integration 2 Learning to Deal with Change Integration Two Imposter syndrome has been something I have encountered at Notre Dame. In week nine in Moreau, we learned all about imposter syndrome, expectations and how to deal with them. The way I view imposter syndrome is to have a lack of faith in your own abilities. It is often to feel that you don’t belong in a place. This can obviously be a large struggle for students in Notre Dame because we are among some of the brightest students in America. Being here can feel like everyone is so much smarter than yourself and that I must have gotten into this wonderful school by some sort of mistake. Through different class discussions, it soon became obvious that those of us struggling with imposter syndrome were not alone. Many people here feel overwhelmed by the smartness of those around us. Unfortunately, imposter syndrome, I have found, can actually inhibit academic performance. The second you start to believe that you don’t belong here, the motivation starts to leave. I found it to be so helpful to remind myself that I am enough to be here. I soon discovered that by comparing myself to other people, I was making things much worse for myself. I think the best policy is just to compare yourself to yourself only and not to focus on the progress of our friends and classmates. I came to realize that many people had external factors that were pressuring them to be the best and to get top grades, like parents for example. The Grotto article taught me “You can’t live your life according to the expectations of others”, (The Grotto Article by Julia Hogan- Moreau FYE Week 9). This quote doesn’t only relate to our performance in the classroom, but is also good advice for our life in college. We should set our own personal expectations for ourselves and not waste any time worrying about living up to the expectations of others. This is a big thing that I have learned in college. When I first got here from Ireland, there were many things I had to adjust to compared to some of the American students. Rather than panic that other people seemed to be adjusting more seamlessly than me, I just told myself to take it day by day and go at my own pace. I have found this to be the most beneficial thing that I could have done because it means that I'm not constantly stressed about keeping up with others. I have just set my own realistic expectations for myself. I am also a strong believer that the motivation to work hard and to excel, has to come from within, and not external pressure. It would be impossible to meet everybody’s individual expectations. I have encountered a new world of people with polar opposite beliefs. I always knew before coming to America that this country was much bigger than my own so people were bound to have different opinions on topics. My Mam had warned me before leaving for school to watch what I said and to think before I speak because I wouldn't want to offend people. She told me that my experience here would be much different from my life in Ireland. Ireland is such a small country with little to no power, so it is hard for our country to be divided by political beliefs. Things are much different here, and people are very passionate about what and who they believe in. This sort of scared me at first. When people would make politically charged comments, I would have absolutely no idea what to respond. Over the last few months I have learned that we all just need to learn to respect the opinions of others. In a country with over three hundred million people, agreeing on one idea would be impossible! But so as to keep order and love between people, we just have to make efforts to understand each other and why people might have reasons to believe certain things. I loved this quote from week ten, “Love is the greatest commandment- and hatred is at the heart of the greatest sin. Hatred is the great destroyer- the great divider” (Commencement Speech by Fr. John Jenkins- Moreau FYE Week 10). It is just of utmost importance to hold love for one another instead of jumping to conclusions as soon as someone has a different opinion to us. It takes all sorts to make the world go round, and what a boring place the world would be if we all thought the same thing! To tackle this problem of differences dividing us, I have decided that I will personally take the time to educate myself to try to better understand other people’s point of view. Since coming to Notre Dame, I have met many wonderful people of different cultures and races. America is a melting pot of culture compared to Ireland. I have been so lucky over the past three months to meet people from every corner of the world and to meet people of different races and cultures. I have come to realize that we have so much to learn from those different to us. In one of my classes we had to do a cross-cultural interview, and I interviewed a girl in my dorm who was adopted from China. I learned so much in this experience alone, about how we all have grown up so differently. Actually this interview made me realize that we never really know what’s going on behind closed doors. And how dare we ever judge people off the color of their skin or where they come from? Unfortunately, I believe that racism can still be an issue in Notre Dame as we heard testimonials from students who had encountered discrimination in week eleven. They were heartbreaking. We saw the quote “Race and inequality matter- but they are not fixed” (Diversity Matters video by Prof. Agustin Fuentes- Moreau FYE Week 11 ), and I have never known this to be more true. The very second we think that inequality is here to stay, is the moment it will be here to stay. We need to collectively believe that there is something each of us can do to eradicate inequality throughout the world today. I think that gaining exposure to the world and having different life experiences will help us all to reduce bias and inequality. We also have to call people out for their wrongdoings. We will encounter difficulties with faith in college. In week twelve, we read the Screwtape letters by C.S. Lewis. The readings were about what Satan thought about God and humans and what his own goals were. “His efforts to get permanent possession of a soul, he relies on the troughs even more than on the peaks” (The Screwtape Letters by C.S Lewis – Moreau FYE Week 12), this is what Satan thinks of God, that he just wants possession of us all. These letters, in my opinion, are just a reminder to keep a strong faith in whatever we believe in while we’re here at school. If we ever feel like straying from what we believe in, these letters are a reminder to us of what the devil thinks of us. Although this is a primarily Catholic school, there is room for all beliefs and it’s so important to keep a strong faith. I think it will help us get through the good and bad times at college. I think the grotto is a great place to go for guidance, whether it be before exams, or just in general. I plan to start going to mass in BP more to strengthen my faith.