Not Just a Man for Others, but a Good One as Well
 My time here at the University of Notre Dame, although short, has opened my eyes to just how wild the world is out there. When I first thought about the idea of creating a eulogy, I thought “why would I do that, I’m going to live another 60 years!” I have seen this view change some throughout my time here. Especially in the last week or so, I have realized that our lives could realistically end at any moment. In my short time here, I have learned so much about myself, and about who I want to be and how I want to develop as a man. 
This semester in Moreau class, I have found myself very enticed with the ideas of creating bonds, finding what I stand for, and what life I want to live. I have spent lots of time thinking about who I want to be, a man for others, and how I can accomplish this. “It’s easy to feel as if we’re standing two inches away from a huge canvas that’s noisy and crowded and changing with every microsecond. It’s only by stepping further back and standing still that we can begin to see what the canvas really means.” (“Why we need to slow down our lives” by Pico Iyer - Moreau FYE Week One) Throughout my whole life, I have struggled with anxiety, and dealing with everything life has thrown at me. I often find myself getting stressed out over small things such as playing poorly in sports or thinking about things I have said or done in my past, and have mentally destroyed myself over them. It is only when I step back and take time to look at the bigger picture, that I realize that I am on the right path, and that I am most definitely capable of being great, because “Nobody is perfect, but how can we set ourselves on the right path, apart from the rest?” (“Hesburgh Video” by Jerry Barce and Christine O’Malley- Moreau FYE Week Two). The one thing that I want most in my life is when I am on my deathbed, thinking back on everything that I have done and has happened in my life, I want to have no regrets and say to myself that I lived a meaningful life. I want to live an expansive life, and not leave any stone unturned in my life. “If a person only focuses on one or two parts of his/her self-concept for a career, that person will eventually hit a wall.”(“Navigating Your Career Journey” by Undergraduate Career Services- Moreau FYE Week Four) I have frequently found myself wondering what my education has really done for me, and what I want to do with my degree, and what it is going to offer me for opportunities. 
When I write the last chapter of my life, I want to be known as the man who never backed down from a challenge. I have suffered setback after setback in so many ways, from physical to mental to emotional, and I am a better man for it. I think that when the last page in my book of life is created, it will read “, a man for others, who feared nothing but God.” I have always spent my time trying to figure out what it is that truly makes me happy, and what I want to do with my life. “remember, only you can finally say, ‘This is a genuine source of joy in my life!’”(“Three Key Questions” by Fr. Michael Himes - Moreau FYE Week Three) I think that happiness is internally rooted in what we are interested in. I spend so much time wondering about if I am truly happy or not, or what it is that has made me happy in my life. I think that the idea of happiness is one that is very difficult to define by words, but rather we see it in our emotions.
 For me, what makes me happy is finding something that is going to drive me to become better than who I was previously. “I have never seen someone so determined to come back and be better than where you left off. You were pushing yourself beyond every limit you had from your physical status to your education, to even your mental health.” (“Interview” by Brad West - Moreau FYE Week Five) I have sometimes considered myself to be a workaholic, and have always been on my grind, whether it is in school, sports, or even in my social life. I want to always be a better version of myself than I was when I woke up that previous morning. In my lifetime I want to find what it is that causes me joy. I think that examining my emotions and behaviors is a very valuable tool, but that I am sometimes asking the wrong things about myself, and I “tend to search for the easiest and most plausible answers.” (“The Right Way to be Introspective” by Tasha Eurich - Moreau FYE Week Six) 
A life well lived is bred by the relationships you form with your loved ones. For me, I have found myself become a mold of the people who I look up to and have formed genuine relationships with. I would certainly consider myself the product of my environment, and I am proud to say that. I have been surrounded by great people throughout my life, and it has shaped me into a great man, and someone who is always there for others. “Allowing folks into my jurisdiction requires that I dismantle what I have set up to keep them out.” (“Tattoos on the Heart”, by Fr. Greg Boyle - Moreau FYE Week Seven) I think one thing I have certainly struggled with is letting new people into my life, but I have definitely opened my mind up more to this idea, and it has given me new meaningful relationships I don’t think I would have formed without doing this.
 I have grown throughout the years telling myself that I will be a man for others, and that I will be dependable and will always be a man who is there for the greater good. I know that this is easier said than done, but I can confidently say that the direction I am headed in has laid the path for me to be able to say at the end of my eulogy “I have no regrets, and I love you all.”