I Suppose

Self-actualization is the highest level in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs when all the other needs of a human have been satisfied. This is the state where one reaches his or her maximum potential. Accepting one’s self. Knowing one’s purpose and true self. There is a lot of people in the world with different personalities and desires so the concept of self-actualization varies from person to person. And I want to share what I think it means for me.
 
I did some readings about this topic to have more knowledge about it and be able to describe my idea of what self-actualization is. I’ve read that self-actualized people are true to themselves. I think that these people are not afraid to feel what they want and be whoever they want to be. I’ve watched a lot of movies and series, listened to more than a thousand songs, and browsed the internet. This idea is everywhere and has existed for a very long time. But based on what I see and experience everyday, only few have the courage to be themselves. It’s not that people don’t want to. It’s the society we live in. We’ve created standards for everything. We’ve always been taught who to be, how to feel, and what to believe. And everything that is against these norms is frowned upon and unacceptable. Maybe that’s why self-actualization is the highest level. Not only we have to fulfill all of our needs, we also have to overcome the world.

Another thing that a self-actualized person has, is contentment. When I was thinking about this, I remember the story of King Solomon. He was very wise, he had lots of golds and lots of wife. He probably tried to do almost everything there is to try in his time. Another thing that comes to mind is the Mirror of Erised in Harry Potter. It is a mirror that shows a person’s deepest desires and the happiest person will see only a reflection of him/herself as is. It was said that people went mad because of seeing what they really want and knowing they can’t have it. I am not a fan of Harry Potter but I liked the movies and I’ve only read the first two books but the point there is that there are many things that we want to experience and different places we want to be. And we will only be content when finally did everything that we wanted, which makes it common for people to have bucket lists and devote their lives to cross out every item on it. I think it’s fun, except when there are things on the list that you can’t do. Hope really is the first step to disappointment.

As I grow more and more as person, I’m being influenced by my parents, my friends, things I see online, what I learn in school, and what I observe from other people. And because of that, it’s getting more and more difficult for me to know what I ultimately want and it’s more difficult for me to have an idea of my full potential. There are many things in life that would be worthy of my time. There's a part of me that wants to be a rapper, a part of me that wants to be the drummer in a famous band, a part of me that wants to be a magician, a part of me that wants to be an expert on computers, a part of me that wants to be a soldier, a part of me that wants to be an author, and there's a part of me that wants to be a movie director. It would take a lot of time to reach my full potential in one field and I know I can't master everything. All of these are paths in life waiting to be abandoned except for at least one. I think I may be experiencing choice paralysis. I saw it on a TV show I was watching. They did an experiment where they let people taste one jelly bean. The first setup only has two flavors to choose from while the second one has twenty. The results show that people were happier with only few choices. Having a lot of options only made them question whether they made the right decision and wonder what could have had happen if they tried a different flavor. Having a lot of choices may cause a person to not make one at all. It bothers me when people, especially my parents, ask me what college course I will take. I give different answers to different people but most of the time, I say that I still don’t know yet. And I still don’t know yet.

Self-actualization is when a person reached life’s maximum potential. But when I finally decide what I want to do, how do I know when I'm at the top? How can I tell that I've reached the farthest? How do I know that I'm truly satisfied with my life? How do I know if I’m only making myself believe that I’m really happy? In that context, self-actualization for me may be as simple as finding something that I truly want, not just something that my parents or my friends or anyone want for me. Self-actualization is being free to be myself. I guess it is the highest form of a person, to be whatever and to feel comfortable with it no matter how everyone else thinks of it, being content. Self-actualization for me is to not want anything anymore.