We always want to be a better person and we want to be successful. So today I am going to write a blog about self-actualization. Self-actualization is the continuous fulfillment of growth motives. The meaning is difficult, but surprisingly simple. Just set your own goals and make a step for how to achieve them. Maslow’s theory of self actualization is extremely important and popular. As shown in the picture, Maslow’s self-actualization is divided into five stages. The first stage is the basics which is food, water, house, heat, breathing, and sleep very simple and easy. If the first stage is achieved, move on to the next stage which is safety of body, employment, resources, morality, the family, health, property etc. If the second stage has also passed, move on to stage 3. Stage 3 is relationship which is friendship, family, sexual intimacy. Almost everyone should have made it to stage 3. The next stage is a bit more difficult, which is esteem including self-esteem, confidence, achievement, respect of others, respect by others. If you've come this far, try stage 5, the last step. I think stage 5 is the most important and the hardest one. Stage 5 is self-actualization which is morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice, acceptance of facts. If you complete every stage then you will know how to make your future self actualization and you will be a better person and you can reach your own goals. Based on Maslow's theory of self-actualization, you can set your own goals and make steps to how to achieve them, and approach that goal. Then you will know how to make your future self actualization.
Eunseo H There’s more information for self actualization https://www.betterup.com/blog/self-actualization
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Overthinking, also known as rumination, occurs when you dwell on the same thought or situation over and over again to the point where it interrupts with your life. Overthinking usually falls into two categories: ruminating about the past or worrying about the future and lucky me, I fall into both categories. Overthinking is something we all do at some point. Everyone worries at least once in their life, overthinking doesn't necessarily mean when you overthink about your grades or future. When you compare your limits to someone else’s strengths, you are overthinking. When you obsess over someone else’s “irrational beliefs,” you are overthinking. When we overthink, we over plan and when we over plan, we overfill our life. I'm an overthinker, and there's no limit to how much I can think about. I think about the most irrelevant things, from the time I almost drowned when I was four to what my life will be like in 20 years. Overthinking has never come to me in a positive way; it is always related to bad or negative thoughts. I mean, who ever overthinks in a positive way? When asked what I should do in this situation, I was always told to "just don't think about it" or "do something to distract yourself." These words are easy to say but really hard to put into action. We are thinking all the time, and yet, we never think about how much time we spend thinking. That might sound like an addiction and if you relate, don't worry because you are not alone. When I eat too much, I would tell myself “I’m overeating, I need to eat less”. When I study too much, I would say “I’m dying, I need to stop studying”. But when I think too much, I can’t just say “I’m overthinking.” I need a different approach to unclog my brain. But the problem is that we don’t consider overthinking as a problem. When someone says that overthinking is bad, we often assume that only negative thoughts are wrong. And by that definition, it automatically means that positive thoughts are good. I think most of us agree that negative thoughts are related to Worrying, Complaining, Anger, Feeling sorry for yourself or Blaming others. Similarly, we can agree that trying to solve problems, Studying, Understanding knowledge, Planning, Visualization and Setting goals are positive thoughts. What most self-help advice says is, scrap the negative thoughts and double down on the positive thoughts. This might sound like good advice but the truth is that when you overuse your brain, just like a drain, it can get clogged. And this will result in Foggy thinking which leads to bad decision making. All that being said, how can you actually help yourself to think less? Researchers have found a 4 step process to stop overthinking..
Allow yourself to forget about yesterday and tomorrow. No matter how much you want to accomplish in the future, or how much you've suffered in the past, appreciate the fact that you are alive. Melina M Procrastination can be problematic. Procrastination is the action of delaying something. I know about this firsthand because I’ve said to myself for the last month, “Today I’m going to start writing my blog.” I never get around to it, either because I’m busy doing sports or just scrolling TikTok on my phone. It’s not just my blog that I procrastinate about, but basically everything I do that other people aren’t relying on. I have a social studies project that should be much more complete by now, but lo and behold, it’s untouched. Since I have been neglecting it, now I have many things to do on top of it, creating this wall of work that I need to chip away at. The procrastination is so bad in fact, that since typing that last paragraph, I’ve left and played video games for an hour and a half. I’m typing it in between rounds just to get some words in. Basically, procrastination can make things hard to get done. It’s not just procrastinating work though. Another form of procrastination is sleep procrastination. Sleep procrastination is when you delay getting into bed or delay falling asleep while in bed. This might happen because you feel that you haven’t done enough in a day or just don’t want to go to bed yet. I suffer from this the most. It stops me from getting the energy I need to make it through a single day, which causes me to put off even more work I need to get done because “I’m too tired.” My dad will be going to bed and will find me asleep with the lights on with papers on my desk, and he will just turn off the lights and go to bed. The worst part about procrastinating is that the longer you do it, the more anxiety builds up making you not want to do it more. By the time you actually get around to doing what you have been putting off, it’s a very stressful task to complete. Some things that I procrastinate on aren’t stress-inducing, like eating healthier. Still, the tiny voice in my head tells me that I could be doing better, doing more. The only way to not procrastinate indefinitely is if there is a deadline. That’s the whole reason why work eventually gets done. Things like going to the gym or going to bed earlier don’t have a deadline, however, and that’s why I can’t be bothered to better myself. To be a better person, I brainstormed solutions to fix my procrastination problem. Then I thought about how having a deadline helps me get things done. So, to get things done I’m going to create deadlines for everything I want to do. Get a better sleep? Deadline. Start having healthier snacks? Deadline. To keep track of all my deadlines, I used an app (IOS only) Event Countdown- Calendar app. Some of its features are locked behind a paywall, but all the basic stuff is free. I know that just getting stuff done won’t be enough for me, like just getting a good night's sleep, so I’m going to reward myself when I get things done. It might just be taking an hour's break to watch YouTube, or if something is bigger, it could be buying a game I want or watching a movie with a friend. Either way, I’ve procrastinated enough. It’s time to do something about it. Lucas D
I can guarantee that every single person reading this has had an argument. It could’ve been as minor as which sports team is better, or something more important like worldview. No matter the subject, chances are neither party involved learned much of anything. In a perfect world both of you would carefully consider each other's opinions and restructure your own view with the knowledge you’ve gained, but we don’t live in a perfect world. The world we live in is often aggressive, inconsiderate and not a good environment for learning. So it’s up to you to shape your points and tailor your delivery to each person you encounter, but how? Well let’s start with the simplest, yet seemingly most seldom done task before you argue. Fully understand and consider the views of others before attempting to critique it. The goal of arguing is not to win, but to learn. Failing to fully consider someone else's opinion will result in deconstructive bickering, and neither of you will learn anything. To form an accurate and impactful argument you must first fully understand the other person's view, once you’ve done that you may even consider changing your own. Open with curiosity, not aggression. Proving someone wrong isn’t enough to change their opinion, you have to ‘soften the blow’ slightly to avoid things becoming heated. When people get angry, they act irrationally and don’t take well to alternative ideas, avoiding this is the most important thing to do during an argument. Ask them to explain their ideas, establish a sense of comfort and open mindedness. Once they see you’re not trying to attack them, they’re going to be far more open to your ideas and views. Take time to think before arguing Many small arguments are the result of poor communication or a simple misunderstanding. Before you jump in and try to convince someone they’re wrong, make sure you aren’t just caught in the heat of the moment. Ask yourself if there's an alternative way to see this, or if this is something truly important. Remember to calm down, never argue while you're angry. It’s a habit most of us fall into because of what i mentioned above, when we are angry we don’t like to consider we are in the wrong. Starting an argument while either party is mad is pointless, on top of neither person learning anything, you’ll probably come out more upset than you were before. Like any other kind of socializing, this takes practice. You’re not about to go convince the entire class about pickle ice cream just because you’ve read this. Everyone is different, adapting your arguments to everyone you meet is a skill that takes years to develop, and can never truly be mastered. The best thing you can do for yourself and others is to stay open minded, and never stop trying to learn about the world and the people around you.
Michael B Music, what is it? Music is the structured arrangement of instrumental sounds and vocals to create a mixture of noise that appeals to the brain, otherwise known as a song. These things called songs can be very powerful in ways. Music has been a form of entertainment since the age of humans. Every culture has their own diverse variety of genres. Music has played a very large role in my life ever since I was young. My dad introduced me to all kinds of legendary bands which got my whole interest in music started. My dad is a huge music nerd, so he has been teaching me all sorts of things about music and artists over the years. Sixth grade was really the year I started to develop my own taste in music. I didn't really know how to find the artists I liked so I spent most of my time watching music videos. Those music videos are what really sparked my interest in the rap scene. My music taste has been all over the place in the past years but it is never bland. I always listen to a wide variety and have multiple playlists for various occasions and moods. Music is one of my go to coping methods, there is always something available. I listen to music to work through my problems, to hear and feel through sound that what I'm going through, I'm not doing it alone. Whenever I'm struggling, I know I can always find comfort in my songs. Music is a great strategy to help cope rather than turning to self destructive methods. Music is also a great way to bond, communicate, and find a sense of belonging. Music can develop great communities based on different genres or artists. My best friend and I started our whole relationship based solely because we both liked Lil Peep, and $uicideBoy$, we ended up having way more music taste in common and just kind of went from there. Making music is also a great passtime. I recently downloaded a software that allows you to create beats virtually called FLstudio. It allows you to create your own creative sound, or re-create the sounds of other artists. You have complete control of the sounds. Hewitt L For many people concentrating on something is quite hard, especially when what we are trying to concentrate on is boring or uninteresting. This leads to getting distracted and most likely zoning out. Zoning out is something that basically everyone has done, especially me. When we let our minds wander, the world around us goes quiet and we only pay attention to our own thoughts. This really doesn't help us though. Think of school. A student isn't concentrating on their work and zones out, they then get called on by the teacher to answer a question. It's so embarrassing fumbling around with your words to try and find an answer. That’s why I came up with some tricks to stay at least a little bit more concentrated. The first trick would be moving any and all distractions out of sight and reach. For example your phone, snacks, and anything that isn't related to what you should be doing. Now I’m not saying this as if it was an iron clad rule as I love breaking this rule. When I can't concentrate or I need a little break I take out my phone, and sometimes some candies to purposefully distract me. Now this is a very unhelpful habit I’ve developed, however it has gotten better! The reason for it getting better is that my phone is so old, that the battery has become absolute trash, and that has really put a limit on how much I use it during school. I’ve noticed that simply having a bad battery has basically given me a reason to stay off my phone and focus on my schoolwork. So I’ve talked about using this trick for school but school isn't the only place you can use it. Let it be while you're playing sports, are working, or even when you’re just talking to friends. You can use it. Because of all these different situations some tricks may work others may not, you have to try different combinations that work for you to stay concentrated. However you have to start somewhere and this is usually the thing that people first think of, so that's why I consider this the first trick. The second is what I call repeating. It may sound a little strange, but when I’m starting to lose focus I start repeating what was just said back to myself in my head. I’ve found this really works for me as I really concentrate on what they say, and as I’m repeating it back to myself I sometimes understand it better than if I was just listening normally. Repeating what someone says not only helped me understand it better it also helped me remember it. This may sound easy but there are times when it gets hard. The speaker may be talking too fast, the people around you are talking, or your friends are distracting you. I discovered this trick while watching a movie. The movie was set in a highschool, and there was a teacher who would always ask some student who looked like they weren’t paying attention to repeat what they just said. So in preparation for sneak attack questions, I would repeat it over and over in my head so it would look like I was paying attention. In the end it just made me concentrate on what I should have been concentrating on in the first place, so the plan failed successfully. There are many other tricks you have probably heard of and could use but these are the ones that work for me to help me concentrate and who knows they might work for you too. However if these don’t work or even make you unable to concentrate then stop, if it doesn’t help you then find another way. These may be good tricks but they won’t work right away. You'll have to work for them, and with that I wish you the best of luck!
Farryn L For more: https://jamesclear.com/focus A topic I could speak every second about, my friends can confirm, is “childhood“. So to give you a clue why I love this topic, I’m generally aware of the importance of childhood. It is the base of your character and your personality. You will probably always have a special connection to the people you grew up with. Your parents, a good friend or other family member. In your childhood, you gain your first experiences and your main memories build up. In some cases your childhood shows the direction your life will take, you find out which hobby’s you like the most and your character traits show. Well I guess we all can agree that we aren’t fix individual personalities after our childhood, we find out other things we like or where we are passionate about. It can also happen that we are completely different to our younger selves, which is totally important and ok in my opinion. When I went to preschool and to kindergarten I was a very active child. My plan all day was to play soccer and be outside with my friends. I also loved to do things with my parents and my family. For example, play board games or go on trips. I did my homework and my tasks on time and straight. I was happy about who I was and what I made in my freetime. This life spirit kind of changed when I came into High School. High school starts with the 5th class in Germany so I was 10-11 years old. I didn’t want to do all this annoying school stuff and a voice in my head told me, I won’t need it later in my life so just relax in school and come home and enjoy your life. Well that is an attractive offer for a young boy, who got his PS4 a year before on Christmas. So my grades became worse. In the 5th class my grades were pretty much the same as before, but one year later my grades dropped. That wasn’t the only big change, I also didn’t have the energy to do sports in my free time anymore. Usually I spent half the day on the soccer pitch. So I wasn’t as sportive as a year ago. At that time I recognized that my parents were disappointed in me and I didn’t liked the atmosphere at home at all. Yes, that escalated quickly, you may think, but I knew I wanted to change something and today I know even to recognize it, is often the hardest part of it. I asked myself if this is the Konstantin I know and when one of my best friends, who I have known since I‘m three years old, told me what is going on with you, you are not yourself. I kind of had the urge to change again. It gave me confidence that my friends and my family actually knew differently from me. I decided to look back and started to act like the old Konstantin, because I knew I wanted to be different than at the moment. And it worked, nowadays it is just a bad short period of my life and I‘m happy with myself. My grades are good, I do much more with my family and one of the main things in my life is to be sportive and healthy. It even went so far that I stopped eating candies and I specifically tried to do more Sport and to take every opportunity to work on. To think back to my childhood, also helps me when I realize that I use my phone too much. My inner voice pops up and asks for the actual reason, why I’m on Insta and not outside with friends. So my advice for you is, that your older self can help you to change when you don’t feel good about your current situation. A few friends of mine disagreed with me, because for them you always have to improve, always the next step and in their opinion it‘s bad to keep behaviors.
However, I guess everyone has their own truth, mine is to have a good mix of experiences from the past and the curiosity about the future. Konstantin B When I think about traveling the first thing that comes to my mind are the family vacations in Europe my family does every year as long as I can remember. I associate summer with going to Italy or France, Winter with skiing in Austria or Switzerland and Fall with staying at the German coast. But what does traveling really mean to me? What does traveling mean to all of us? Nowadays I think traveling is often seen as something „Insta worthy“, it didn’t happen if it isn’t uploaded on Instagram. And of course I do this too. I do post my travel pictures for my friends to see and I love to look at their’s but I still feel like sometimes we should take a step back and think about why we are actually traveling and what benefits it brings to ourselves. We are not traveling for anyone else right? Traveling actually affects our mental health in a very positive way as explained in this article (insert link here). By breaking out of our routine our brains get to rest but not too much. They are still challenged by all the new impressions, food, music etc. we see everyday when we are in a different country or even just in a different city. Our brains get challenged in a good way and at the same time we are getting some rest. While traveling we can learn a lot about different cultures. My family went to Italy during summer when I was about eight years old and I remember having to go into literally every museum, church or monument. At that young age my parents often had to win me and my sister over with some ice cream to get us into the next attraction or on the next walk through the old cities. But I also remember that we started talking about the artists and the buildings I saw that year a couple years later in school. And I remembered a lot more about it than I expected. The older I got the more interested in other cultures I got and I was looking forward more and more to our family vacations and not only because of the ice cream, but because of all the different impressions I got and all the new things I tried and saw. It was pure excitement and it still is. Whenever we travel to a new place we get to experience so many new things. And not just that, we can also get to know new people, maybe even find new friends. And that’s, in my view, the best part about traveling. Traveling must not always be expensive. I feel like when you’re traveling on a budget, your experiences can sometimes even be better. My cousin made an Interrail Trip through Europe this summer, he stayed in cheap hostels, spend a lot of time in trains and even had a rat in his room in Paris, but when he came back at the end of summer, he told everyone that it had been the best trip of his life. He travelled with two of his friends, but they got to know many new people, they are still in touch with. I had a similar experience a few months ago. I travelled to the German coast and stayed in a really tiny village with five of my friends and even though the time we spend in multiple trains and busses nearly felt as long as the time we actually stayed at the little house and there was literally nothing going on in the village the whole weekend, it was one of the best vacations of my life. I had so much fun with my friends, we talked to the local people, walked along the beach and just had a great time breaking out of our routines. The relaxed and happy feeling most people develop while traveling can last up to five weeks after returning from your holidays. So I can only encourage everyone to go and see the world. Or even just your own country. Sometimes it only takes a two hour car ride to spend and amazing time with your friends or to make new friends. There is so much to see in the world, so much to experience and I don’t want to miss out on any of this. I am really thankful for everything I have already seen in the world and I am exited to see so much more.
Lina K For more on this subject: https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/how-travel-affects-mental-health Everyone has something they are passionate about. For me it's a sport but for some it might be a creative activity or something social. My passion is field hockey. It is a very intense teamsport with a lot of different methods to handle the ball and techniques to play toward the goal. Even though there are lots of different personalities in a team, in the end everyone has to work together and support each other. The small, hard ball makes the game, together with the stick, very fast. That makes it not only a physical sport but also challenging for your mind. I grew up always playing in the same team with the same people over the years. Since I am in Canada the sport gave me many opportunities to get to know new people and feel welcome. That is something for which you always will get the opportunity if you do a sport, especially a teamsport. It will help you everywhere in your life when you are new there. How does my sport help me in my daily life and for the future? It takes a lot of discipline to manage practice, school, friends, family and not completely lose your feeling of time. Without the passion it wouldn't be that easy to concentrate on all of that but if you really want to reach your goals, you will do everything to reach them. Sometimes it is hard to get back from practice at 10pm and then still having to do homework and having to go to school the next day with just a little sleep. But when the weekend comes and I have a game and the adrenaline kick comes shortly before it, I realize again how much I love what I do and that every single second of exhaustion is worth it. It is an amazing feeling that is impossible to describe. In every situation in my life where it's not that easy in the beginning it helps me to stay strong, to not give up. It will be worth the hard work and to fight for my goals. There are always opportunities to challenge yourself more and never stop learning, for example to have the goal to play for the national team one day. Why is the aspect that it's a teamsport improving my growth even more? Teamsport means that you do your sport together, with other people. It means fixed practice times so being on time and if you are late or miss something not only do you have disadvantages but also your teammates. That's something that also helps me in my life because I always have in my mind, not to be late. During the games and during practices you learn to communicate with your teammates, which helps a lot to communicate to people in moments of performance where you normally would just do what you are 100% comfortable with, instead of thinking about all the things you learned.If you are in a game in a specific situation keeping a cool mind and really thinking through what you want to do that's a great success. Also, if I am in a game and short before making a pass, I have to see the free space in the crowd of people and decide between possabilities very fast on which one is the best. So if a situation in my life happens where I have to pick out of many opportunities, it's sometimes easier to decide on the right one based on my way of thinking through field hockey. What are some difficulties and challenges?
I am a very ambitious person who loves challenges in any kind of way. Sometimes it was a bit hard because not everyone in my team was so ambitious than me. That's why it would probably be way easier for me to do an individual sport where I am independent of what others want. Anyways I found my way to handle it through taking responsibility. At my team in Germany I am the captain which gives me the responsibility to motivate not only myself but also the other ones which definitely made me grow as a leader. SInce last year I also started to coach little kids, as it gave me the opportunity to teach other people my passion. In the beginning it was not so easy to explain things you know nearly your whole life. Especially to someone who has never heard of it before, but with time I found my way on how to do it. But in the end all those difficulties and challenges helped me improve my resilience in many ways. Slowly I am beginning to understand the quote my grandma always told me: your body is connected to your mind and your soul and they work the best together. Even though I love doing all those things, there are a lot of people who can't stay under this pressure of performing and end up to stop doing their sport. I think that they still will take their experience with them.So if you have never done a teamsport in your life before, I highly recommend it to you. You will get a new experience and growth in your mind out of it which definitely will also make you a better leader and help you with your personal development. Paula H |
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