I’ve always been fascinated with self-actualization. When my college advisor asked me what I wanted to do with my degree in Clinical Exercise Science, I said I wanted to help people optimize their human performance and potential. He wanted me to choose a specialization such as strength and conditioning or cardiac rehabilitation, but I didn’t want to. 

Instead, I took all of the classes available to me and spread my internships across as many of these specializations as possible. I wanted to understand health, human performance, and the body and mind from as many angles as possible so I could help others maximize their lives.

According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, there are four layers of needs we must satisfy before we can reach self actualization, or the internal desire to become all that we can be. 

First we must ensure our physiological needs are met such as air, water, food, shelter, sleep, clothing, and reproduction. Once these needs are satisfied, we can move on to fulfilling our safety needs: personal security, employment, resources, health, and property. 

The next level of needs are love and belonging, including friendship, intimacy, family, and a sense of connection. Once all of these are satisfied, we can move onto our esteem needs, which are respect, self-esteem, status, recognition, strength, and freedom. 

Last but not least, once all of these layers of needs are met, we can strive for self-actualization. 

The road to achieving self-actualization is long and can be challenging, with only about two percent of people ever actually making it. It makes perfect sense why, it’s not easy to get all of the prior steps in order. Notice how our health needs are some of the first ones required to be met, with water, food, sleep, and health in the first and second layers. 

If we don’t prioritize these, we won’t have the energy or capability to focus on our love and belonging needs, such as our relationships, or our esteem needs, which many of us desire to fulfill.

My reasons for prioritizing my health go much deeper than just having a fit body, being athletic, and feeling good physically and mentally. Those things are extremely important, but stopping there would leave so much on the table. 

I prioritize my health so I can move past survival mode to thrive in my life. I prioritize my health so I can dive into my fascinations with the world, learning, and truly optimizing my human potential and performance. I prioritize my health to have thriving relationships with my husband, family, friends, and community. I prioritize my health to help inspire others, improve my financial situation, and be able to work on what I love. If I don’t prioritize my health, I will never get the opportunity to achieve self-actualization.

It can sometimes feel like living a healthy life is the most challenging task we will face. Changing our habits to get out of survival mode is not easy, and it’s not always fun. 

When you’re feeling discouraged, remember that there is so much more out there for you to discover, and so much more depth to life than just exercise and nutrition. 

Prioritize your health, keep it simple, and strive to master it so you can get out of survival mode and move toward thriving.

Xoxo

Coach Maggi