Self Actualization

Say you and I were on the beach together having a conversation about life, and watching the sunset. If I asked you, 'What have you achieved in the last year?' how would you answer? More critically, if I asked, 'Have you truly given your best to achieve something in the past year?' would you be able to confidently affirm that with a yes? Do these questions stir a sense of unease in you? Take a moment, think about it and keep them in mind as you read on.

Amidst the exhilarating freedom and fun that my first year at university brought, there lingered a nagging sensation that something was missing, or that I was meant for more. As the year wound down and I reflected on the past 12 months, I experienced an upsetting realization while recapping my year. The ever-pressing question, 'What did I achieve this year?' weighed on my mind for days as I struggled to come up with a somewhat decent answer. Although I had some achievements on paper, they didn't fill me with pride and thus didn't really count. I then asked myself, 'What did I give my best effort to this year?' The answer was nothing; there was not one area in my life where I could honestly say I had given my best, which was the root of my lingering feeling of unfulfilled potential. Now that I understood what was missing, I needed to understand why.

The root of this issue lies in the drastic transition from high school to university. For the first 18 years of our lives, we don’t actually think for ourselves. What we think, how we think, and when we think are dictated by external authorities such as parents and teachers. This changes overnight when you leave school; no one tells you what to think, what to value, or what goals to pursue. Without someone dictating my actions, I froze. I ended up drifting aimlessly through my first year without any sense of direction or objective because no one told me where to go.

This experience reminds me of a lesson I learned in my eighth-grade economics class about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. According to Maslow’s theory, human motivations are structured in a hierarchy of needs, starting with the most basic physiological needs (food and shelter) and culminating in self-actualization, a state in which individuals realize their full potential.

This theoretical framework helped me better understand why I needed to take control of my life and set goals, set them often, and pursue them vigorously. The beauty of being an adult is that you get to choose what matters to you. What you want in life differs from what I want, and you need to design your life accordingly. No one's dreams are better than anyone else's; they are simply different. Throughout the year, I made the conscious decision to challenge myself regularly and consistently, and I have found that my life is generally better for it.

I think the fact that I experienced these feelings in my first year leads me to believe that many of you reading this may have felt the same and may still be struggling with these feelings. This is not an indictment of you but rather a reflection of the challenges faced by many young adults in the world today. You will never have more free time in your life then at this very moment, you will never be younger than you currently are and you will never have less responsibility than you currently have. If the time isn't now, it's never so If I were to ask you again, 'What have you achieved in the last year?' is your answer different from the one you gave at the start? More importantly, if I asked, 'Have you given your best in the past year?' has your answer changed?