Loving the Process: The Key to Self-Actualization

By Erwin Parengkuan

In 1943, two years before Indonesia's independence, a father of world psychology named Abraham Maslow, in the journal he wrote "A Theory of Human Motivation", wrote about 5 human needs starting from the lowest regarding needs related to human physicality;food, air, sleep, etc. up to the top level, namely what I wrote in this main title.It is not surprising how at that time the nation in America became a superpower country which was then overtaken by the PRC a few years ago.

If we pay attention, at least from my observations there are a lot of people whose lives and careers are running in place and not going as far as Maslow said.Why is that?Even though we are born until we grow up, we continue to study and learn?When I was little, life was very fun and free to play.When you start school, there are many lessons you have to memorize, not to mention the teachers who are stern and uninteresting in their teaching and lack motivation.However, we can adapt to these demands and even many of our friends also get scores above average.But what I observed later, when we were adults, started pursuing careers, starting families, etc., it seemed that life was not as fun as when we were little.It's no wonder that many floor people become frustrated, don't develop and even regress.

Even though everyone has the same opportunity with the capital to continue learning and have the endurance of steel, apparently not everyone is willing to do it and pay the price.Even those who are at the highest level when I ask in class whether getting to this level is what they imagined?Turns out all of them said no!

It seems that there is a small thing that is different that those who have succeeded in achieving self-actualization, whether in a career or an abundant life, do, namely loving the process of taking small steps.I remember when I was still diligently weight training at the gym, where every few weeks my trainer added more weight to my barbell.At first it wasn't strong, but when forced and done regularly, the burden that was once very heavy became light.Both our brain and body have muscles which, when stimulated, will form.This simple principle is carried out by those who have succeeded in achieving the best life.So we can imitate this easy method with discipline.You will definitely reach your destination as long as you are consistent.One more thing, it seems that to grow we also have to exchange it for suffering.Suffering because my muscles were forced to finally form too.Suffering from having to wake up early to exercise regularly, suffering from having to focus on doing many tasks while other people are having fun is a choice.

So apparently why doesn't everyone reach the peak of success because they are lazy, don't want to suffer so there is no good growth.In order for us to enjoy orange juice, we have to squeeze it, and the wine we drink has to be squeezed/stepped on to produce good quality.So we should all start thinking with the power of the mind so that we are disciplined in loving the process and willing to suffer because success belongs to everyone, not just a few people.