Moeau FYE
4 March 2022
The Pursuit of Joy
	This integration is about what my own eulogy would be and what it would probably resemble. There are many valuable lessons I have learned throughout life and I have learned these through meaningful life experiences. It is because of these meaningful experiences and relationships I have formed over time that I am able to live a life well lived.
Something that Mae Mae was able to do was slow her life down. This was actually not one of her strong suits at first and something that she had to practice. She always had such bug goals in mind so she would always try to be working at them until she realized that she needed a new strategy. A good quote that expresses this is, “Or, as they sometimes say around Kyoto, ‘Don’t just do something. Sit there.’” (Iyer). This quote comes from the saying “don’t just sit there, do something” and this saying comes from our need to constantly be busy or improving. But our concern to live life to the fullest could actually backfire and cause us to lose sight of what is important in life. This is why sometimes it is better to slow down and take breaks.
Mae Mae realized this and knew that it was an aspect she needed to adopt in order to grow as a person. She also realized that because she was always moving so fast and trying to constantly train and improve, she sometimes forgot to appreciate the moment and live every moment to the fullest. 
Mae Mae was not a stickler for planning and just liked to go with the flow most of the time. This helped her live more in the moment and eventually find the right path that was meant for her. This quote from Father Hesburgh reflects this when he states, “It wasn’t how I expected to serve my country but I was serving in my own way” (Hesburgh). This quote shows that even if we think we have our lives planned out, things do not always go as planned in life. But even if this happens, things still have their own way of working out and there are many different ways to reach your goals in life. Just like how Father Hesburgh did not imagine that his life would plan out the way it did but he still lived a very meaningful life well-lived. Mae Mae also realized this and just liked to go with the flow of life. She just took the opportunities that came to her and everything ended up working out and leading her to the people that she would come to love more than anything.
Something important that Mae Mae had to learn was what she truly enjoyed in life and the difference between joy and happiness. Just because you might like something one day, it does not mean that it brings long term happiness. This quote reflects this point and states, “What’s the difference between joy and happiness? It’s not a matter of whether this makes you happy or not because happiness is affected by many external factors (sleep, illness, hunger, loneliness, etc.). Happiness changes from moment to moment, day to day. Joy, on the other hand, is much deeper and much more central, it comes from within, and it’s a genuine rightness of how one lives one’s life” (Himes). This quote shows that most of the time we act on happiness and think that it is joy but happiness is only short term. This can cause us to make long term decisions that do not actually align with our goals. Mae Mae recognized this through the experiences in her life and made sure to really pay attention to this as she went through life. This ensured that she found what brought her long term joy in life so that she could live a life well lived.
But Mae Mae also started to realize that she would still need to plan some things out in order to achieve her goals. As she started to find interests and desires over time she realized that she would need to start planning things out more in order to pursue these goals. This quote reflects that and it states, “Planning your career is much like planning for a trip.  There are many details and decisions to make and it requires a lot of exploration and research. It’s not a one-step process.” (Luzzo). This quote reflects this topic well because it shows that it is very easy to lose track of what is truly important in life at times so having a plan can really help combat this struggle. Mae Mae also had experience losing sight of the important things in life at times and had ended up taking the wrong path even though it was not something she truly wanted. But when she took some time to plan out her life and really think about what she wanted and what brought her joy, she was able to get back on track. She said this was something that helped her live every day to the fullest.
Mae Mae also utilized her loved ones and the people closest to her to figure out what was best suited for her and to get an outside perspective. This was able to help her realize the career and path in life that she should take and if it was best suited for her. At the time, she was still considering going the pre-med route even though she was initially planning on going into engineering at first so she asked him for advice on this since he was the person that knew her best. He said to follow whatever path made her most happy but from his perspective, he thought she was more suited to be an engineer. He said how he always saw her fixing things around the house and tinkering with things and that she had great problem solving skills. He also saw how she enjoyed these things more than anything else and how her eyes lit up when doing this. This influenced her decision because it was clear that not only did she enjoy doing this, but it seemed like it was what she was meant to do and what she was best suited for. 
Perhaps the most important thing to Mae Mae to living a life well lived was the meaningful relationships she formed with others. A good quote that reflects this is, “Quite a few years of life have strengthened my conviction that each and everyone’s existence is deeply tied to that of others: life is not time merely passing by, life is about interactions” (Fracsis). People are all connected and no one’s life lived is produced or lived well without the impact of others around them. We are the people we are today because of those interactions. These relationships are what give our lives meaning and help us live a life well-lived. Mae Mae found this out for herself as she went through life. She struggled greatly in her past and felt like she was alone going up against the world sometimes. But she continued to work hard because she thought that these things must not matter. But as she kept going through life she was able to find people who did truly love and care for her and these people gave her more life and motivation than anything else. She found that these relationships are what connects all of these other aspects of living a life well lived and helps you stay on track with these goals.


Works Cited
(“Why we need to slow down our lives” by Pico Iyer - Moreau FYE Week One)
(“Hesburgh” by Jerry Barca and Christine O'Malley- Moreau FYE Week Two)
(“Three Key Questions” by Fr. Michael Himes - Moreau FYE Week Three)