We are Humans With a Mission
My self-reflection on who we are as human beings
As human beings, we are brought to this world with a purpose. What makes us different from animals is not just our intellect — it is our ability to make a mark in this world and leave imprints. Our society is built on our knowledge, ideas, and innovation. We pass it over from one generation to the next.
We live through several stages in our life, according to Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development. Each stage builds on top of the previous one, and we must realize each one successfully before we move on to the next.
With the wisdom of old age will come many realizations. As Erikson put it, during our final stage of development, which he called Ego Integrity vs. Despair, we integrate and reflect on all our accomplishments. It begins at age 65 and lasts until death.
As we approach this stage, we need to feel that we have “lived” life and left an indelible mark on the world. We look into ourselves and reevaluate how we’ve spent our years, what we’ve accomplished, or if we’ve had a successful life.
Upon our reflection of life, if we feel we haven’t realized our full potential and achieved our goals, we will experience depression and hopelessness.
Time is precious
Our time on this earth is limited so we must make use of most of it. Time lost can never be gained back. We must treat our time like gold.
Since we can’t bring our years and time back, we must cherish every single moment of our lives.
We also have to make an effort to live our life to the fullest. That means recognizing our unique talents and developing our full potential. If we don’t find a place for our talents to shine, we ignore them.
We also need to make sure we follow through whatever goals we’ve set in life and that our passions are fulfilled. Unfulfilled dreams can bring about feelings of despair later in life.
Our place in society
As citizens, we must be productive members of society. We need to feel that we have contributed to the society in which we live.
We need to leave our mark on the world before we leave the face of the earth. We need to bring out our values and contributions. We must also strive to make the world a better place.
As Erikson said, if we feel our lives were unproductive, our dissatisfaction with life will ensue. This in turn will result in feelings of despair when we get older.
If we are successful at this final stage in life, then we will attain the virtue of wisdom. As Erikson put it: “wisdom enables a person to look back on their life with a sense of closure and completeness, and also accept death without fear.”
We only have one life
When it’s our time to shine, we need to shine. The light of life will not shine upon us indefinitely. That means when we see golden opportunities in life, we must grab them before they slip through our fingers.
If we lose our place in life, at the end of it, we may risk feeling regret for not having grabbed opportunities that were available to us.
We must also accept certain risks in life because at the end of it we’ll look back on our lives with regret for not taking action. We will feel depressed and lonely. Nothing will erase the feelings of emptiness from our hearts.
To sum it up: As human beings, we only have one life to live, and we must live it fully. Our life is short and our time is precious. We can only shine when the light is shining on us. We need to be productive members of our society. We need to aim to realize our full potential. Our opportunities in life are limited, and so we need to catch them when they are available to us. We must follow through the goals we set in life and bring them to completion.
Kristina Segarra is a classically trained musician, freelance writer, and copy editor/proofreader. She received her B.A. in Music and minor in psychology from CUNY, Hunter College in New York City. She likes to write on the topics of psychology, health, fitness, and lifestyle.
You can find more information about her on LinkedIn and Twitter.