time.

Picture a pyramid divided into to five levels.

Level 1: At the very bottom of the pyramid would like the most basic needs or what he called the physiological needs. These are our most instinctive needs. At this level we are in survival mode. We fight to have food, water, shelter, and the very basic elements of a constant body temperature and oxygen. Think about it. When you are thirsty, you drink. When you are hungry, you eat. When you are cold, you put on warmer clothing, and when you are hot you put on cooler clothing. We all have experienced this level at one time or another.

Level 2. The next level in Maslow's pyramid is called the need for safety. At this level we seek out comfort and protection from the world around us. A safe car to drive. A safe place to sleep. We want to be safe from the demons in the environment that may hurt us. Most of the time, we don't even realize that we are satisfying this need. But think about it like this. When a baby is scared she cries for mom or dad. One of them picks her up and holds her to reassure her that everything is ok. It's the need for this type of warm fuzzy that we are trying to satisfy at this level.

Level 3 of the pyramid is the need for love, friendship, and belonginess. While we may have a signifcant other at any level of the heirarchy, at this level we are looking for a sense of community. Social interaction. Acceptance by our peers, and yes, romance. It's kind of like when we were children and wanted to be included in the game. No one wants to be picked last, so we work to fit in so we are one of the first team members chosen. We may never be first, but we sure don't want to be last.

Level 4 of Maslow's pyramid takes us to a place where we seek to satisfy our need for respect or self-esteem. We not only want to be respected by those around us, but we want to have respect for ourselves. We want to feel good about our place in life. We want a bit of dignity. So if someone asks us what we do, we can answer the question proudly. Sometimes we even beef up our actual roles in life to make them sound more important. This would be that inherent need to be respected by those around us.

Level 5 is the very top of Maslow's heirarch or pryamid. This is called self-actualization. So what does that mean? Well, in layman's terms, it simply means that we want to do what we were born to day. Artists draw and paint. Musicians make music. Academics yearn to learn. Some people travel. Others volunteer. At this level we are doing the things that make us feel the very best.

There have been many people that have tweaked Maslow's concepts along the way, but for me, as a teacher and academic, I feel the basic elements of his theory fit the best. Keep in mind, that the climb up the pyramid is never one way. At any given time, we can topple back down when new needs present themselves.

So why use Maslow? This is one of those theories that stands the test of time. It's like the energizer bunny, it just keeps going. As you read through the posts, you can see the uphill and downhill flow of the pyramid that we all experience.