Moreau Integration Moreau FYE Capstone Integration Not a Perfect Life by any means but I’m working on it My new mission statement after reflecting on everything I have learned through Moreau and my experiences this first year at Notre Dame would be one full of forgiveness, trying new things, and dedication. I will dedicate myself to balancing time with my family, my friends, and doing school work or actual work. I will remember to try to have some fun and not be so serious all the time and create stronger connections with the people I interact and care for. I want to be better at forgiving others and trying new things. I will try my best to “live like a saint” as my youth group leaders used to say. I learned from their lives and will try to live a life her patron saint, Maria Goretti, and the Lord Our Father would approve of. I will be dedicated to never stop questioning things that interest me. This continuous persistence of knowledge is a spark in me that will never go out. Finally, I will be courageous in acts both big and small to stand up for what is best for herself and the people around her (Mission Statement by - Moreau FYE Week 13). Finding ways to balance everything going on in my life has always been a hard thing for me to do. Many times I believe that myself and everyone around me gets too caught up in everything going on. I have been told that I never let myself relax, which is a fair statement because at any given moment I have around 3 to-do lists and 15 reminders set on my phone. I feel like I always have so many plates spinning in the air and I am trying my best to not let them all come crashing down. These plates include all of my numerous roles such as daughter, sister, girlfriend, friend, Lyons Hall President, student and club member. But like it was said in the https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1ByVNmgiH73bvwcl7LkFOF6rOPJzGp-5tTGj_cJQnGZA/edit article “why we need to slow down our lives” that the unhappiness in life is because someone cannot sit still in their chamber. The article also said, “Researchers in the new field of interruption science have found that it takes an average of twenty-five minutes to recover from a phone call. Yet such interruptions come every eleven minutes — which means we’re never caught up with our lives” (“Why we need to slow down our lives” by Pico Ilyer - Moreau FYE Week 1). This is why for my next three years at Notre Dame I am going to start scheduling times for myself to be relaxed. This could be silent medication or a silent walk around the lake. In my mission statement I mentioned I would try to have more fun and be less serious all the time. It has taken me a long time to realize perfection is an unattainable goal. I used to idolize doing everything I could and being “perfect”: the perfect student, child, etc. I now know after failing many times at doing things here at Notre Dame that it is ok to not be perfect but it is not ok to give up. In the movie Hesburgh, Father Hesburgh said “He wasn’t perfect either and he wasn’t afraid to admit it” (“Hesburgh” by Jerry Barca & Christine O’Malley- Moreau FYE Week 2). Through the failures and struggles we are able to appreciate the good times more. The article from week three also says this in a great way, “Actually, facing the darkest parts of life is where we find the light in them” (“Meet the Nun who wants you to know that you will die” by Ruth Graham- Moreau FYE Week 3). In my next three years at Notre Dame I will be pushing myself to try new things, push through the failures and to never give up. I have made a goal for myself to connect with more people and look into new exciting opportunities within my career path. I have always been ok with connecting with others but I was never vulnerable enough to create these extremely deep connections. Through Moreau I learned that I need to explore and connect with a lot of people to learn more about my career. The Career Development Website says, “Planning your career is much like planning for a trip. There are https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/39695/modules/items/144732 https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/39695/modules/items/144736 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/memento-mori-nun.html many details and decisions to make and it requires a lot of exploration and research. It’s not a one-step process” (“Navigating your Career Journey” - Moreau FYE Week 4). This is a hard concept to explain to my parents because they don't understand the business world that well and think a major must lead directly into a specific job title. In my next three years at Notre Dame I will dedicate myself to researching opportunities that are a good fit for me and educating my parents more about these opportunities and what I want to do. I also want to grow my connection to other because the Pope said ““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” (“Why the only future worth building includes everyone” by His Holiness Pope Francis- Moreau FYE Week 7). This means the more connected I become with others the happier existence I will have. With balancing my schedule this must be done with a good purpose as if I only do it to suit one need then it is done with the wrong intentions. In week 9 there was a great quote about this, “In many ways it was a cautionary tale of the many things that can go wrong from misguided good intentions” (“Teaching Accompaintment: A learning Journey Together” by Professor Steve Reifenburg- Moreau FYE Week 9) By scheduling my time with good intentions I must try to make sure my physical, mental and emotional needs are being met. In my next three years at Notre Dame I want to try to live out the parts of my mission statement that says to live like a saint and to do small and big courageous acts. This first year at Notre Dame I mostly just went with the flow and did not necessarily put myself out there with my beliefs. I did this because I was scared of not being able to make friends. However, I now know that learning new things and interacting with people of different beliefs is very beneficial to my personal growth. In Week 6 there was a quote from an article that helped me to realize this. https://undergradcareers.nd.edu/navigating-your-career-journey---moreau/ https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/39695/modules/items/144759 https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/39695/modules/items/144764 https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/39695/modules/items/144764 The quote was, “The lesson here: Asking what could keep us open to discovering new information about ourselves, even if that information is negative or in conflict with our existing beliefs. Asking why might have the opposite effect” (“The Right way to be Introspective” by Tasha Eurich- Moreau FYE Week 6). In my next three years at Notre Dame I will become more involved in causes I believe in such as the Right to Life Club. I will make sure to reach all of my beliefs and always be open to discussions with people from opposite views so we can both learn from each other. I do not want my beliefs and involvement in politics to become a shallow thing to just be posted on a social media story. In week 11 modern involvement was described as shallow in this quote, “We live in a 24/7 cycle of political news that saturates every corner of our culture. It seems like this has led to an increased engagement in politics, but Eitan Hersh says that engagement with politics for many of us has actually become more shallow” (“Passion Isn’t Enough” by Hidden Brain Media- Moreau FYE Week 11). I have not registered to vote yet but I am planning on registering soon so I can participate in voting during my next three years at Notre Dame. Finally, in my next three years at Notre Dame I am going to “Let the walls I had built to prevent vulnerability, slowly come down” (“Growing Gay and Catholic” by Jacob Walsh- Moreau FYE Week 10) and do caourgaous acts both large and small. At the beginning of this year I sheltered myself from truly being there with others because I was scared others wouldn’t like me but in the next three years my walls will be coming down. To keep my walls down I will do what my mother says I always do and continue to question everything to no why and if something is a no I want to see if I could change it to a yes (Discernment Conversation with Tracy Albertson- Moreau Week 5). In my position as Lyons Hall President next year I am going to encourage others to participate in volunteer efforts and participate in dorm culture as well as https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/39695/modules/items/144754 https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/39695/modules/items/144767 https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1-8aGVoxx9exkds5zVYEHTfX9ddZkganHCFj5jG-NGV4/edit events. As Marcus Cole said, “These are things that I, in my position, can do. But it is not enough. I cannot do this alone. Each of us must do what we can, wherever we are” (“I am George Floyd. Except, I can breathe. And I can do something” by Marcus Cole- Moreau FYE Week 12). My first year at Notre Dame was not perfect and my next three years at Notre Dame won't be perfect either but I will never give up and never stop growing as a person.