3-2-2022 

 Integration Three 

 Moreau First-Year Experience 

 A Life Truly Lived Well 

 This eulogy is being printed posthumously after Ryan wrote it himself which is why it is 

 written in the first person. He asked that this self-reflection be printed instead of a traditional 

 eulogy to give people a more accurate and deep idea of his life. 

 Looking back on my life, I find that self-reflection is something that I have really 

 improved on throughout my life. Growing up, like any kid, I was living a fast and busy life 

 without much of a break. In those times I really could have used just a moment each day to look 

 at myself and figure out where I was going and why. A quote that I read once that I feel really 

 embodied this is “It can be strange to see mind training — going nowhere, in effect — being 

 brought to such forward-pushing worlds”(“Why We Need to Slow Down Our Lives” by Pico 

 Lyer - Moreau FYE Week One). Reading that when I was younger I just pushed it off as 

 nonsense, but as I got older I wanted to be confident that I can be remembered as someone who 

 was able to reflect on both their current situation and their past. That is part of my goal in writing 

 this self eulogy, to practice reflection on the man who I became, and how I want that man to be 

 remembered. 

 First I would like to examine the questions that I asked myself in order to live a life 

 well-lived. The first was the question of what makes me happy? I find that family brings me the 



 most happiness so I thought that just prioritizing that al the time would be best for me. In reality, 

 though something that I heard when I was younger reminded me that just happiness is not always 

 the goal. “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”(“Three Key Questions” by Fr. Michael Himes - Moreau FYE Week Three). 

 Thinking of this always reminds me that sometimes you must sacrifice happiness in the moment 

 for long term joy. The moment is not always the most important thing but instead, I should 

 prioritize long-term joy. Sometimes I had to give up spending some time with my family in order 

 to have greater joy in possible other aspects of my life. And I did do this and it ended up bringing 

 me great joy. 

 The next section of this will cover when I asked myself in what ways I could live my life. 

 I wanted to find more ways to get involved in new things and do what I love. I wanted to get as 

 much out of life as possible, and when I look back I think that I did that. I made sure to get 

 involved with things outside of school and my job, and I made sure to explore enough to find 

 what I truly enjoy. I used to worry a lot about what I was going to do with my life and in 

 particular how my major would influence that. Then I heard this “Contrary to popular belief, 

 deciding on a major does not determine the rest of your life.  A common phrase we hear at the 

 Center for Career Development (CCD) is “I’m a [insert name of major] major - what can I do 

 with that?”(“Navigate Your Career Journey” by Meruelo Family Center for Career Development 

 - Moreau FYE Week Four). This reminds me that my major specifically, but also other big 

 decisions in my life are often always not permanent. Choosing my major is very important, but it 

 does not inherently decide what my life path will be. This kind of attitude reminded me to take 

 risks and pushed me to do things I otherwise would not have done. 



 Next, I would like to explore how I discerned what a life well lived was. I had a lot to 

 work through at various times and I often used my dad to help me discern what to do. One time I 

 called him for a school assignment looking for answers and he gave me a lot of interesting 

 insight. My dad told me something that he said is difficult to say but I needed to hear. It’s that I 

 am very intelligent but I have a lot of growth to do in terms of focusing and really paying 

 attention to detail. Since elementary school, I have been the first person to finish tests, been 

 writing essays in one night, and been doing homework as quickly as possible. Hearing this really 

 helped me examine how I can live my life better and where I can improve to overcome new 

 challenges. 

 Finally I would like to look at how I can make this reflection on my life worthwhile and 

 not just a recounting of principles I tried to live by. To help influence this I remembered that once 

 I read that “  We can spend endless amounts of time in self-reflection but emerge with no more 

 self-insight than when we started”(“The Right Way to be Introspective” by Tasha Eurich - 

 Moreau FYE Week Six). This is where I want to look at the use of my writing my own eulogy 

 and why I feel like it will benefit me. Through this, I have been able to examine deeply how I 

 lived my life, what I feel worked in it, and what I feel that I did not. In many memories and 

 anecdotes that are not included directly in this eulogy I have been able to examine through the 

 lens of these principles how well I lived my life. And, while I do not think I lived it perfectly, I 

 feel like I lived it as well as I could have. I made improvements, cared about others, and took 

 good care of myself throughout my long and fruitful life. I decided to take a deeper look at how 

 and why I lived my life the way I did and I hope that all of you, like me, can learn from this 

 abnormal exercise that I have brought upon myself.. Rather than just think about and reminisce 

 on what happened in my life I want everyone to remember why I did the things I did, and how I 



 impacted everyone who I met. I want the main memory of me to not be my actions, rather how 

 my actions impacted those around me.