Saturday 8 November 2008

Wants V Needs

I'm definitely feeling a lot brighter today. I feel like I have more clarity in my thoughts, my ideas are less clouded by despair and hopelessness. I have a clear vision of WHAT I want, and that's part of the battle.

The last couple of years have been about trying to figure out something very basic: do I want to live or do I want to die?..

Having made the decision to LIVE am now faced with the task of figuring out exactly how I go about *doing* that. It's not so simple as breathing, eating and sleeping.

I want to create a "life worth living".

I know, on a basic level, that food, sleep and oxygen are essential to staying alive. There is so much more than that. We have other needs and wants too...there is a difference between "wants" and "needs" and I struggle to see wants/desires as important in day-to-day life. Maybe that is part of the problem.

It's okay to want things. It's human nature to want things. It's okay to want to have friends, hobbies, pleasure. Food...that's a tricky one for me. It is, to all intents and purposes, a basic need. A part of me believes that, and another part of me believes that it is merely a "want" that can be brushed aside and ignored.


According to this, food is a basic physiological need.

There are so many layers above the basic needs. At least I know where to start though, right? Prioritising physiological, then working on the rest. One layer at a time...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i'm glad you posted this. it's been awhile since i've seen the actual pyramid, but it's been pointed out to me that i'm trying to self actualize (i realized long ago that for me, medicine was reaching that point of self-actualization) while denying myself food.

when pointed out to me, i realize the sheer ridiculousness of what i'm doing.

and let's not event talk about the levels in between (love, etc) ...heh :/ *smirk*

xoxox

--janie

ellie said...

yup, yup...start at the bottom *then* work your way up. Going from top to bottom is cheating :P