Overcoming Obstacles Through Experience
Expectations, hope, community, brokenness. These 4 topics described the hearts of the last 4 weeks of Moreau, and looking back, I understand why they were grouped for the end of the semester. Reflecting upon the last few days alone, I feel as though I have been in November for the last 5 months, not just 5 weeks. College truly is hard; and learning that was difficult for me. The things I have experienced in the last semester prepared me for what is to come in many ways…
	Expectations. Expectations have always been a large part of what I would constitute as my success in school. I held the highest expectations for myself almost to prove what I was capable of to my own consciousness. I have fought with denial and low self-esteem before; and never once did I let it take over me. However, that has always been where it stopped: overcoming the negative thoughts by working hard and exceeding expectations. The last few weeks have taught me that the way things worked in years prior simply does not hold up anymore. I may hold expectations for myself that simply cannot be achieved. I also learned that professors may hold expectations to you that you cannot define yourself by. What really highlighted this for me was in Week 9: “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 - Moreau FYE Week 9). This quote truly speaks to the idea of living your own life, something that I struggled with when I was younger. I was always worried about what my parents thought, what my teachers thought, etc, when I should have been worried about what I wanted. In the future, I will continue to create expectations that are not only doable, but also things that I want for myself.
	Hope. I want to start this section with a quote: “As long as he lives on earth periods of emotional and bodily richness and liveliness will alternate with periods of numbness and poverty,” (“The Screwtape Letters” by C.S. Lewis - Moreau FYE Week 12). Essentially, as long as we live, we must both enjoy the givings of life while those same things can be taken away in an instant. Living leads to the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, and we must remember that both occur. That is the essence of hope, that we may know that good comes as well as the bad being experienced. I have experienced in these last few weeks grades that I have never seen as low as before, but I have also scored grades that put me above my classmates numerous times. Hope has kept me moving forward. As my mom puts it: “college will chew you up and spit you out, and you need to hope for the best to truly enjoy it.” 
	Community. Building a community around yourself was at the heart of this week of Moreau. Communities need a few things to be successful: diverse ideas, mutual respect, and a love for progress. Diverse ideas can come in many ways; at Notre Dame, I have found them occurring due to the international and first generation students. Many international and first generation students that I have met have been extremely grateful to have the opportunity to even be here (something we can all learn from) and they also tend to bring new cultures and routines that I have not experienced. For example, my roommate, Lucca, is from southern Brazil, and sometimes he tells me about what he used to do at home that is different from here. In addition, we bond over our collective hatred of the bipolar weather of the Midwest. On the topic of first year students, I believe the material from this week said it best with, “They get to create a story that’s never existed here on campus,” (“Diversity Matters!” by Prof. Agustin Fuentes - Moreau FYE Week 11). Mutual respect forms from just seeing others for what they are - human beings. Taking prior misconceptions about race, class, appearance, and anything else and hearing someone for who they are is the only way to make progress. Ideas can sprout from anyone, and ignoring one person might be the downfall of a community due to their potential for success. A love for progress is simply a result of the last two ideas, as wanting to make progress is nearly implied by listening to others and encouraging diverse ideas. Overall, communities do not simply do better with diversity, they thrive with it in a way that a non-diverse community cannot. 
	Brokenness. In my own life, things do not simply go smoothly all of the time. There always has to be a hiccup. A slip-up. A break in the path. Through these, I still prevail and get through it. However, it has not always been easy to do. I believe life to be one giant marathon, and every section of your life is some region of the marathon. Maybe highschool is the straightaway, with some issues like birds or slowdowns but overall coasting. Maybe middle-school is the uphill slope, with bad haircuts and terrible social skills causing it to feel painfully long. No matter what running metaphor I use, it can be agreed that life is hard. Not many want to admit it, but everyone struggles. As the material stated, “Even if the Spirit called you here, the world did not make it easy to arrive,” (“Wesley Theological Seminary 2012 Commencement Address” by Fr. John Jenkins, C.S.C. - Moreau FYE Week 10). God’s plan may be for you to be some amazing doctor, lawyer, or other profession, but that does not mean he will make it easy. Jenkins may be talking to seminary students, but the quote applies to everyone’s lives. He wants us all to realize that no one has an easy life, no matter how easy they make it seem, and journeys are shared together. This connects back to the community section; at ND, I have found that in my “broken” occasions I have found peace through my friends and dorm. There is always someone who has experienced what you are going through, and utilizing them to help yourself is the best way to overcome brokenness. That, and using hope, your community, and setting your expectations up for success.