My Personal Life Audit

630 Words3 Pages
In the past few years we have fully understood the impact that humans have on the world. As a human being there are some crucial things we need to live. However I realise that living in a developed country, I consume much more than needed, and it is essential that I start to change my lifestyle to ensure that our planet remains healthy for the footsteps that follow me. Abraham Maslow was an American psychologist, who wrote a book, Motivation and Personality, a major topic of the book is his famous Hierarchy of Needs. He constructed a pyramid, containing six categories: Physiological, Safety, Belonging, Esteem and Self Actualisation. All of these categories contain a number of things that Maslow believes we need to survive. I definitely believe the first layer of his pyramid contains the most essential things that we need in our lives. Thing like food, water and oxygen are obvious needs. In my life I have 99% of the first two layers, as I have the basic needs of survival and I have the security of a stable home and family. As a member of a western country I believe that I have everything I need to survive, plus a lot of things that are not required to live, but that I have for entertainment and pleasure. I made my own pyramid before knowing of Maslow’s and now going back to compare the two I realise that my essential needs are a basic version of the first two categories of Maslow’s pyramid. The one thing that was on my list that was not mentioned by Maslow was a weapon. I included a weapon as a safety measure but if I included some other safety needs from Maslow than this would not be needed. All of my other items were in Maslow’s pyramid and were quite easy to come by, as I need and use these things everyday. It is quite easy to understand the difference between a need and a want, but sometimes in our western society, we combine the two. A great example of this
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