Integration 2 Fr. Kevin Moreau FYS 30 November 2021 Lose Yourself, Find Your Purpose Even though the second part of this assignment is “What are you made of?,” I believe that this section is better if it is answered before “What are you made for?” The people around me, the events that have helped shape my credences, and life itself has driven me in a direction to find what I am made for. Biologically, I am made of a clump of millions of microscopic cells, each functioning in their unique yet wholly necessary way to keep me alive. The people around me and the events I have experienced also fit this role; they have served in their own way to further sharpen my edges, further refining my characteristics as well as flaws. Part of “refining” these flaws is going “going through adversity, and coming out stronger with well-rounded beliefs” (Week 10). As I go through adversity, my beliefs become stronger which, in turn, makes me stronger for I am made of my beliefs. At Notre Dame, this could relate to my religious beliefs (which have been redefined) but also personal credences I hold. I have taken on a new meaning of relationships, moving on from having friends just to have them and toward finding people who help make me a better person. I often find myself in more diverse environments than I have ever been; “being given this opportunity at Notre Dame, to experience an environment where everyone is one the same level gives a sense of peace to the community” (Week 11). With the absence of social barriers on campus, I am free to explore new people and new experiences. While the experiences of others can never fully be mine, I feel as if I find a new understanding with many of my peers on campus— an understanding that has helped me reach out of the bubble I was raised in. On campus, “it is the students’ responsibility to listen and experience other, new and true stories that they may have missed out on in the bubble the US has shaped us in” (Week 7). It is important to note that it is not our fault for being raised in a bubble, yet it is important to realize and take advantage when you have the opportunity to pop it. However, the people and events I had in this people cannot be neglected; my family, and friends, and events during my childhood have, almost entirely, shaped me. My parents have gifted me with moral teachings and religion, pillars in my life that I hold myself as well as those around me to. My friends have most clearly what trust really means as any real relationship is built on this foundation. By this, I intend to show that friends, especially those who have betrayed my trust, has further helped me refine what it means to trust someone as well as the type of people who can be trusted. These relationships, ones that have been made and lasted or those that have been broken, unknowingly led me down a path to discover what I am made for, the purpose that I am still searching for at Notre Dame. As a child, I would have answered “What are you made for?” with, most likely, something along the lines of, “going to college.” Now that I have done that, I find myself attempting to answer the same question as I have realized coming to Notre Dame is just one step in a larger process of finding my purpose. At first, I fell victim to imposter syndrome, doubting my ability to be a successful student at Notre Dame; I did not believe I was worthy. Since then, I have learned “being worthy does not mean I believe I am perfect, it means I believe my imperfections are simply a part of what makes me worthy enough” (Week 9). Even in the medical field, what I might be interested in, I believed there was a perfection standard which, initially, pushed me away from the field. After reading Complications by Atul Gawande, I learned that this standard is actually nonexistent. This novel, at times, highlighted the presence imperfections in medicine which helped me find (again) the interest I had for medicine that I had lost. So far, after going through internships and listening to friends’ parents, I have narrowed down my interests to oral surgery or orthopedics, two extremely different fields as well as paths. For oral surgery, that means dental school; for orthopedics, it means medical school. These options, thankfully, are farther down the road and I still have time to discover my purpose. As an eighteen year old, for all I know, it is possible that I don’t go into either or even the medical field completely. What I do know is that I want to put forward a concrete effort to help people, serve as a force for good. Coming to Notre Dame and surrounding myself with students and professors who have the same goal in mind is only further pushing me in the right direction for that goal. Ultimately, I want to build a resume built on virtues rather than accomplishments. While aspiring to be a doctor may be viewed as an accomplishment it can, if used the right way, serve as a virtue resume builder as it would give me the platform to assist those who are most vulnerable and, in turn, are in need of the most help. To conclude, I believe that finding my purpose involves “getting lost via exploration: taking an “odd” class, joining a new club, or surrounding yourself with different social groups is how you successfully lose yourself, which, by the end, should mean you find a more authentic version of yourself” (Week 2). Once one discovers the authentic version of themselves, it is then when they can understand what their purpose is as a member of a community and, larger, as a member of society.