Taking the time to separate your wants and needs in your life will make a difference in how you focus the priorities in your life.
Why are personal needs essential to meet?
We have basic survival and personal needs that are important for our well-being.
- Basic survival – food, shelter, air, water, and sleep.
- Personal needs – each person has different personal needs that evolve from experiences, family, environment, and individual history. However, personal needs are essential to live a satisfactory life.
Wants and Needs
- Wants – we all have a list of wants more aligned with desires. Something we wish for that will hopefully make us happy, though we could live without it.
- Needs are essential for us, motivating our behaviors and whether we are satisfied with our lives. We are more aware of a need and initiate behavior to meet it.
What are Personal Needs?
- Required to be satisfied with one’s life
- Love and belonging are personal needs for most people
- Creating and living a life that supports our values
Needs are Not
- An attachment to a person or something
- An addiction
More Comfortable with Wants than Needs
The two words bring up different reactions. Wants are more external, so they have less emotional reactions to them. Whereas needs are personal, many people may feel uncomfortable stating, beyond basic requirements (food, water, home, and sleep,) what they need to create a satisfying life.
Truth Around Needs
- Everyone has needs – it doesn’t mean you are needy; instead, you recognize what is important to you to live a satisfied life. You take the responsibility to actively meet them respectfully.
- When they are met – you are more open to others, and giving is comfortable for you. You feel good about yourself and have oriented your life around your values.
- When needs are met, your relationships are healthier.
Your thoughts
Do you focus your time on wants or needs? Do you feel that you meet your needs to support your well-being?
Women’s Group Topic
Separating wants and needs helps us discover what is essential in our lives. Use the time in the group for each person to create a wants and needs list and share it with others. See how many individual needs are similar to each other.
Be well,
Pat
“To fully enjoy the ‘richness’ of our lives, we need to stop long enough to visit with ourselves.”
(Pat Brill)
Other Topics You May be Interested In
Using Brainstorming to Generate Solutions to Problems
Are You Creative?
Do You Have a Will?
Do you want to download a PDF copy of both of these books, then go to: