Integration Assignment Mr. Reaume 15 October 2021 My Journey Through My Beliefs I believe that I belong. I believe that I belong to the community of Notre Dame. From the start I have felt welcomed and gained a sense of belonging from the community that is offered here. I have come to believe this throughout my weeks here at Notre Dame. Throughout my time here there has not been a moment where I thought that I may not belong. To quote from Dr. Brown, “Connection is why we are here. It gives purpose and meaning to our lives”. (“The Power of Vulnerability” by Brené Brown - Moreau FYE Week One). The connection that is created here on campus allows for a sense of belonging. This belief has been challenged or changed in the way that my thinking was before I arrived on campus. I thought that maybe it would be harder to belong in situations where I did not feel the most comfortable and coming to college you have to embrace the uncomfortable. I was proved wrong, the way that Notre Dame has built their campus community is unmatchable. They have truly done an amazing job at making sure that each and every one of their students has a place to belong. Since coming here I have met so many people that are so different from me and even in that sense I have felt like I belong. This belief of my belonging has influenced my actions by the way that I interact with others. Like I mentioned, I have been lucky enough to feel a sense of belonging here at Notre Dame but this may not be the case for everyone. I want to make sure that this is the case and help others gain the sense of belonging that I feel. I believe that I am responsible for being my most authentic self. I believe here at Notre Dame there is so much room to grow into being your most authentic self. There is no place here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Qm9cGRub0&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Qm9cGRub0&feature=youtu.be on campus where you have to hide yourself and put on a mask to be someone who you are not. One quote that stood out to me from David Brooks' Ted talk in our week two QQC was “Input leads to output, risk leads to reward”. ("Should you live for your resume...or your eulogy?" By David Brooks- Moreau FYE Week Two). This, to me, connects to being my most authentic self on a heightened level. If you put the input of being yourself which may be the risk the output would be the reward. In my personal opinion I think that when people are not their most authentic self it leads to them not feeling like they are trying to be someone they are not and that is most likely evident to others. As students at Notre Dame we are very lucky because they push us to be our most authentic selves to the point where there is no room to be someone we are not. I believe that I am responsible for being my most authentic self because it is up to me to decide how I want to present myself. I have come to believe this because I have realized that I do not want to act as if I am someone that is not me. I want to be myself, act as myself and care for others as myself. This belief has been challenged when I have been in situations where I may not feel as comfortable as I usually do in different situations and feel as if I need to act as someone I am not. This belief has influenced my actions by pushing myself to not act in the way that is not myself. I believe I will grow as a person as I grow my faith. I have learned from a very young age that my faith is of utter importance to me. My faith has been with me throughout every step of my journey in life. Although I have always had my faith a part of my life it has not always been the same. Just as Father Pete explained in his video, “Each knot is unique--what you did before might not work as the tie before”. ("The Role of Faith in Our Story” By Father Pete McCormick C.S.C.- Moreau FYE Week Three) I have connected this quote to my faith life due to the fact that I can not rely on the same methods of prayer or relationship with God for every situation. In https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlLWTeApqIM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcZMeqWWOIs order to grow as a person and grow in my faith I have to change the way that I approach my faith according to the situation or state I am in. I believe that I will grow as a person as I grow my faith due to the fact that my faith will guide me into the person I become. I have come to believe this through looking at the ways my faith has affected and guided me throughout my life. Especially when it came to starting my new journey here at Notre Dame, my faith was there. My faith was what guided me to become the college student that I am today. I do not think my belief of my faith growing me as a person has changed but coming to a campus like Notre Dame which is surrounded by catholic teachings has made it all the more evident to me that my faith is what shapes me as a person. My belief in me growing as a person as I grow my faith has influenced my actions in the sense that I make more time for my faith. Even when I am caught up with school work or being with friends I have made time to also spend time on my faith life. Whether it is a visit to the Grotto or attending mass I know that my faith will always be there for me helping me become the person I aspire to be. I believe that I forge life-giving relationships by creating the ties to hold what it takes for meaningful friendships. I have only been at Notre dame for a short while now but have already created life-giving relationships that I know will last a lifetime. One quote that stuck out to me from Week four’s QQC essays was, “A good friend should never make you feel like the things you’re saying are unimportant and uninteresting.” ( "5 Signs You're in a Toxic Friendship" By: Olivia Taylor- Moreau FYE Week Four). The friends that I have made here have made me feel as if everything I am saying is important and interesting and they have made me feel comfortable in my own skin. The reason that I believe that I forgo life-giving relationships is due to the fact that I make the effort to create these relationships and make sure that they are real, happy and meaningful to each and every person involved. I have come to believe this through the https://grottonetwork.com/navigate-life/relationships/signs-of-toxic-friendships/ relationships that I have made since being here at Notre dame. When I arrived here I had to create new relationships with friends, faculty and staff that are all here on campus. This belief has been challenged in the fact that I had to say goodbye to my friends from home when we all went into our different directions of college. We had to alter from seeing each other almost everyday to not seeing each other for months now. Although we do not see each other on a daily basis, these relationships that I have with my friends back home are still life-giving, we just had to make the effort to hold the relationships close to us from a distance. This belief has influenced my actions in many ways. With my new steps that I have taken in life I have been able to have much experience with different relationships along the path I have had the chance to alter my actions towards each relationship in order to make it more life-giving and meaningful. I believe that the combination of my life stories have shaped who I am today. A quote that connects to this belief statement is, “All of these stories make me who I am” “The single story is what makes stereotypes...They make one story become the only story” ( "The Danger of a Single Story" By Chimamanda Ngozi- Moreau FYE Week 7). It is no one story that makes up who I am today, it is the combination of them that do. I believe this because I am the person that I am today due to the experience that I have lived through in life and the stories that I have made throughout them. I have come to believe this because when I think about how I am the person I am today it always goes back to what I have learned through my real life experiences. This belief has been challenged in the sense that there are also other factors that go into how I am the person I am today. My parents, family and friends have also shaped me into who I am today but it is the experiences that I have had with them that also contribute to it. This belief influences my actions by granting me the knowledge that these stories are very important to who and what I am so I should live my life to the fullest. https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story I believe that I will grow by staying true to myself and the places that I am from. I believe this because I understand the fact that these are two very important factors that will help me grow as a person. As a new student to Notre Dame I have left behind many things from home. Many of the things that I have left behind are mentioned in my “Where I am From” poem. I have left behind the things that make me me. If I stay true to myself and these people and places this will allow me to become the person I want to be. It is important that I keep these people and places in my mind and make sure that my connection with them always holds strong. I have come to believe this because as I mentioned, these are the people and places that make me me and without them I would not be where I am today so I still need to hold true to them in order to continue my growth. This is something that I have always found really important to me so this life luckily has not been challenged but if it ever was challenged I think it would be due to the fact that I may not have made enough effort to hold true to these people and places. This belief has influenced my actions in the sense that I do not want it to ever be challenged so I made sure that the trueness is always there and that I hold on to it. I believe that I am made to pursue the truth to its fullest extent even if it means that fear is a part of the process. There are two quotes that stand out to me from week five’s QQC, “Fear has no place in your success equation” and “Failure always brings you a gift” ( "2021 Laetare Medalist Address" By Carla Harris- Moreau FYE Week Five). These two quotes have been ingrained in my mind ever since I did week five QQC. Fear is what creates success making it have no place in the equation to success and it results in the gift. I believe that I am made to pursue the truth to its fullest extent even if it means that fear is a part of the equation because I should now allow the fear to be in the way of my truth. I have come to believe this because the truth is what creates the sense of trust and confidence to go against fear. An experience that I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjSwjn-SyB4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjSwjn-SyB4 have had with this since becoming a part of the Notre Dame community is in my French class where I was struggling on an assignment. Instead of letting the fear of it getting to be, I reached out to my TA and told her the truth. This truth led to the success of my work even though I still had to face some fear in order to do so. This belief has been challenged in the sense that I may not always want to face the fear that I have. This belief has influenced my actions by allowing me to feel safe when facing my fears and knowing that it is for the best so I can speak the truth in the end.