Erik Erikson (quite the name, am I right?) had eight stages of human psychosocial development. It starts with us as infants, looking for security and connection with our caretakers, to ending with a sense of completion and finality. The eighth, final step of human development is ‘Integrity vs Despair’: when we look back on our lives and try to find meaning in it. Either we are able to find the purpose from our life and feel joy, or we feel despair if we don’t find anything.
What makes a life meaningful? What specifically decides how we feel looking back? Psychologists usually say there are two main things that increase our chances of satisfaction in life: finding + receiving love and generativity (creating something new for future generations or leaving some sort of legacy).
Personally, I hope that someday I can look back and know that I helped inspire people in some way. I’m a very passionate person, and I know that someday, somewhere, somehow, I’ll be doing great things with amazing people. That’s what I want people to say about me: is that I’m someone who is passionate about life.
What do you wish people would say about you? How do you want to be remembered?
That’s it for this post, time for me to go take an O. Chem exam! Wish me luck,
Moesha.
SASS 