Novak 1 HOW I WILL MAKE THE NEXT THREE YEARS WORTH IT Moreau Integration Assignment Four To find more happiness, fulfillment, and value in my life, I will: Lead a life built on integrity, fairness, good health, and help for others, a commitment to excellence and love. I will remember that my family and friends are important to me. I will learn and grow every day, doing work that offers a sense of accomplishment, contributing to my community and those less fortunate, living a balanced, healthful life, and searching for understanding and peace of mind. Revere admirable characteristics in others, such as honor, compassion, tolerance, wisdom, and patience, and work to instill similar characteristics in my own life. I will work to recognize and develop my strengths as a person who is intelligent, articulate, faithful, hard-working, and insightful. I want to keep humbleness in mind by acknowledging that I can be impatient, intolerant, unsociable, reactive, careless about my health, afraid to take risks, and afraid to grow- and by constantly striving to transform my weaknesses into strengths. I will envision myself becoming a person my family and friends see as a good daughter, a good sister, a good friend, steadfast, loving, patient, caring, supportive, and available (“My Mission Statement” by – Moreau FYE Week 13). This mission statement is what I created for myself. While it sets up the values I want to follow and the things I want to keep important to me in my life, here are some examples I plan to implement these characteristics in my next three years here at Notre Dame. One of the things I’ve realized this year is how busy college life is. Reflecting on The Art of Stillness and being able to sit quietly for even a few seconds, I found to be very enriching. Novak 2 I’ve even used this time to walk around the lakes and be grateful for where I am (“Why we need to slow down our lives” by Pico Iyer, TED – Moreau F.Y.E. Week 1). The process has allowed me to be wiser and more faithful. Furthermore, based on a conversation I had with my mom, she said that everything always works out “one way or another regardless of what I do.” She would remind me of this when I was stressed or things were unknown, which really allowed me to be more levelheaded (“Conversation with Mom, February 18, 2022, Week 5.” – Moreau F.Y.E. Week 5). My family has been a great support system for me since I’ve been here, especially when switching colleges within ND and majors to find something I was happier in. Thanks to them, I plan to stick to political science in the next three years and give my all to a career that fills my soul with purpose. Despite having the dream of commanding a boardroom in an awesome business suit, I can still find ways to do that despite not following the business route. I want to be a leader who inspires and can be relied on like my mission statement says (Hesburgh,” Produced by Jerry Barca and Christine O’Malley – Moreau F.Y.E. Week 2). Based on the quote from the Meruelo Family Center for Career Development, “contrary to popular belief, deciding on a major does not determine the rest of your life.” I’m still struggling to be okay with this, but my goal over the next three years is to take classes and join clubs that interest me so I can better discern where and what I want to do. One of those clubs is potentially the Observer, where I can look into people’s lives and gain more insight into the news around campus (“Navigating Your Career Journey” by Meruelo Family Center for Career Development – Moreau F.Y.E. Week 4). I want to graduate from Notre Dame being excited about the future and “not suppress the thought of death, or escape it, or run away from it because we think that’s where we’ll find happiness” Novak 3 (“Meet the nun who wants you to remember that you will die” by Ruth Graham, NY Times – Moreau F.Y.E. Week 3). I am beyond grateful to be able to compete for the university as an athlete. So far, I’ve already been able to travel to unique places, and I am so excited to see more of the United States in the next few years. I want to put my wisdom and tolerance to use and travel to meet new people and create new experiences. Already I have met people who are different than me in more ways than one, which has allowed me to gain a fresh perspective (“Teaching Accompaniment” by Professor Steve Reisenberg – Moreau FYE Week 9). Being on a new team here has taught me to deal with people who have different beliefs compared to me but regardless I am willing to work with my teammates to succeed – most of them are amazing anyway (“Why the only future worth building includes everyone” by His Holiness Pope Francis – Moreau F.Y.E. Week 7). While talking to new people, I meet some who I disagree with or say things that are plain rude towards another group of people, which at first was so shocking to me. My plan for the next three years is to have conversations with people (specifically my friends when they make jokes that are racist or homophobic) and show them how to be respectful and aware of what they are saying (“The Spirit of Inclusion at Notre Dame” A Guide to Student Life – Moreau F.Y.E. Week 10). Lastly, I understand that I am not perfect and that I need to have an open mind when people question my beliefs or get mad at me for something. While it is good to stick to my morals, knowing when I am wrong is something I need to be better at handling (The Right Way to be Introspective (Yes, There’s a Wrong Way) by Tasha Eurich, TED Conferences – Moreau F.Y.E. Week 6). I generally think I am a wise person that can listen to others. Still, I do find myself shielding myself from people who believe things differently than I do, which I plan to Novak 4 work on in the next few years (“How to Avoid an Echo Chamber” by Dr. Paul Blaschko – Moreau FYE Week 11). One of the most important things I’ve noticed is how different people are here on campus. I love the diversity as it lets me understand better the lives of other people who have had more challenging lives than me (“I am George Floyd. Except, I can breathe. And I can do something” by Dean G. Marcus Cole – Moreau FYE Week 12). For the next few years, while I am still on campus, I plan to push myself to grow and provoke difficult conversations to make our campus and the world around me a better place. I hope that people can view me as someone open-minded and able to be there for them.