Hartzer, Grace: Integration Moreau FYE Capstone Integration April 29, 2022 Living by my mission statement leads to fulfillment I strive to live by my mission statement in order to pursue a life well lived: I am truly happy when I am able to fully give myself to those I love and graciously accept what they have to offer. I will make an effort to prioritize my own health and the health of others by building meaningful and loving relationships. Allowing myself to be vulnerable and authentic allows me to build such relationships. I vow to use my relationships to promote positive change in the world. I strive to implement the knowledge and wisdom I have gained both before and during my time as a Notre Dame student for the betterment of our society. Through my education and future career, I will use the skills I have acquired in the classroom and beyond to serve my community to the best of my abilities. Furthermore, I plan on continuing to develop my faith and connection with God. As a child of God, I work hard to live a faithful life through strong moral values and a commitment to service. I make an effort to see God’s beauty in everyone around me. Living a good Christian life in accordance with the written word of God is a crucial aspect of my character. Finally, I am dedicated to being present and appreciative of every moment I have with the people I love, especially my family. I work hard to cherish the time we have together and have become increasingly appreciative of the time spent together after moving away for college. (“Writing a personal mission statement” – Moreau FYE, Week 13) The combination of authenticity, service, faith, and education make up the person I am today and I am proud to live by these morals as I continue to grow into an adult. Looking back on my first year as a Notre Dame student, I can see how this mission statement has played out in my life. Though I hadn’t yet formally expressed it, the values I lived by have remained the same. From the first week of class this semester, we focused on self-reflection This was key in helping me determine my strengths and weaknesses. I quickly identified that I struggled with opening up to others and accepting their help. Especially while experiencing suffering I prefer to close myself and deal with it alone as I do not want to feel like a burden to others. Being aware of this helped me make a conscious effort to be better at asking for help when I needed it and allowing myself to be vulnerable. While it has been incredibly hard for me, making the conscious effort to be vulnerable has helped me express more of my authentic self to those I love. It has helped me form more meaningful relationships which, in turn, has helped me live a more fulfilling life. A quote that I found inspiring from this semester was, “Accompaniment is, in some ways, like teaching. It is a practice. By being aware of what you’re trying to do, engaging in it, reflecting on experiences of it -- both accompanying and being accompanied -- you get better.” (“Teaching Accompaniment: A Learning Journey Together by Steve Reifenberg – Moreau FYE Week 9). This quote resonated with me because I know I could get better at being accompanied. Even though I don’t like it, I know that I could be more appreciative that I have people in my life who want to help me through suffering. That being said, I also need people to understand that we all deal with suffering differently and they need to respect that I prefer to deal with it alone. Additionally, this self-reflection helped me understand that there is more to the college experience than simply grades. While academics are still important to me I have also been able to take advantage of more activities this semester with my friends. (“Personal Reflection Assignment” – Moreau FYE, Week 1). In addition to discovering my weaknesses, I also discovered what it means to me to live a life well-lived. This is one of the main ideas in my mission statement. The idea of surrounding yourself with people that make you happy and people that you can make happy is evidence of a life well-lived. From the start of the school year to the end, my friend group has changed and I am sure it will continue to change in the future, but right now I have surrounded myself with people who bring me so much joy. It is not to say that I was unhappy in high school, but I have been significantly happier and more myself since coming to college and meeting my closest friends. (“Inspirations of a Life Well Lived QQC Assignment” –Moreau FYE Week 2). I knew what it meant to me to live a fulfilling life, but how was I, and will I continue to obtain this? In class, during week three we took an interesting approach to this idea by focusing on our own mortality. “The idea is to deliberately take into consideration your personal dying day-after-day, as a method of appreciating the current and specializing in the future.” ("Meet the nun who wants you to remember that you will die" by Ruth Graham – Moreau FYE Week 3). While this can be kind of morbid to think about, I think this quote is important because it reminds us of how precious life is. We only get one life and it is important to live it to its fullest. Taking risks - even though it may lead to failure - is all part of the process. We must get outside our comfort zone so that at the end of our lives we know we lived a fulfilling life without regrets. Similarly, this helps us appreciate the present. It encourages us to move on from the past and eagerly embrace what lies ahead. While in the future I will probably try to avoid thinking about my own death, something that my mission statement highlights that I can do to know I am living a life well lived is to take time to appreciate the moments spent with family. After moving away from home for school, I gained a deeper appreciation for the relationship I have with my family, especially my sister, and in the future, I will continue to make a strong effort to make sure we always have a bond. Currently, I make sure I text to ask about her day and try to facetime with her at least once a week. Small things like this help us to stay connected even when we are living in different states, and this connection is very important to me and living a fulfilled life. I hope to live by my mission statement during my life after school as well. I strive to help the community through my future career as a chemical engineer. Though this semester has been very hard for me, and I know it will only continue to get harder, I work really hard to remember that though I may not love the classes, I do still love the subject of chemistry. Luckily, I have had supportive friends and family who have encouraged me to continue with chemical engineering. Many times this semester, I have cried over bad grades, overwhelming workloads, and the feeling of not being smart enough to be an engineer. However, surrounding myself with people who love me, they have helped me understand and discern what I want to do in the future, while I am still a little unsure about my choice to pursue chemical engineering, I know the people I have in my life will support me regardless of the path I take. (“Exploring a Life Well Lived CCD Activity” – Moreau FYE Week 4) This has made my discernment easier. Regardless of where I end up, I know I will be able to use what I have learned in college and apply it to helping people throughout my career. This also ties back to how I can live a fulfilling life by making those around me happy. If I can use my job to make a difference in the lives of others, I know I will have lived a life well-lived. (“Discerning a Life Well Lived QQC Assignment” Moreau FYE Week 5). However, I have learned that there are also obstacles to living a life well-lived, and I have definitely experienced some this semester. Stress is the biggest one. However, instead of focusing on how stress targets my weaknesses, I have learned how to use my strengths to counter it. One of our reading assignments stated, “If we’re not self-aware, it’s almost impossible to master the skills that make us stronger team players, superior leaders, and better relationship builders, either at work or in the rest of our lives” (“The Right Way to be Introspective (Yes, There’s a Wrong Way)” by Tasha Eurich – Moreau FYE Week 6). I thought this quote was very important because oftentimes we think that we need to have a strong awareness of our weaknesses, and that is true. However, it is also important that we are aware of our strengths. This will allow us to build better relationships with those around us along with being more successful in our day-to-day lives because we will be able to identify what we are good at and use it to improve the lives of others. As I state in my mission statement, I hope to be able to continue using my strengths to make the lives of the people I love better. I have come to learn that some of my strengths are listening when others simply need to vent, making people laugh when they are sad, and bringing people together and creating a welcoming environment. All of these strengths have helped me live a fulfilling life and I hope to be able to continue to use these strengths to help others live a fulfilling life. Another one of the biggest components of my mission statement is forming meaningful relationships. Relationships are something that we focused on a lot this semester of Moreau. I have discovered that the people we surround ourselves with are one of the biggest indicators of if we are living a life well-lived. This year, I have made an effort to be unapologetically me and allow myself to surround myself with people who truly make me happy. It has helped me form meaningful friendships and I am so thankful for all of the people I have met these past few months. One of the readings included a very powerful quote that read, “Happiness can only be discovered as a gift of harmony between the whole and each single component.” (“Why the only future worth building includes everyone” by His Holiness Pope Francis – Moreau FYE Week 7) I think this quote is important because it discusses that happiness is truly attained when we are at peace with ourselves and those around us. I work hard to make sure I am doing what I love while still being able to serve those around me. This allows me to create harmony between myself and others which brings me happiness and aliens with the values in my mission statement to help me live a life well-lived. I plan to continue working to bring happiness to myself and others during the next three years of my college career and beyond. In terms of faith and my mission statement, I hope to continue to strengthen my relationship with God. I can do this by working to create a loving community and love others the way God intended. I have never had a super strong relationship with God, as religion has never been a huge aspect of my life. During the reading from week ten, there was a quote that stuck out to me. “You can’t convince yourself God loves you, but you can ask Him to show you.” ("Growing up Gay and Catholic” by Jacob Walsh – Moreau FYE week 10) This quote resonates with me because I feel like almost everyone struggles to love themselves and to feel God’s love at times. However, now that I attend a catholic university, I am working on forming a deeper connection with my faith and being more conscious of God’s love for me. I plan to do this by living in accordance with God’s word, attending confession more often, and taking time to reflect and thank God for the blessings in my life. Growing in knowledge and wisdom is crucial to my character. It is important to me that I always continue learning so I can continue to better myself. However, it has become clear to me this semester that knowledge and wisdom are different. Knowledge has a more academic connotation while wisdom is gained through experience. My time at Notre Dame has helped me grow in both knowledge and wisdom and I am thankful for the opportunity I have had to grow from these experiences. Whether it was learning how to navigate the communal bathroom, living with a random roommate, or changing my study habits, all of these have shaped me into the person I am today. And I know that the experiences I will have in the future will continue to shape me further. Learning from experiences and being informed is more important now than ever. “it's our duty to be informed”, read a quote from class (“Passion Isn’t Enough” by Hidden Brain Media – Moreau Week 11). This quote resonated with me because I think it is very true. It is important as a citizen that we are informed of what is going on in our world so that we can make decisions based on facts. Especially today when misinformation is so prevalent it is more important than ever to make sure we are properly informed on important issues. Being well informed will help me live out my mission statement in the future. Finally, I vow to continue to live out my mission statement by acting with courage for those in need. In an effort to form a loving community I will do my best to speak up when I see injustice. The reading from week 12 reinforced the idea that everyone needs to stand up to injustice to see its end. As it can not be cured by a single person. “Each one of us can choose to finally end hate, by ending this separation. We must do something. This is something each one of us can do.” (“Dean G. Marcus Cole: 'I am George Floyd. Except, I can breathe. And I can do something.” by Marcus Cole – Moreau Week 12) This quote resonated with me because I think it is very important to understand there is not simply going to be one “cure” for injustice. In order to end injustice all together, we all need to reevaluate the way we view each other. We must make a conscious effort to be more inclusive and understanding. Everyone needs to make changes in their life and have an open mind for us to finally end all forms of injustice. It is through these ways I will continue to live by my mission statement not only for the rest of my years at Notre Dame but for my life beyond. I strive to make the world a better place and in doing so I will find happiness. This deeply rooted happiness will assure me that I will not only have pursued a life well lived but also a life I am proud of.