Final Project Post: Overview, Favorite Part, Creative & Extension

Overview:
Generally, this course on motivation focused on all of the areas of life that the concept of motivation ties into. This course explains that motivation relates to just about every aspect of life, whether it is through our mental being, our physical being, or our surrounding environment. Without motivation, our lives would have no general sense of direction. We also wouldn't be able to properly cope with problems and stress. Without no motivation in life, most people would find no point to life, and not get as much out of it, ultimately feeling worthless. Motivation allows us to realize the potential that every single person has to live their life fully. If motivation didn't exist to us, not only would our lives be meaningless, but our bodies would not be able to function properly and get us through life physically (i.e., in our body's regards to hunger and thirst) either.

Favorite Part:
My favorite part in this course, along with many of the other posts, was Chapter 4, which focused heavily on addictions and what exactly triggers this type of behavior in a person. Addictive behavior is something that I take such a strong interest in, especially in the context of drug dependency. A part of the chapter that truly stuck out to me was the chart displayed in figure 4.1 on First-Time Drug Use (pg. 80). The age demographic was astounding to me because the starting age of experimental drug use was as young as age 12. Although it is much smaller than the rest of the other drugs, the fact that Heroin was even experimented with is frightening (with it being such a potent drug). The alcohol rate was extremely high and unfortunately is only increasing as years continue. This is a bit frightening for future generations to come.
I also found it interesting in the "Initiation into Drug Use" section (pgs. 82-83) that there are true personality and genetic predispositions to becoming addicted to drugs.
Finally, the concept of reward deficiency syndrome, something I had never previously heard of, being a possible reason for drug addiction in relation to dopamine affecting the brain's overall pleasure center being deprived of receptors. This chemical imbalance cause such an extreme problem in such an unfortunately high amount of people.


Creative:
I chose to expand a bit on how the concept of motivation ties to the meaning of my favorite song of all time, a classic and extremely deep song that has been around for decades. Prior to taking this course, I would have never tied motivation to the song lyrics, and ultimately the song itself. Here is my new interpretation of the song "Wonderwall" by Oasis, in regards to our Motivation course:
The song is directed toward a specific individual who has truly inspired the person singing, in an aspect of love and/or friendship. They have such a profound influence on the person that they feel as though they can be shaped and "saved" by this person. They feel as though this sole person is the one that they can lean on and have to turn to for their entire life. This is their main source of motivation to continue their path in life. This person, the one in need of saving, feels as though there is hope, all because of this one person. All of the paths in life that serve as "winding" to them can be overcome, all due to their new found inspiration in this person. They know have the motivation to move forward in life and trust others. Their life is now perfectly aligned and they are "saved".

Extension:
This Motivation course ties to just about every aspect of daily life. Now that I know all of the technical ways the chemicals and inner workings of our body serve as the fuel to get through each day of life properly, I feel as though I understand a lot of different things tying to motivation in a much more profound way. A current or common issue that motivation relates to entirely (that I would have never put together prior to taking this course) area the continuously run commercials on the issue of starvation being rampant among young children in third world countries. The overall tone (both the voice of the spokesperson and the solemn music being played indistinctly) serve as motivation cues to subconsciously reach the viewer on a deeper level and push them to call the hotline and enroll in the program to help these children overcome their immense starvation problem.