Integration Three 
Due 3/4/22
A Winding Journey Turned Straight
	In this world, there are little things that cannot be answered. Societal innovations continue to answer the biggest medical, astrological, and even anthropological phenomena that have stumped humans for centuries. Yet distinct, indeterminate questions still remain; what is love, how do I determine success, and many more. I truly believe that life’s biggest indeterminate is a pondering of itself: what is a life well lived? The truth is that there is no right answer. I guarantee that if you ask a room full of people what a life well lived means to them, every single person will have a unique response. For me personally, a life well-lived is one that I achieve inner peace in, knowing that what is meant to come in my life will. A life well-lived is achieved by experiencing all that you are meant to experience in this life, all the while taking in each and every experience along the way. 
	As a firm believer in the saying “What is meant to come to me, will”, adopting this mindset is key to living a life with less disappointment and therefore a life more well-lived. It is so easy to get caught up in the life of wants and wishes. I wish this person liked me back, I want to get to know this person, I want this interview for an internship, etc. I think this is the completely wrong way to live a good life. It puts you in such a powerless position, always hoping that you will get “lucky” and be in the lower position.“Asking why appeared to cause the participants to fixate on their problems and place blame instead of moving forward in a healthy and productive way” (“The Right Way to be Introspective (Yes, There’s a Wrong Way)” by Tasha Eurich- Moreau FYE Week 6). Realizing that the important things in life will find a way to you allows you to live life independently; you continuously focus on yourself and self-improvement, becoming a better person and attracting things into your life rather than wishing for them. As someone who used to struggle in the past with self-confidence, recently adopting this mindset has made me much more confident and content with my life. Instead of throwing myself fully into people in the hopes that they will like me back, I trust in an attraction mindset and focus on improving myself along the way. 
	I think that a key aspect to living a life well-lived is being able to live in the moment and appreciate all the blessings in your life. A life well lived can be defined by the moments within it, and these distinct memories and experiences are central to everything good in life.  “The only way to know more about yourself is to test the waters - just get out and experience life!” ("Navigating Your Career Journey” by the Meruelo Family Center for Career Development -Moreau FYE Week 4). There is a common belief that certain “core memories” are distinct moments crucial to your development and who you are as a person. For me personally, a few come to mind: my first ever hockey game, the first date I ever went on,  and the day I got into Notre Dame. I firmly believe that I would not be the same person I am today without the unfolding of these moments, and I am sure that many more “core memories” in the future will shape my life well-lived. Appreciating these moments in life is easy to remiss, but I think it is so crucial to achieving true happiness in this life. There is simply nothing like being present in the moment. I remember about a month ago feeling the most amazing sense of bliss. My friends and I were walking off campus to celebrate our friends’ birthdays. We were cracking jokes, listening to music, and enjoying the most beautiful sunset on a rare warm winter night. I will never forget thinking to myself “I am exactly where I want to be and I couldn’t be happier”. It is in these moments that you realize that you are not hoping to achieve a life well-lived; no, you are currently living a life well lived! How amazing is that?
	I think that the final major aspect of achieving a life well lived is forming genuine relationships with people that make you a better person in multifaceted ways. They say that the most important people in your life are the ones that push you the hardest, and I completely agree. I still stay in contact with my high school chemistry teacher and contribute a lot of my academics to him, and it is solely because of how hard he pushed me. He would give tests and quizzes every single day, taking points off if you didn’t stop writing the instant time was up and demanding excellence at all times. I cannot tell you how many 2:00 AM nights I spent studying thermochemistry, all the while questioning why I was putting myself through it. But I made it through, and now I am excelling in my current chemistry classes because of the foundation I created, albeit forcibly. The relationships that push you to be the very best version of yourself day in and day out are the ones that define a life well-lived. “Sometimes you are thrown into each other’s jurisdiction, and that feels better than living, as the Buddhists say, in the ‘illusion of separateness ” ("Chapter 8: Jurisdiction" by Fr. Greg Boyle-Moreau FYE Week 7). Take being thrown into someone’s jurisdiction as a challenge, and make them better in the process. 
	As the end of my freshman year at the University of Notre Dame comes ever closer to an end, I can’t help but appreciate all the amazing things in my life. While living a life well lived is a lifelong process, I would have to say that things are going pretty well as of now. I am blessed with both healthy and happy friends and family. I am excelling in school at one of the best universities in the world. I am forming some of the best friendships of my life with the best people. I simply cannot ask for anything better, and I know that all things will sort themselves as time goes on.