What Do You Need to Be Whole?

In this episode of The Daring Well Podcast, host Rita Mercer invites listeners to reflect on a powerful question: What do you need to be whole?

Building on last week’s discussion about betting on yourself, Rita explores how understanding your core needs—based on Dr. William Glasser’s Choice Theory—can help you live with greater balance, self-awareness, and fulfillment.

Rita breaks down the five basic human needs—love and belonging, power, freedom, fun, and survival—and reveals how our daily choices often reflect our attempts to meet them. She guides listeners in identifying where they might be confusing wants with needs and how this mix-up can lead to exhaustion or emptiness.

This encouraging episode reminds us that wholeness isn’t about perfection—it’s about living in alignment with your true self. When your wants align with your needs, your choices start to serve you instead of stress you.

🪞 Key Topics Covered

• Choice Theory & Wholeness: Understanding the five core human needs that drive behavior.
• Wants vs. Needs: Why confusing them can leave you feeling unfulfilled.
• Emotional Awareness: How journaling and reflection build self-connection.
• Alignment Over Perfection: Making choices that nurture, not drain you.
• Wholeness as a Practice: Meeting your needs with love, grace, and authenticity.

✨ Reflection Questions

• What have you been chasing lately—success, love, validation, or security?
• Which of the five needs (love, power, freedom, fun, survival) does it truly meet?
• Is this pursuit bringing you closer to or further from balance and wholeness?
• How can you honor your real needs with compassion this week?

🌸 Quote from the Episode

“When your needs are met — love, belonging, power, freedom, fun, survival — you don’t have to chase wholeness. You become it.”

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