integration essay Being True to My True beliefs Root beliefs can be difficult to understand and comprehend when it comes to your own. After much thinking, I have come to realize that some a my root beliefs are the following: I believe that I am made to help others, I believe that I grow by being vulnerable, I believe that I am searching for hope and for reasons to keep me motivated everyday, and I believe that my community should be accepting of everyone regardless of people’s individual differences. I will attempt to further describe and expand on my root beliefs as I go forward, although this is not a small task since root beliefs can be ever so intricate and in-depth. One of the most important root beliefs that I hold, is that I believe that I grow by being vulnerable. I think that the best way for me to be a better person is to share my story with others. I think this helps both me and the other person develop a greater sense of meaning in our lives because we are able to help each other feel loved and cared for even if this is hard to do. Being able to feel worthy of love and belonging is the first step to actually feeling loved (“The Power of Vulnerability” by Brené Brown - Moreau FYE Week One) and I think that by sharing parts of my story that causes me to be more vulnerable is important to open up in order to feel better connected to others, hence developing a sense of belongingness. I have practiced doing this here at Notre Dame by opening up to people I have met about the struggles I have faced and am still facing at college. Opening up about my eating disorder has allowed me to feel a deeper sense of connectedness with others because they get to know me better and then they are more likely to open up to me so I can get to know them better. I have also grown by being vulnerable in the classroom. I have challenged myself to ask questions when I am confused about something, specifically in my calculus class. By asking questions in class I have demonstrated letting my guard down and showing people that I am not as put together and as seemingly perfect as one might think without truly getting to know me. As David Brooks would explain, I am working on fighting Adam 2 because Adam 2 compels me to want to hide my https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Qm9cGRub0&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Qm9cGRub0&feature=youtu.be weaknesses and sins rather than allow other people to see this in me to help me when I need it (“"Should you live for your resumé... or your eulogy?" by David Brooks - Moreau FYE Week Two). Not only am I trying to be more vulnerable, but I am also trying to live out my root belief of I believe that I am searching for hope and reason to stay motivated each day. Oftentimes, I find it difficult to stay hopeful during hard times and stay motivated to continue to go to college and keep up the work so I can receive the grades that I want. One of the reasons that I find it hard to be hopeful sometimes is because I feel that my eating disorder causes me to struggle a lot so my mind gets wrapped up thinking about the issues that arise from this and then I can begin to feel on the verge of wanting to give up and stop trying to recover from this illness. Not only does this make it difficult to have hope, but I also find it difficult to have motivation all the time. I find that I get caught in “cycles” where I am very unmotivated because everything seems too overwhelming to even try to confront. Going forward I want to try to find more sources of hope and more things that keep me motivated during tough times. In my future I am thinking about trying to delve deeper into faith to possibly help give me hope and motivation because, “Hope is confident because it rests upon God’s power, not our own” (“"Faith Brings Light to a Dark World" by Professor David Fagerberg - Moreau FYE Week Three). I want to work on learning how to better understand God because I think this could be a way that would give me more hope in my life. I will continue to search for hope and motivation in my own life, but I also like to help others find this in their life too. I believe that I am made to help others. I feel that my purpose on Earth is to give back to others who are less fortunate than I am. I do not see any other option than helping those in need because I think this is inherently what you are supposed to do and is the nicest thing you can do for other people. Whether it be helping serve breakfast at a homeless shelter back in my hometown, or helping the person who sits next to me with their chemistry homework, I think that any action of helping others is necessary and the right thing to do. It makes me feel good to help other people because I know I am making a positive https://www.ted.com/talks/david_brooks_should_you_live_for_your_resume_or_your_eulogy?language=en https://grottonetwork.com/keep-the-faith/belief/faith-brings-light-to-dark-world/?utm_source=fall_2021&utm_medium=class&utm_id=moreau difference in someone else’s life. I want to make sure that anyone who helps me is also offered the same help back because “Nothing feels worse than being used in a relationship” (“"5 Signs You're In A Toxic Friendship" by Olivia T. Taylor - Moreau FYE Week Four). I think it is only fair to pay kindness forward whether it be to the person that helped you or even to someone else in need. I also find it very important that when you are helping someone with schoolwork here at ND that you need to help with an open mind. What I mean by this is that many people find something difficult that I may not find difficult and vice versa. I think that it is important to always realize that, even at college, everyone is always students and teachers ("Two Notre Dames: Your Holy Cross Education" by Father Kevin Grove - Moreau FYE Week Five). Not only do I think realizing this is important but also putting this into practice. This helps me realize that no one is better than me so it is okay if I need help and vice versa. This allows others to ask for help and then I am able to pay it forward and help others. Not only do I feel that helping others is only of my root beliefs, but I also believe that diversity is super important. I believe that my community should accept everyone regardless of an individual’s differences compared to what is considered “normal” in society. I think our Moreau class and ND in general is very good at accepting everyone regardless of differences. For example, it is encouraged to be your true self and the students that go here seem to follow this value as well. This is important to me because I wanted to feel that the college I went to was accepting of everyone because it helps me to be more vulnerable and stay true to myself. As we wrote the “Where I am From Poems”, I think that the advice of “Learn[ing] to let it lead you” ("Where I'm From" by George Ella Lyon - Moreau FYE Week Six), was important when we were trying to write our poems. This quote also makes me think of other instances in life where I think that people should simply go with the flow. I think that people should learn to embrace the differences that others have whether it comes to gender, social class, seual orientation, etc. because the differences among our society allow us to have a greater spark to our life since everyone is not all the same. Likewise, I think that my community should be less judgemental. I https://grottonetwork.com/navigate-life/relationships/signs-of-toxic-friendships/ https://grottonetwork.com/navigate-life/relationships/signs-of-toxic-friendships/ https://notredame.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=859bc1a8-0d0f-4eb4-a1c1-d0a45c429187 https://notredame.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=859bc1a8-0d0f-4eb4-a1c1-d0a45c429187 http://www.georgeellalyon.com/where.html http://www.georgeellalyon.com/where.html think that ND does a very good job of minimizing this because there are many clubs on campus that allow students to join and then get to know people with similar values as them. However, in other parts of the city/state/country, I wish that people would not be as judgemental. Specifically, I wish that things were not as political as they seem to be lately. It seems as though diversity and politics are linked and I do not like or understand why this occurs. I think this leads to people not getting along even more because if people disagree politically then they “often assume the problem [with others] is intellectual” ("How to Destroy Truth" by David Brooks - Moreau Week Seven). This can lead to toxic relationships or even previous positive relationships being ruined if people feel so strongly about one thing and are not open to the differing beliefs that other people have. Not only do I feel that it is important to accept everyone but I also believe in helping clothes, being vulnerable, and I am searching for hope and reasons to be motivated. These root beliefs help me live my life everyday aligned with my core values and stay on a path of the life I desire to live. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/01/opinion/patriotism-misinformation.html?referringSource=articleShare