April 15, 2022
Moreau

Sincerely, Me.

	For the rest of my time at Notre Dame, I will always strive to improve myself and bring happiness to the lives of both my closest friends and complete strangers. But most importantly, I will live every day like it’s the best day of the year and never take for granted a single person or moment, no matter what happens. In the beginning of the year, I wrote down my root beliefs as: I believe that loving myself is the first step to loving others, I believe that everyone should smile at each other a little more, and I believe that every person is a unique gift. Then, after a year of exploration, I came to define a life well lived as a life characterized by spreading positivity and taking risks. I hope to live by the encapsulation of these ideas for the next three years and the rest of my life, while also remembering to enjoy the process of working towards these goals. It’s important to pursue my passions and a life well lived, but in the past I have had a tendency to focus on the next thing I want to accomplish instead of enjoying the present. Notre Dame and its people are so special, and I want to appreciate all of the time I get to spend here.
For most of my life, I always spent a lot of time doing things for other people: I got good grades and worked towards getting into a good college to make my parents proud, I drove around everywhere to be a good sibling, I went to social gatherings and stayed up late on Facetime calls to make my friends happy, and I spent hours, days, and weeks volunteering to help the people in my community. It’s not that I didn’t want to do all of these things—a lot of them I actually enjoyed—it’s just that I always forgot to prioritize myself. I always thought that as soon as I finished the next thing or accomplished the next goal, then I could take time to rest, figure out who I am, or do fun things solely for myself. However, when I stood on the stage at my high school graduation with the title of valedictorian and an acceptance to Notre Dame, and somehow still felt semi-empty inside, I realized that it doesn’t really work like that. In week 1 of Moreau, we read an article by Pico Iyer, who stated, “the more time I spend away from my work, the better that work will be” (“Why we need to slow down our lives” by Pico Iyer - Moreau FYE Week 1). I agree with this statement and learned that prioritizing time for myself to relax and reflect actually helps me to be a better daughter, sister, friend, and community member. In addition, being able to reflect helps me to grow as a person and think about who I am and who I want to be. We talked a lot about career discernment in week 4 of Moreau and the quote I picked out was, “there is no ‘best major’ out there, but there is a ‘best major for you’” (“Navigating Your Career Journey” by Meruelo Family Center for Career Development - Moreau FYE Week 4). In college, when I began prioritizing myself, I noticed all of the things that made me really inspired and passionate, and decided that I would never choose a major, career, or life path for anyone but myself. I came to college as just a biology major, but after realizing that I can study anything I'm really interested in, I also became a psychology major. 
Although there are so many benefits from taking time to rest and focus on myself, it can be hard because sometimes I can’t help but think that I should be working harder. When there is a test or assignment that I don’t do as well on as I had hoped, a lot of times I feel like the result would have been different if I had just studied for that extra hour or read the textbook a little bit longer. However, I always have to remind myself in these times that I can’t control what has already happened, the result probably wouldn’t have been different, and that “failing” is completely okay sometimes. In the Hesburgh documentary, Father Hesburgh affirms, “it is impossible to have a complete and honest human story if one doesn’t speak of human failings as well as human successes” (“Hesburgh” by Jerry Barca and Christine O’Malley - Moreau FYE Week 2). It’s really easy to feel like I am alone in my failures, but in reality, everyone experiences them. Life doesn’t always go as planned, and that’s the beauty of it; recently I've been learning to appreciate the bad as well as the good. Finally, in Jacob Walsh’s story with his experience being gay and Catholic, he shares, “you can’t convince yourself God loves you, but you can ask Him to show you” (“Growing up Gay and Catholic” by Jacob Walsh - Moreau FYE Week 10). I don’t think I’ve ever experienced an internal conflict this large, but I can definitely relate to the feeling of not knowing who you are and sometimes wanting to be someone else. I found that taking time to myself, however, allowed me to figure out my strengths and weaknesses, accept my failures, and truly grow to love who I am. After all, in my life I will have to spend the most time with myself, and the only way that I can love other people is if I love myself first. 
After making time for myself, I will always work to spread positivity, love, and friendship to the people around me. One of the best parts about going to a school as big as Notre Dame is that my circle of friends never has to end! Forming close relationships with people is one of the most essential parts of my well being and happiness because they add things to my life that sometimes I’m not even aware of. In week five of Moreau, we did a discernment activity where I asked a close friend, “what is something that is difficult to say but important for me to hear?” (“Week Five Discernment Conversation Activity” - Moreau FYE Week 5). Sometimes our friends know us better than we know ourselves, and it’s really important to have conversations like this in order to help us to realize our strengths and weaknesses and grow from these realizations. I learned a lot from talking with my friend about how he perceives me, and I realized that friends can give amazing advice when I need to make tough decisions because they know what makes me happy and sad. Additionally, making friends is important because it is my friends who always pick me up during the worst moments and help me to see the good. In week 3 of Moreau, Sister Aletheia reminded me, “it’s actually in facing the darkest realities of life that we find light in them” (“Meet the nun who wants you to remember that you will die” by Ruth Graham - Moreau FYE Week 3). During this past semester, I’ve had a lot of tough things happen in my personal life and in my friendships. These trying times not only made my friendships stronger but also made me even more grateful to have the friends that I do. When bad things happen, it gives people, including myself, an opportunity to do better, which becomes a light in the darkness.
Because it is extremely important to me to form close friendships with the people around me, I think it is important to try to bring as much happiness and value to their lives as they bring to mine. Being a good friend is easy sometimes and difficult other times, but is something that I will always prioritize. In week 6 of Moreau, I was very inspired by Dr. Kim’s story and took to heart his motto “to focus on what we can do for others instead of what we cannot do and what we have not done yet” (“Five Minutes” by Aria Swarr - Moreau FYE Week 6). The times that I find it hardest to be a good friend is when I am stressed out about my own life, but Dr. Kim inspired me to use these moments as an opportunity for selflessness. The biggest part of being a good friend comes from wanting to do things for others; I will never take for granted these moments when I get to give love, support, and advice to the people around me. Finally, friendship can be applied to all walks of life, including people who aren’t just my peers. In writing about accompaniment, Steve Reifenberg remarks, “I’ll go with you and support you on your journey wherever it leads; I’ll share your fate for a while. And by ‘a while,’ I don’t mean a little while” (“Teaching Accompaniment: A Learning Journey Together” by Steve Reifenberg - Moreau FYE Week 9). I experienced accompaniment when volunteering and working with children in both my community back at home and in South Bend. I was actually able to learn so much more from being their friend than they probably learned from me, and I think it’s really important to reach out and form friendships with people who aren’t directly in the circle that I normally interact with. 
Thus, the last part of my mission is to improve the lives of all of the anonymous people whom I may never get to befriend in person, but who I still have the opportunity of sharing Earth with at this moment in the infinite timeline of the universe. With so many people from different backgrounds and cultures, it can sometimes be hard to understand the way all of these unique people live their lives. In his article about healing racism, Dean Cole quotes Martin Luther King when he says, “I am convinced that men hate each other because they fear each other. They fear each other because they don’t know each other, and they don’t know each other because they don’t communicate with each other, and they don’t communicate with each other because they are separated from each other” (“I am George Floyd. Except, I can breathe. And I can do something” by Dean G. Marcus Cole - Moreau FYE Week 12). In addition, in week 11 of Moreau, we learned that “bubbles become echo chambers when groups give up on tolerating diversity of opinion” (“How to Avoid an Echo Chamber” by Dr. Paul Blaschko and ThinkND - Moreau FYE Week 11). Taking inspiration from both of these quotes, I want to always lead my life with an open mind and listen to others’ stories so that I might become more understanding. Everyone has their own beliefs and I don’t always have to agree with other people’s, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t respect their opinion and further educate myself about where they are coming from. Additionally, I think that listening, understanding, and compromising is the first step towards igniting change in many areas. And, as Dean Cole said, I hope to always work to ignite change and make a difference because I, unlike many others, have the privilege of attending Notre Dame which will give me the tools and resources to truly do something about many of the problems our world faces. 
Working to understand different cultures, backgrounds, and beliefs will allow me to connect more deeply with others so that I might be able to become a better person. In fact, at Notre Dame, I have already learned so just from having deep and honest conversations with people who grew up differently from me. I realized that these people who were once strangers in a totally different part of the world as me are actually not that different from me, despite maybe having opposing sets of beliefs, values, or upbringings. In week 7 of Moreau, Pope Francis described the phenomenon that “each and everyone’s existence is deeply tied to that of others: life is not time merely passing by, life is about interactions” (“Why the only future worth building includes everyone” by His Holiness Pope Francis - Moreau FYE Week 7). In biology, we learn how everything is connected; from simple chemical compounds to large organ systems, all of the different parts work together perfectly to produce the miracle that life is. It is in this same way that humans can and should interact, and I believe that it is important to work towards a future in which all unique people are included in our connections. Finally, with all of this in mind, I think I can answer the question I found most daunting in writing my mission statement, “What does it mean to act with courage?” (“Writing a Personal Mission Statement Activity - Moreau FYE Week 13). Acting with courage is setting out on my own unique path that will take the things that I find inherent joy in doing and use them to connect with people and better the world.
I live to love other people, but I also live for myself and all the things that I love. Therefore, during the rest of my years at Notre Dame, I will study the things that actually make me excited to do school and be proud of my successes as well as learn from my failures. I will expand my circle of friends, always try to make others smile, be a good friend, and enjoy every moment that I get to spend here with the people I love. I will continue to volunteer and reach out to befriend people not in the Notre Dame bubble, so that I might learn about different life experiences and grow with them. I will challenge my beliefs in pursuit of the truth and promote actions of empathy, integrity, and acceptance towards all people. And finally, I will act with courage in following what I love most (all of the above) and always trying to do better.