Microsoft Word - Integration.docx What Makes up ? Core beliefs are detrimental to the feeling of fulfillment, since everybody should have goals, morals, and values that they stick to throughout the journey of life. I have eight core beliefs that I came up with during the Moreau course. Core belief number one: I believe that I am searching for happiness and success. My definition of success correlates mostly to monetary value, however, I combine happiness and success because I would rather be happy and okay financially than miserable and rich. This creates my biggest goal: finding a career that makes me both happy and rich. The quote, “...we all know that feeling, that "I'm not blank enough, I'm not thin enough, rich enough, beautiful enough, smart enough, promoted enough." (“The Power of Vulnerability” by Brené Brown – Moreau FYE Week One) really drives this core belief. I am searching for both happiness and success, but will I ever be satisfied? Whenever I achieve something, I cherish that moment temporarily, but then immediately look towards my next challenge to complete. Core belief number two: I believe that I forge meaningful relationships by opening up to people and discussing things you otherwise wouldn’t with others. Allowing someone to see the real you and your raw emotions is amazing, because that allows both you and them to feel comfortable around each other. This comfortability will create an exchange of emotions from both people, creating a flow of positivity and confidence. By opening up, you are showing your vulnerability, which in turn builds trust, which is one of the most important ideals in meaningful relationships. “They repeatedly bail on you.” (5 Signs You’re in a Toxic Friendship – Moreau FYE Week Four) is one sign of a bad relationship, so by allowing others to see your true feelings, and you seeing theirs, will create a relationship built upon each other (hopefully not so much where they rely solely on each other) that cannot be formed without sharing. In turn, this will cause neither person to repeatedly bail or hurt one another. Core belief number three: I believe that my purpose is to find a career that I am passionate about and truly love doing. This belief is very similar to the first belief, as both are about careers. I am taking a year off college to pursue my passion of becoming a YouTuber. Many people advise me not to do this, but I cannot stand and watch my dreams potentially go down the drain. I realize I can do both college and filming, but I want to truly take time to dedicate most of my energy towards my passion. “We happen to live in a society that favors Adam I, and often neglects Adam II. And the problem is that turns you into a shrewd animal who treats life as a game, and you become a cold, calculating creature who slips into a sort of mediocrity where you realize there's a difference between your desired self and your actual self.” (TED Talk by David Brooks – Moreau FYE Week Two). This quote perfectly reflects my feelings. I just cannot see myself sitting behind a desk my whole life or working a traditional job, rather I see myself creating, exploring, and having fun with life. This mediocrity that Brooks speaks about, to me at least, is living that mapped out life everybody expects: go to college, get a job, marry, have kids, etcetera, but that life just does not seem fulfilling. The way I view life is that I am eighteen years old, so there is really nothing on the line for me to lose. Also, life is so short and when I’m dead nobody is really going to care whether I was a YouTuber or a lawyer, as long as I contributed to society for the better good and had a positive impact on the world. Core belief number four: I believe that I grow up by getting out of my comfort zone and being original. My personality is complicated to understand: I’m an introvert with my family, but an extrovert with my friends and strangers. Why is this? I think it is because I may feel as if I cannot truly express myself in front of my family without being judged, even though they are extremely loving and would never judge me. I am working on getting out of my comfort zone because this in turn will forge life meaning relationships. In my videos I am working on getting out of my comfort zone by doing things that I never thought I could do, such as yelling in public around a bunch of people. “...each knot is unique, when attempting to remove the knot do not operate under the false belief that what you did before will work this time around; instead, you are far better off looking at each knot with a fresh set of eyes.” (“The Role of Faith in Our Story” by Fr. Pete McCormick, C.S.C. – Moreau Week 3). This quote is all about the approach of issues. In order to conquer issues, fears, and other obstacles, originality is extremely important. I cannot change and grow into who I am meant to be if I am unable to change and grow my mind and my thought process as well. Core belief number five: I believe that I am responsible for my life and my success. Nobody else will cause me to succeed, only I can control that based on my work ethic and dedication. However, especially in the world of YouTube, you need other people to help you succeed. This was not in a Moreau session, but Lil Yachty said, “You can do anything that you truly put your mind to, but in order to do it you have to first attempt…Manually go out there and get it on your own.” This quote is one of the most inspirational ones I have ever heard because it reinforces the idea that you will always fail at something if you never try it. You are responsible for making your life how you choose, nobody can make your life decisions for you. Core belief number 6: I believe that I pursue truth by thinking deep and through my political and religious beliefs. I have always been engaged and interested in politics my entire life. I love debating topics and researching to find evidence on why I support what I support. Without these political and religious beliefs, I would have no values or no moral compass, which would put me in a position to feel unmotivated to cause positive change in the world. Week six was the “Where I’m From” poem, and this week of discussing our backgrounds shows that my environment I grew up in forms these beliefs. I grew up Catholic and in Pensacola, Florida, a predominately Republican county. I am both Catholic and Republican (sorry to get political L), but I greatly value my religious and political views and I am not afraid to speak out publicly about what I believe in and what I don’t believe in. I stay involved in the political world and greatly value discerning what I believe is right and wrong in America. I am not so into my beliefs that I cannot be swayed by the other side, because I have changed my mind on numerous topics before, so discussion with both sides is a big part in forming these root beliefs. Core belief number 7: I believe that my community should stop being so sensitive. “What struck me was this: She had felt sorry for me even before she saw me. Her default position toward me, as an African, was a kind of patronizing, well-meaning pity.” (“Danger of a Single Story” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Moreau Week Seven). This quote portrays how I feel about American society right now. Everybody is so focused on emphasizing with others and it’s gotten to a point where everybody is a victim. You may be wondering why this is important enough to be a core belief, but it is because this sensitivity in society really angers me at the core. We are coming to live in a time where anything anybody says can become offensive and peoples’ careers are being ruined from something they said 20 years ago. Back in the day teens fought in wars, now they do TikTok dances, and this just does not sit right with me. I just think we as Americans need to toughen up and just live our lives and go our separate ways with others if we disagree rather than starting fights and polarization. The sooner we realize we are all humans and Americans, the sooner we can unite as one country again and this is necessary for everybody’s success. So, I guess this core belief can really be seen as nationalism because America is the best country in the world, and I just really want to preserve that. Core belief number 8: I believe that I am made to create my own path and succeed on my own terms. This is very similar to core belief number five, yet slightly different.: “...while we can all get more money, more houses, cars, and things, we can never get more time.” (“2021 Laetare Medalist Address” by Carla Harris). This embodies the final core belief, because time is more valuable than money. I truly believe my path in life is one of entertainment and creativity. This is also one of the hardest fields to make it in, so I am not in it for the money, more the passion. My taking a year I will allocate much more time into this passion, hopefully causing this dream to become a reality. Everybody has a different path in life, and we need to not conform to someone else’s idea for our own path, rather we need to create and follow our own path. Overall, my core beliefs are built upon searching for happiness, monetary success, and my political and religious views (mostly political).