Integration 3 Selm 1 Josephine Selm Alison Thigpen FYS 10102 20 February 2022 Reflections of My Own Life Josephine Selm was a caring and inquisitive person. Known as Josie or Jo to her friends and family, she came from humble beginnings. From cornfields and cow pastures and riding on tractors with her dad and grandpa. Growing up, she was a very curious child, who was always learning and growing with each new experience, and her surroundings enabled her to do just that. She would regularly visit her parents at work, which is where she first experienced the lifestyle of working in a hospital setting, which ultimately shaped her dreams and career path. Josie lived a life of ambition, driven by her desire to help others in what she was doing while also enjoying what she was involved in, but it was often difficult to see the impacts of these actions due to the fast paced nature of life. Now that she has passed, “It’s only by stepping farther back and standing still that we can begin to see what [her life] really [meant], and to take in the larger picture.” (“Why We Need to Slow Down Our Lives” by Pico Iyer - Moreau FYE Week One) Even as a young child, Josie was rather shy in public, but was loyal and loving toward those who she could call her friends. She always wanted to make sure everyone was having a good time, even if it meant sacrificing some of her own comfort in the process. She wanted the comfort of others before she thought of her own. As Pope Francis stated in a 2017 message via Ted Talk, “None of us is an island, an autonomous and independent “I”, separated from the other, and we can only build the future by standing together, including everyone.” (“Why the Only Future Worth Building Includes Everyone.” by His Holiness Pope Francis - Moreau FYS Week https://ideas.ted.com/why-we-need-a-secular-sabbath/ https://www.ted.com/talks/his_holiness_pope_francis_why_the_only_future_worth_building_includes_everyone/transcript https://www.ted.com/talks/his_holiness_pope_francis_why_the_only_future_worth_building_includes_everyone/transcript Selm 2 7). Josie understood this mantra and actively employed this through her interactions with others. She was an active member of her community, helping to tutor others and partaking in activities that benefited those in need, whether it be working at food pantries or raking a neighbor’s yard. She strove to help those in need with her actions. It’s important to note that Josie’s life was not entirely absent of hardships and failings. In reality, “It’s impossible to have a complete and honest human story if one doesn’t speak of human failings as well as human successes.” (Hesburgh by - Moreau FYS Week 2)Those close to Josie knew of her habits, and she was often said to struggle with stress and perfectionism, especially in relation to her schoolwork and major events in her life (Moreau FYS Week 5). Her shyness was sometimes limiting, and she faced a lot of anxiety in regards to how others viewed her. Despite these aspects of her life, Josie still managed to persevere, making friends along the way and actively working on her schoolwork while making plans for her future. Despite hardships faced within her lifetime, Josie was always able to persevere, to see the joy and the hope hidden beneath the murky surroundings. As stated by Sister Aletheia, “It’s actually in facing the darkest realities of life that we find light in them” (“Meet the Nun Who Wants You to Remember You Will Die.” By Ruth Graham - Moreau FYS Week 3). From familial accidents to personal setbacks, Josie was able to learn through these many experiences, and was able to grow as a person and come to better understand herself as a result of these hardships and experiences. She could then take these lessons and learnings and apply them to her community to help those who were struggling from similar situations. Josie was an inquisitive person. Growing up she would constantly ask questions about how the world worked and why certain things happen. She employed this notion of asking why questions to better understand her surroundings. As she continued to learn and grow, these https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/memento-mori-nun.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/memento-mori-nun.html Selm 3 questions shifted from her environment to herself, and she fell victim like many others to the transfer of why questions towards herself; however, “Why questions are generally better to help us understand events in our environment and what questions are generally better to help us understand ourselves.” (“The Right Way to Be Introspective (Yes, There’s a Wrong Way)” By Tasha Eurich PhD - Moreau FYS Week 6). It took some time and a lot of help from friends and family, but over time, Josie was able to shift her application of these questions, enabling herself to grow as a person while she continued her search for knowledge and answers in the world around her at the same time. Josie had many interests and career paths she was considering, but they all revolved around the same central components: she needed to like what she was pursuing and she wanted to actively help others at the same time. She followed the same school of thought that career was cumulative, 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 First Year Experience Course.” Undergraduate Career Services - University of Notre Dame - Moreau FYS Week 4). Josie wanted to pursue a career in medicine, and had been exploring different fields via shadowing experiences and online research. She was extremely interested in the worlds of surgery and pathology, and had plans to explore these areas as well. Overall, she wanted to help others by providing a service to aid those who were suffering and in need. She was involved in a number of different clubs on campus that related to these interests in medicine, which enabled her to gain experience and to learn more about medicine and career paths in this area. Josie was a bright and loving individual who strove to help those she could during her lifetime. She knew how to use the skills she had to help others around her, whether it was her https://ideas.ted.com/the-right-way-to-be-introspective-yes-theres-a-wrong-way/ https://undergradcareers.nd.edu/navigating-your-career-journey---moreau/ https://undergradcareers.nd.edu/navigating-your-career-journey---moreau/ Selm 4 close friends, her family, or complete strangers, and she received immense joy in being able to do just that. She knew her strengths and weaknesses and was able to play them to her advantage, enabling her to discover her interests and helping her in her discernment of her career path. Josie loved spending time with others and doing what she could to help cheer up their days. Although she faced hardship in her life, she used these to learn more about herself and the world around her, to be a better person as a result of them. Selm 5 Works Cited Francis, His Holiness Pope. “Why the Only Future Worth Building Includes Everyone.” His Holiness Pope Francis: Why the Only Future Worth Building Includes Everyone | TED Talk, Apr. 2017, https://www.ted.com/talks/his_holiness_pope_francis_why_the_only_future_worth_build ing_includes_everyone/transcript. 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. Hesburgh. Directed by Patrick Creadon, Staring Fr. Theodore Hesburgh, 2018. 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/. PhD, Tasha Eurich. “The Right Way to Be Introspective (Yes, There's a Wrong Way).” Ideas.ted.com, 2 June 2017, https://ideas.ted.com/the-right-way-to-be-introspective-yes-theres-a-wrong-way/. https://www.ted.com/talks/his_holiness_pope_francis_why_the_only_future_worth_building_includes_everyone/transcript https://www.ted.com/talks/his_holiness_pope_francis_why_the_only_future_worth_building_includes_everyone/transcript https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/memento-mori-nun.html https://ideas.ted.com/why-we-need-a-secular-sabbath/ https://undergradcareers.nd.edu/navigating-your-career-journey---moreau/ https://ideas.ted.com/the-right-way-to-be-introspective-yes-theres-a-wrong-way/