Podcast (how-to-be-an-adult): Play in new window | Download (43.7MB) | Embed
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If you’ve ever heard the clichéd phrase, “take care of yourself,” you might have been flummoxed about how, especially if your needs were unmet in early life. Yet, as Luke will argue in this episode, taking care of yourself is a defining feature of adulthood: at last, you have a capable guardian. We shall use Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as a framework:
- As adults, we serve as our own primary caregivers, responsible for meeting our own needs rather than relying on parents, partners, or employers.
- Taking care of oneself is a positive-sum game, analogous to the airline safety instruction to ‘put on your own mask first’ before assisting others.
- Neglecting self-care erases oneself from one’s own life, a behavior that must be unlearned to improve well-being and capability to support others.
- We use the hierarchy of needs framework by Abraham Maslow to categorize requirements from basic physiological needs to higher-level self-actualization.
- Setting clear boundaries through verbal communication is a modern method for ensuring personal safety and security.
- You are encouraged to examine inherited behaviors from your parents and intentionally choose to overcome generational neglect by prioritizing your own well-being and values.
Table of Contents:
0:00 – Introduction
2:01 – You Are Your Primary Caregiver
11:04 – Count Yourself In
13:43 – Self Care Is a Positive-Sum Game
18:10 – Introduction to Maslow’s Hierarchy
18:38 – Physiological Needs
19:09 – Safety and Security Needs
21:09 – Love and Belonging
21:57 – Respect and Esteem
22:25 – Self-actualization
27:09 – The Impact of Your Upbringing
30:41 – Outro
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Luke Chao is the host of the How to Be an Adult podcast. Possessing of a philosophical approach to life, he is keenly interested in improving the society they live in. In this podcast, he shares his thoughts freely in order to democratize high-quality living.