Integration 3 Combs 1 Professor Harrington Moreau First-Year Experience 20 February 2022 The Little Things Shaping My Life Well-Lived The assignments and readings of the first half of this course have been centered around the concept of a life well-lived. As such, I decided to focus on how I came to define a life well-lived, how it can be observed, and how I came to this understanding. The idea of a life well-lived was a concept I hadn’t spent much time contemplating. I have always had ambitions or goals that I strived to achieve but I hadn’t considered why I wanted to achieve them or what those ambitions meant. The first semester of Moreau has made me think about my own life in a new light. At the beginning of the semester, I had no distinction between a life well-lived and a successful life. In part, this was because I hadn’t spent time considering what a well-lived life is. In my mind, the goal of a successful life would bring a well-lived life. While my mind did change throughout the semester I think it is best characterized from this quote in week 4; “If a person only focuses on one or two parts of his/her self-concept for a career, that person will eventually hit a wall” (“Navigating Your Career Journey” by Moreau Family Center For Career Development - Moreau FYE Week Four). By the time I read this quote, I had already been developing an understanding of a life well-lived. However, I wanted to highlight this quote near the start of my integration because it emphasizes a key misunderstanding I faced in my concept of success. In my mind, working towards a goal and maximizing that skill was the path to success. https://undergradcareers.nd.edu/navigating-your-career-journey---moreau/ Combs 2 However, this reading brought me the understanding that a successful career is shaped similarly to a math equation with many variables. If you only let yourself focus on one variable you would see diminishing results as the other areas are neglected. This reading began to shift my understanding of a successful career and led to a splintering of the concepts of success and a life well-lived. How this became prevalent in my life was a better emphasis on balance as I started spending more time with my friends and playing interhall hockey. A successful life is one filled with balance where no variables are neglected. This wasn’t to say I believed a life well-lived could not be a successful life. I think these goals can be accomplished together but they do not necessarily lead to each other. This belief was established in week two after we watched the Hesburgh movie. One quote that stuck out to me was “It wasn’t how I expected to serve, but I was serving my country in my own way” (“Hesburgh Film” by Jerry Barca and Christine O’Malley - Moreau FYE Week Two). Father Hesburgh lived an incredibly successful life and made lasting impacts on the lives of those around him but he still lived a life-well lived. This movie was moving because I didn’t have much background knowledge about Father Hesburgh. I didn’t know the role he played in the civil rights movement or the influence he had in the Cold War nuclear negotiations. After the movie, I felt as if I developed a new concept of what success meant to me. A successful life could be a life dedicated to helping others because the impact of your life will outlast your own. The first assignment of the semester covered the idea of slowing down our lives. As I read this article I remember thinking “why would I want to slow down my life?” I was thinking of life in terms of accomplishing the goals we set for ourselves. However, I became more intrigued by the article as it connected this concept to the technological developments our world is facing. The https://notredame.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=10159379-7eca-4549-8581-ab9500c9ecd9 Combs 3 article discussed the unregulated advancement of technology as it stated “the people who seem wisest about the necessity of placing limits on the newest technologies are, often, precisely the ones who helped develop those technologies, which have bulldozed over so many of the limits of old.” (“Why we need to slow down our lives” by Pico Iyer - Moreau FYE Week One). This struck a chord with me as I had recently been reading a book that specifically discussed the consequences of unregulated advancements of technology on young minds. This quote led to the discussion of an internet sabbath being prevalent in the same companies developing this technology. I was surprised these companies were aware of the negative implications of their technologies. In the following week, I began to realize just how often I was using my phone or watching TV. I don’t think these are inherently bad things but I was prone to phone use while spending time with my friends. This is what brought the idea of a life well-lived into focus for the first time. In a modern world, surrounded by constant distractions designed to draw our attention, how can we live our own lives? I believe a life well-lived is a life where we enjoy the time we have together. A life where we choose to build relationships with those around us. My new year's resolution was to use my phone less. As such, I deleted Tik Tok and Instagram while making a real effort to enjoy the time I have with my friends and family. I’m proud to say I haven’t re-downloaded these apps and have felt a truly positive impact in my life. This idea of a life well-lived became a prominent thought in my mind for the next couple of weeks as I actively tried to live in the present. It was during this time we read an article by Ruth Graham who wrote about Sister Theresa Aletheia’s quote “Remember your death.” (“Meet the Nun Who Wants You to Remember You Will Die ” by Ruth Graham - Moreau FYE Week https://ideas.ted.com/why-we-need-a-secular-sabbath/ https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/memento-mori-nun.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/memento-mori-nun.html Combs 4 Three). At this point, I had been thinking of a life well-lived as a life in which we live our present lives to the fullest extent with those around us. At first, I thought this quote was calling on us to focus on our futures. However, as I thought about it more I realized this quote is calling us to live our lives to the fullest by remembering it will end. Many people live their lives carrying baggage from the past or fears of the future which hinder their life in the present. Ultimately, we all only have so much time together on this earth. Every day we waste fearing death or running from the past is a day we lose. This article sculpted how I view a life well-lived because I came to understand that acceptance of our realities is the only way we can even pursue a life well-lived. I realized that in remembering the reality of our death we enable ourselves to take steps and make the most of the time we have now. The week six and seven assignments felt interconnected. The week six assignment covered Dr. Jihoon Kim and how he lives his life with limited movement. He said, “The doctor told me I would not be able to walk for the rest of my life, and that was like a death sentence to me. I wanted to end my life” (“5 Minutes” by Aria Swarr - Moreau FYE Week Six). My initial reaction to this quote was a greater appreciation for what I have. This man is living in such a limited capacity and still makes the most of it. He still pursues a life well-lived. I realized just how much I had taken for granted. However, I felt a deeper meaning following the quote “Only by educating people to a true solidarity will we be able to overcome the ‘culture of waste’” (“Why the only future worth building includes everyone” by Pope Francis - Moreau FYE Week Seven). The culture of waste Pope Francis references is the idea that some human life is less valuable than others. This connected back to the week one discussion of technology companies because they use human data as a commodity. However, this quote gave me an even greater https://grottonetwork.com/make-an-impact/transform/why-does-god-allow-suffering/?utm_source=moreau&utm_medium=class&utm_campaign=spring_2022 https://www.ted.com/talks/his_holiness_pope_francis_why_the_only_future_worth_building_includes_everyone/transcript Combs 5 appreciation of the week six discussion. Pope Francis is arguing that the best way to overcome this disregard for human life and culture of greed is education in solidarity. Dr. Jihoon Kim is one of the people who would have been thrown out in a pure culture of waste, yet he is accomplishing great things. Dr. Jihoon Kim provided me with a greater appreciation for the most basic parts of my own life but he also gave me insight into the culture Pope Francis discussed. The week five assignment gave me a lot of perspective on myself. My dad described me as “having the fullest heart.” That is a description I want to hold in how I view myself and how others view me. It’s how I want to be remembered. I took this mindset as I thought about the week six and seven assignments. Every person has an inherent value. To me, this means we all have an equal opportunity to pursue a life well-lived. However, I also think that means we all have a responsibility to help each other live a life well-lived. I developed a greater appreciation of what I have as well as a feeling of responsibility to pursue true solidarity. Coming into this semester, I hadn’t thought about what my definition of a life well-lived was. Throughout the first half of the semester, I have developed an idea of what a life well-lived means to me. A life well-lived is a life in the moment, accepting of the future, and is spent loving/helping others with our entire hearts. I hope to pursue this life every day by keeping social media deleted, helping others when given the opportunity, and living a life of kindness.