Learning Through Living Throughout my time at Notre Dame so far I have grown personally, through knowing my worth and discerning my personal values. Additionally, I have come to appreciate and value turning Notre Dame into the best community it can possibly be because Notre Dame is such a special place to me. This past summer before my first semester at Notre Dame, I had serious concerns that I was going to experience imposter syndrome. Additionally, I was worried I would not be able to ease those feelings. This fear was then furthered when the Instagram account First Year at ND posted some advice for incoming first years. In this picture, they warned that many freshmen feel imposter syndrome, but it is a normal feeling. In Moreau, we discussed these worries I had in-depth. Additionally, in my USEM we discussed the psychological reasoning for imposter syndrome. As human beings, we fail to understand that other people are as flawed as we are. Therefore, when we experience pain and suffering due to grappling with our flaws, we overestimate our failure in comparison to others. This plays into the idea that we cannot compare our successes and lives to others, we can only compare ourselves to ourselves. As Hogan stated, “You can’t live your life according to the expectations of others. When you do, you aren’t living your own life — you’re living someone else’s life” (“Why Letting Go of Expectations is a Freeing Habit” by Julia Hogan, Grotto – Moreau FYE Week Nine ). This quote is crucial advice for everyone to follow. My mom always has told me that you cannot let your happiness rely on someone else. If you live your life in this way, you will never be truly happy because you are not in control of your happiness. The Ted Ed “What is Imposter Syndrome?” likewise discusses how imposter syndrome is an extremely normal feeling and one way to combat it for people to understand it is normal (“What is Imposter Syndrome?” by Elizabeth Cox, TED-Ed – Moreau FYE Week Nine). Throughout this semester, I have not experienced an overwhelming amount of imposter syndrome. I feel very competent in my classes and have been able to manage the work very well. If anything, the only thing I feel slightly insecure about is being an Arts and Letters major. Sometimes it feels as though STEM and business majors look down upon liberal arts majors. I try not to let this bother me; however, because I know that if I excel as an Economics and Philosophy major I have every opportunity to be just as successful as any STEM or business major. Overall, I have eased my concerns about my imposter syndrome in my first-semester experience. Thus far on my Notre Dame journey, I have become more passionate about ensuring Notre Dame is the best place Notre Dame can be. Recently, I have been reflecting on how Notre Dame could be a more inclusive community, especially regarding members of the LGBTQIA+ community. The root of this issue is the fact that Notre Dame is a Catholic institution and many of the students’ strong beliefs tied to their Catholic faith. I personally believe that every single human being should be treated exactly the same no matter their sexuality or gender identity. However, this is not necessarily the overwhelming opinion of Notre Dame students. The following quote demonstrates the issue with some students strongly holding Catholic beliefs. “Conviction, however, is not all good. It can easily be corrupted by pride and greed and lead to hatred and division” ("Wesley Theological Seminary 2012 Commencement Address" by Fr. John Jenkins C.S.C. – Moreau FYE Week Ten). This quote has an extremely powerful message. Conviction can be a fantastic force for good; however, many of Notre Dame’s issues, and the United States’ issues, are due to conviction. Love and hatred are the antithesis of each other. The division seen at Notre Dame and the United States can be attributed to people's strong convictions grounded in hate rather than love. In order to make Notre Dame and the United States a more inclusive place, we all must first ground our convictions in love. In general, Catholic ideals can aid the division at Notre Dame and the United States because those are grounded in love. For example, a Catholic ideal that I appreciate is the idea that everybody is made in the image of God. If Notre Dame applied this ideal to every aspect of Notre Dame, then Notre Dame would be a more inclusive place for members of the LGBTQIA+ community. For example, in my USEM we discussed how parietals almost dismisses the existence of homosexuality and transgender students at Notre Dame would face many challenges due to dorm life. I love Notre Dame, so I want to help make Notre Dame as inclusive of a place as possible and this would be an important step to take. Along with my desire to improve Notre Dame itself, I think it is important for everyone at Notre Dame to reflect and improve themselves. For example, I think it is important for Notre Dame students to reflect on their own implicit biases so that they can promote diversity because otherwise that causes hate and division in the world. This quote truly reflects those ideals; “The concept of community must embrace even those we perceive as ‘enemy’” (“Thirteen Ways of Looking at Community” by Parker J. Palmer, Center for Courage and Renewal – Moreau FYE Week Eleven). This quote demonstrates why there is division and prejudice against other groups. In my Psychology class we learned about how people demonstrate a strong in-group preference and strong out-group discrimination, even if the group assignment is random. It is very easy to feel connected to a community where everyone thinks and acts like you, or at least you perceive that as so. Therefore, we must individually work to embrace people from the out-group in order to promote diversity. By inviting people from different backgrounds to engage, then we all can learn and love each other. By doing this, society can progress as division decreases. Obviously, the United States is far from being as diverse as it should be. In my USEM we discussed how there are barely any people of color involved in peer review of scientific research demonstrating how widespread discrimination still is and how extensive the lack of diversity in America is. Ultimately, while being at Notre Dame, I feel as though great value has been provided to my life by attending a Catholic university. I was raised Catholic, however, I do not still practice as a Catholic. However, I still greatly value the ideals of Catholicism. Specifically, I identify with the value of hope. “The contemplation of new ideas and needs beyond our comfort zones requires a sacrificial willingness to put at risk everything that we think we already know” (“Hope - Holy Cross and Christian Education” (pdf) pages 14 - 16 by Fr. James B. King, C.S.C. – Moreau FYE Week Twelve). This quote is important to me because hope is super important for everyone to have. In order to cultivate yourself into an excellent person, you must take risks. Furthermore, when you take risks, you must have the hope that everything will be ok no matter what. Even if you do not personally believe that there is a God, you can still have the faith that everything will turn out good. That is also why the idea of hope is so appealing to me. Hope is a very universal concept that everyone can identify with. As the Screwtape Letter states, a way to combat evil is to find God and have hope even when you cannot see God (“The Screwtape Letters” Chapter 8 by C.S. Lewis – Moreau FYE Week Twelve). This can be applied to everyone’s life. When life is hard, you should have the hope that someday life will be good again.