From the Publisher
What do you need right now?
I challenge you to take a minute to think about that question. Maybe use it as a conversation starter when you gather with friends, whether over coffee, a book club or even on the bleachers next to other parents at a child's sports practice.
There are many things we need, but yet find ways to do without. Sleep comes to mind-it can be hard for women to get all that they need regardless of their stage in life. We may be getting up to nurse an infant, restlessly waiting for a teenager to get home late at night, struggling with the hot flashes of menopause or simply weathering the body's changing needs as retirement sets in. We may need connection but be too busy to find time for a long conversation. We may need a mental reset, but work projects are unrelenting. And, of course, we are often great at rationalizing wants vs. needs-in both directions. How often have you told yourself you don't really need to go to bed early (after all, that laundry NEEDS to be done), then decided that a large latte is absolutely necessary to get through the day?
The necessities of life, according to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, of course begin with what we must have physiologically to survive: food, air, water, shelter. Ensuring everyone has access to those essentials takes many different forms. Our cover woman, Carol Abrahamzon, leads the Mississippi Valley Conservancy, which is dedicated to protecting natural areas that are important to maintaining clean water and air for all of us, while the advocates at the REACH Center connect vulnerable community members to resources for food, shelter and more.
The next level of Maslow's hierarchy focuses on safety-which includes both physical safety, as addressed by our Community story with Ann Kappauf at New Horizons, and the security of a job and source of income. That also means access to childcare for those with children, the focus of Jodi Widuch at The Parenting Place. Health, and access to health care, is also part of this category of needs-can we take care of ourselves physically?
And we need love, belonging and connection. A group of creative La Crosse area women have found that friendship in a shared love of quilting, stitching together connections across generations and personalities. Where do you feel loved and share a sense of belonging?
The top two levels in Maslow's hierarchy are esteem and self-actualization, which we can only find if our other needs are met. Esteem-which includes self-esteem, respect, status and freedom-often hinges on feeling safe or secure and having those connections that tell us we belong. And self-actualization-the desire to be the best we can be-is at the peak of the pyramid, building on the foundation of having had our other needs met.
As individuals and as a community, we all play a role in providing these necessities, whether we donate food or time to an organization dedicated to providing basic physiological needs, take steps to help others be safe or simply prioritize finding time to build friendships and connections with others. I believe that when we each make an effort to fulfill the basic needs of others, the end result can be achieving our own higher-level needs of esteem and self-actualization.
My wish for each of you, our readers, is that you have those necessities which enable you to reach for what you need to be whole.
Betty Christiansen
