Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Magda’s Progression: Bottom Level—Cleared. ✅* Food, shelter, clothing. Check, check, check. But I was starved for affection, acceptance, and the security of belonging. After years of therapy, recovery work, and training in child development, I sense that my pervasive distress came from a genuine need for affection,
Over the last six months, I’ve experienced significant shifts in my recovery. I’m feeling it in my writing and illustrations, where I’m now able to convey things that previously defied articulation or required 42 million words. Looking back, my older
1. Identity — Who am I without the struggle? 2. Agency — The difference between reacting and initiating 3. The nervous system — When peace is unfamiliar 4. Desire — Discovering what I actually want 5. Dignity — Beyond defending
No Dimmer Switch I feel everything the most amount—the good and the unpleasant—constantly. Everything in high definition. I am a deep feeler, or as the archetype likes to say: thin-skinned, overly sensitive. Not a crime. Not a defect. But not
Somewhere along the way, a practice took hold: metabolizing what other people believed, said, or did as information about me rather than data about them. Today, that data gets classified more appropriately. It may hurt deeply and alter what a