My Journey of Life- Moreau Integration One- What makes me, ‘Me’? I believe that my experiences, relationships, perspectives, faith and my internal values have molded me to become the person I am today- my authentic self. “Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity.”(“Danger of a Single Story” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie- Moreau FYE Week Seven- https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story ) Coming from Mumbai, India, from a young age, I have had a variety of experiences that have shaped and molded me to be the person I am today. From seeing caddies who I knew at the golf course begging on the street to experiencing being a caddy at the golf course to helping provide food for them, I believe that each and every one of my experiences have made me who I am, my authentic self. I believe that our stories and experiences make us who we are. I believe that our stories can help comfort others, making them understand that they are not alone in a situation, but can also dispossess and malign an individual when shown with a single narrative. The stories and experiences that we have can provide different perspectives and narratives, which can help us understand our authentic self and bring us closer to people, be it similar or different stories. I believe that my stories and experiences have shaped my journey in discovering ‘me’. My family has greatly shaped my morals, values and my identity. I have learnt the importance of being empathetic and caring and the significance of adapting and embracing different cultures from experiences with my family such as going on a trip abroad or being explained in the past to a young child to not hit my brother when he troubles me. I believe that along my journey of stories and experiences, the obstacles I have faced have allowed me to learn from my mistakes, molding me to be the person I am today. Be it getting poor grades, getting yelled at by a teacher for talking in class or mourning the loss of a loved one, I believe I have transformed and grown to become my authentic self. I believe that the relationships I have had over the past 18 years of my life have molded me to become the person I am today. Be it relationships with family or friends, I have learnt to understand different perspectives, narratives and communicate effectively which has enabled me to become more authentic. Further, I believe that these different perspectives from my relationships have enabled me to be more open minded and understand and accept different cultures. I believe that in order to form great relationships, vulnerability is required so that people understand different https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story perspectives of yours. As per Brené Brown,“This is the world we live in. We live in a vulnerable world and one of the ways we deal with it is, we numb vulnerability.” (“ The Power of Vulnerability” by Brené Brown- Moreau FYE Week One- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Qm9cGRub0&list=PLmiPsabET-W_hjesjTZaITh2 s1WbM-Kd0&index=3 ) Often we try to numb our emotions and vulnerability because we don’t want to be seen as weak and therefore hide our authenticity. However, this can start taking a toll on an individual leading them to break down as they find themselves looking for purpose in their life. I believe and agree completely with Brown’s message that we must embrace vulnerability because I believe embracing vulnerability means being fine with being imperfect, allowing you to be content with yourself, authentic and to find enjoyment in a hectic moment. Embracing vulnerability can help us experience different perspectives. I believe that in order to forge life giving relationships one must demonstrate vulnerability, but only to a certain extent and be willing to listen to others and embrace the different perspectives that they present. I believe that these different perspectives that we learn from can mold us to become our authentic selves. Life giving relationships are formed when there is mutual respect and comfort amongst each other. Honesty, loyalty and independence are also important to form life giving relationships. Dependence on others in relationships can often lead to toxic relationships which can be unhealthy for a person physically and menally. As the One Love Foundation’s quote of “No one will ever love you as much as I do” (“Because I love You, Double Whiskey by One Love Foundation- Moreau FYE Week Four- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwQ5ur9OZ-g ) tries to convey, we must never equate our self worth to a relationship and often these relationships can help us understand what we are worth and can show us who we are and our true authentic selves. I believe that our faith can mold us to be the person we aspire to be, the person God created us to be. With faith at the centre, I believe that God can guide us greatly in being our authentic self and has helped me become the person I am today. As Fr. Pete said, “The greatest journey you will ever go on is one of self-discovery. On this journey success, productivity and failure are an afterthought. What truly matters is authentically responding to the best of your ability as the person you know yourself to be, the person God has created you to be.”(“The Role of Faith in Our Story by Fr. Pete McCormick- Moreau FYE Week Three-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcZMeqWWOIs ) I truly believe that faith can help us be our authentic self as God created us to be a certain way and live up to certain moral and ethical standards and when we have our faith and God, who believes in us and is by our side, we can overcome any challenge in our path. Often in our lives, we may have obstacles and can find ourselves in dark places, unmotivated and sad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Qm9cGRub0&list=PLmiPsabET-W_hjesjTZaITh2s1WbM-Kd0&index=3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Qm9cGRub0&list=PLmiPsabET-W_hjesjTZaITh2s1WbM-Kd0&index=3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwQ5ur9OZ-g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcZMeqWWOIs However, when we have faith by our side, it can serve as a beacon of light in the darkness. I believe that all of us must give faith a deep and long consideration before we discard it from our lives. As in the end, what harms us in giving faith a try? When I was younger, I would often struggle with faith and struggle with the concept of believing something that I could not see. Now,” I’m a student who wants to get closer to faith at his university” (I(Me) by - Moreau FYE Week Six) as I have understood that faith need not necessarily mean seeing god but could mean fulfilling your function god created you to do and having a purpose in your life. Lastly, I believe that each individual has their own internal values- values that the environment they grew in and their parents imparted to them. However, we often find ourselves conflicting between what society wants us to do and our moral internal values.“And Soloveitchik had argued that these two sides of nature are at war with each other. We live in perpetual self-confrontation between external success and internal value.”(“Should You Live for your Resume or Your Eulogy” by David Brooks- Moreau FYE Week Two- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlLWTeApqIM ) In India, often the external idea of success which is imposed, is excelling in academics. This often leads individuals to lose sight of their authentic self in search of validity from society. Science and engineering in India is often pressured by the elerly as it was deemed to be for smart children whereas the arts and humanities would be deemed as “not smart” or considered to be a waste of time. Therefore, very often, children in search of validation from either their parents or society would enter the sciences or engineering even when they did not like it and were not passionate about it. This would often lead children influenced by external ideas of success to lose their true passions and their authentic self, be it through academics or extracurriculars. People often think more about expectations and the external idea of success of society more than the internal values because we often believe that if we do not conform to societal expectations, we will let those close to us down. And our authenticity is challenged greatly when society has an external idea of success and we decide not to conform to it, but follow what we believe is right irrespective of what society thinks. As Carla Harris says, ““There is only one you. Your authenticity is your distinct competitive advantage. No one can be you the way you can be you. Your power lies not in who you are but in whose you are. Trust the power in you”.(“2021 Laetare medalist Address” by Carla Harris- Moreau FYE Week Five- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjSwjn-SyB4 ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlLWTeApqIM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjSwjn-SyB4