Integration 3 Tran 1 Nhat Nguyen Moreau First Year Experience 4 March 2022 A Life Well-Lived As you all may know, Alexis was a very driven, hard worker. From a young age, she always strove to achieve good grades, earning academic achievement awards in elementary and middle school. In eighth grade, Alexis earned a piano scholarship to her high school. Eventually, she attended the University of Notre Dame for college. Her life is truly marked by hard work. However, Alexis encountered a quote by Blaise Pascal saying, “All the unhappiness of men arises from one simple fact: that they cannot sit quietly in their chamber” (Why we need to slow down our lives by Pico Iyer - Moreau FYE Week One). This quote made Alexis reflect on how she lived and what she truly wanted out of her life. Reflection and living in the moment are practices that she began to integrate into her daily life. Reflection allowed her to remember her core values and beliefs, not allowing worldly influences to sway her foundation. Living in the moment taught Alexis to be present and be where her feet were. She found that constantly thinking into the future brought about unnecessary stress and caused her to forget about opportunities she had in the present. As a part of the Notre Dame family, Alexis felt very inspired by Father Theodore Hesburgh. Because she was not at Notre Dame when Father Hesburgh was alive, Alexis found inspiration from his life story through the Hesburgh film. Father Hesburgh was a man with strong convictions and beliefs. He did not allow having connections, affiliations, or other influences to affect his thought process behind his decision-making. Father Hesburgh once said, https://ideas.ted.com/why-we-need-a-secular-sabbath/ https://ideas.ted.com/why-we-need-a-secular-sabbath/ Tran 2 “Always do the right thing” (Hesburgh by Jerry Barca and Christine O’Malley - Moreau FYE Week Two). He did indeed live up to this statement. Throughout her daily life, Alexis always strived to exemplify this quote. Having strong foundations built by her family and faith provided Alexis with a strong moral compass. She lived by her word and values and did not allow anything to sway her from her core beliefs. Of course, Alexis was also a very open-minded person, always willing to learn new things. She believed that being open to new ideas and hearing different perspectives broadens one’s view of the world and society. If you knew Alexis very personally, you would know she always counted and kept track of time. She was always on time for appointments, reservations, classes, or jobs and planned out much of her time. Because of this planning, she was very familiar with Sister Aletheia’s saying that “My life is going to end, and I have a limited amount of time” (Meet the Nun Who Wants You to Remember You Will Die by Ruth Graham - Moreau FYE Week Three). Alexis always tried to make the most of each day. Especially during her time at Notre Dame, there were so many opportunities that she had available to her and that she wanted to take advantage of. Sister Aletheia’s view of life being short coincided with Alexis trying to be in the present. Tomorrow is not guaranteed, so Alexis prioritized living in the present by starting with small things like taking time out of her day to spend more time with her friends and family. She also made it her mission to find her calling in life. Alexis viewed a good life as finding her calling and integrating it into her career path. Alexis spent a lot of time contemplating what she wanted to do in life. She valued a view by Dr. Donald Super that “The idea is that the best career choices for a person are those that allow him/her to implement as many parts of his/her self-concept as possible” (Navigating Your Career Journey - Moreau FYE Week 4). This view helped Alexis to know that she needed to find https://notredame.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=10159379-7eca-4549-8581-ab9500c9ecd9 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/memento-mori-nun.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/memento-mori-nun.html https://undergradcareers.nd.edu/navigating-your-career-journey---moreau/ https://undergradcareers.nd.edu/navigating-your-career-journey---moreau/ Tran 3 a career that utilized all her talents and strengths. By doing so, she found that she would not fall victim to burnout or feel unproductive or unsatisfied with her work. Alexis believed that if she ever pursued a career that did not engage all parts of her being, she would not feel whole as one part of her would be left out, unused and underdeveloped. She also thought that if everyone worked in a job where he or she were engaging all parts of his or her being, the world would be a better place as everyone would be contributing his or her own talents. Alexis’ dad described her as a compassionate yet disciplined person throughout her whole life (Discernment Conversation Activity- Moreau FYE Week 5). Alexis was always disciplined in that she was grounded in her values and knew how to set boundaries. However, she was also compassionate because she loved to connect with others. Her dad told a story of when she was little and packed her suitcase all by herself. He said she knew how to pack the necessities and packed them in an organized way. Alexis’ life was indeed just as how she packed that suitcase when she was younger. She knew how to prioritize items in her life and organize them in a way that made sense to her. She was organized physically and also emotionally. Alexis knew how to handle her emotions and deal with influences that would affect her moral foundation. As with all lives, Alexis’ life did not come without obstacles. In 2017 during her freshman year of high school, her mom was diagnosed with stage four metastatic breast cancer. Alexis’ strong Catholic faith helped her find meaning at this point in her family’s life. She felt connected to Dr. Kim’s statement that “I have experienced…many incidents where God will answer my prayers and give me strength” (5 minutes by Grotto - Moreau FYE Week 6). Alexis and her parents turned to their faith to give them the strength to find hope in a dark moment. She https://grottonetwork.com/make-an-impact/transform/why-does-god-allow-suffering/?utm_source=moreau&utm_medium=class&utm_campaign=spring_2022 Tran 4 learned that life is not life without suffering. Suffering, while dreadful in the moment, brings meaning to life by allowing those who experience suffering to grow. Alexis began reflecting on the friendships she had in her life after encountering Aristotle’s view on friendships in a philosophy course called God and the Good Life. She found that the three very close friends she made during her freshman year of college and herself together embodied Aristotle’s view of a perfect friendship. Alexis believed that this was because they “[Closed] both eyes; [and saw] with the other one” (Tattoos on the Heart by Father Greg Boyle - Moreau FYE Week 7). Closing the two eyes that physically exist on our faces allows for people to not judge others by worldly concepts and ideals. Seeing with the other eye forces people to view others as God would view others. Alexis, being an only child, highly valued these three friends as she began a new chapter in her life. Let us remember her as a hard worker, loyal friend, and compassionate acquaintance. Tran 5 Works Cited Barca, Jerry, and Christine O'Malley. “Hesburgh FIlm.” Panopto, https://notredame.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=10159379-7eca-45 49-8581-ab9500c9ecd9. Graham, Ruth. “Meet the Nun Who Wants You to Remember You Will Die.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 14 May 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/memento-mori-nun.html. Grotto. “5 Minutes.” Grotto Network, 10 Nov. 2021, https://grottonetwork.com/make-an-impact/transform/why-does-god-allow-suffering/?ut m_source=moreau&utm_medium=class&utm_campaign=spring_2022. Iyer, Pico. “Why We Need to Slow down Our Lives.” Ideas.ted.com, 4 Nov. 2014, https://ideas.ted.com/why-we-need-a-secular-sabbath/. Marketing Communications: Web | University of Notre Dame. “Navigating Your Career Journey - Moreau First Year Experience Course.” Undergraduate Career Services, https://undergradcareers.nd.edu/navigating-your-career-journey---moreau/. https://notredame.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=10159379-7eca-45