The Consequences Of Not Meeting Your Human Needs
Have you thought about what your basic adult needs are?
Meeting these needs is vital for human existence, growth, happiness, and fulfillment. If a person’s person’s needs are not met, there are consequences. You already know all the basic human physiological and safety needs. So let’s focus on the higher needs that often get ignored. As an adult the needs and what satisfies them changes. Yet Many people have difficulty making that shift and then feel stuck and unsatisfied.
Love and Belonging Needs
Humans are social creatures that need acknowledgment, connection, and support from other humans. A study in the journal Science found that lack of human connection, or loneliness, can be more harmful to your health than obesity, smoking, or high blood pressure. And according to a review in the journal Science Direct, loneliness is linked to depression, alcoholism, child abuse, and grief.
Belonging is how we humans organize ourselves. A group of people can often meet physiological and safety needs more effectively together than a person alone. Belonging means being able to fit into, contribute to, and receive from others without guilt, fear or embarrassment. A group may be family, friends, social or work groups and more. Different skills are needed for different groups. Of course loving yourself is the underlying key but learning to act as an adult with the appropriate kind and expression of love and belonging is key to happiness. Often this is stunted through earlier and even childhood experiences that need to be processed emotionally to allow growth and maturity in belonging.
Esteem Needs
When the basic needs are met, people can focus on who they are and what type of person they want to be. Esteem needs are part of feeling confident and emotionally strong as a person. People’s esteem needs include feeling valued and respect by others. According to the University of Texas at Austin, when a person’s esteem needs aren’t met, they have a higher risk for:
- Anxiety, stress, loneliness, and depression
- Relationship problems
- Poor job performance
- Alcohol and drug abuse
When a person doesn’t feel good about themselves, doesn’t like themselves, or doesn’t feel others value them, they risk difficulties in many areas of life. This often needs to be explored with energy therapies to shift the beliefs, sub-conscious emotional drivers, and learned dysfunctional behaviours. Natural Bioenergetics is a gentle, effective way to do that.
Self-Actualization Need
The need for self-actualization is the need to have a purpose in life. This is the highest form of fulfillment and satisfaction a person can achieve. Without purpose, a person may feel depressed, worthless, unhappy, or that their life is boring and what they do doesn’t matter. Self-actualization allows people to live their best life.
