By Cindy Keen Reynders
In
1943, Abraham Maslow developed a hierarchy of needs. These are theories about
mental health and human potential. His philosophy suggests that once people
have met the basic needs of shelter, food, etc., they branch out to connect
with others and accomplish in different areas. For fun, I translated those five
levels of growth progression into what we need as writers.
In
order to survive, Maslow said people need to have basic needs met such as food,
water, sleep and air. Writers first need something
to write with; paper and pencil, typewriter or computer so we can record our
stories.
Next
Maslow said people need safety, security and shelter. Some of us may have jobs
to enable us to buy food and clothes, to
maintain our homes and cars and to afford health insurance. Or we may be
retired and have a steady pension to cover basics. Possibly we have significant
others who provide financial stability. Here's
a fun possibility, maybe we inherited wealth or won
the lottery, making us independently wealthy. I think writers also need a
dedicated area to write in, such as a
desk in the corner of the family room, a place at the
kitchen table or maybe even their own
office.
Maslow
said social needs aren't
as necessary as the physiological and security needs. However, once the first
two needs are fulfilled, people begin to reach out for friendship,
companionship and acceptance. For writers, I would say that at this stage, we
begin to connect through social networking sites dedicated to writing or we
begin to join writers groups and attend meetings, attend writer’s conferences
and possibly join critique groups so we can receive feedback, recognition and
acceptance as recorders of the written word.
Once
the first three needs are satisfied, Maslow found that people needed to
validate themselves by building their self-esteem. For writers, at this point,
we may feel confident enough in our abilities that
we begin to submit our work to writers’ contests where we will
hopefully receive enough positive feedback to improve our scores, enabling us
to eventually place in a contest or
possibly even win. At this point, writers are
probably confident enough to submit their work to publishers, weathering the rejections,
until eventually pieces begin to sell.
At
the top tier of Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs, this level happens when people
are self-aware, concerned with personal growth, less concerned with the
opinions of others and interested in fulfilling
their potential. For writers, this is where the rubber really hits the road and
we begin to spread our wings. We write to please
our own muses, not someone else's muse. We challenge the boundaries of our
imaginations, we take on more difficult plots and our characters become deeper.
We have found our voices, and we are comfortable with our writing skills and
what we know about the craft. This is where our writing seems to take on a life
of its own. By the time we've reached the fifth level, we are only limited by
our own imaginations. In essence, we strap on wings and let our writing soar.
As long as we keep our eyes on the finish line, we have nowhere to go but up.
Maslow's theory states that once
our basic needs are met, we have an innate need to
succeed and accomplish things. What are you striving for? What do you need to make
it happen?
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