Outta Time

	I stood at the corner of Broad Street and Maple Avenue, squinting through my camera’s viewfinder as an empty lot quickly came to life. Suddenly, a pair of LED headlights shined through my lens: the high-tech, adrenaline-inducing Lamborghini Performante marked its entrance with a V10 symphony. Fifty other supercars followed as if I were in a blissful dream, but this was the very real Red Bank Cars and Coffee. As I conversed with the drivers at RBCC after they pulled into the parking lot, I was able to forge meaningful connections that transcended race, age, wealth, and even our interest in cars—simple conversations eventually developed into more personal ones. 
While this recollection of my experiences at a local car show describes a relatively short occasion from my life, it offers a glimpse into the experiences that shaped who I am and how I would like to be remembered - as a person who seeked to connect with people based on the commonalities I had with them, and furthered those connections as time progressed. By being “willing to listen to different opinions; [and] not strong in [my] own belief” as well as being able to “bridge different ideologies” (“Hesburgh” by Jerry Barca, Christine O’Malley - Moreau FYE - Week 2) when my values conflicted with others, I strived toward a mutual respect for everyone and their opinions. Through sharing my past experiences and values with others at Notre Dame, I not only have acclimated myself into the student body here, but I also developed a close friend group where my friends and I can share our genuine thoughts with each other. Learning about Father Hesburgh’s way of life and the respect that he garnered from everyone he spoke to is something I certainly aspire to eventually be, and I am optimistic that my approach to interacting with others will develop a solid foundation for me to do so.
Even though my interactions with others and my goals of being remembered as someone that was outgoing and respectable have brought me happiness here at Notre Dame, I have always subconsciously felt some obstacles in the path to a life well-lived. Because of the standards I set for myself by looking at the achievements of those around me, I always felt that I had little time to work towards even matching what they have accomplished (hence my choice for an epitaph reading “outta time;” both as a reference to the Back to the Future trilogy as well as to be remembered by deprecating humor that communicates my constant chase towards my goals.) Through Dr. Jihoon Kim’s self-reflection after his life-changing injury though, I understood the importance of being grateful for what I am fortunate to have rather than constantly looking to others and what they had but I lacked (“5 Minutes” by Aria Swarr - Moreau FYE - Week 6). 
Similarly, talking with my close friend about myself (Week 5) revealed what I felt hindered me from “happiness”: that I am the biggest limiting factor to my own success because of the high expectations that I set for myself. My close friend helped me realize that I downplay my capabilities when I look down on myself and that I instead should be more mindful of how I set my goals and be more appreciative and acknowledging of the things that I have been able to do so far at Notre Dame. Father Michael Hime’s statement that “‘Satisfaction is a lowly thing, How pure a thing is joy.” Contentment is an obstacle, [but] Joy always pushes us forward” (“Three Key Questions” by Fr. Michael Himes - Moreau FYE - Week 3) makes it clear to me that I should not seek temporary satisfaction to live a life well-lived, but instead pursue joy, which has a more lasting impact both on my happiness and motivation to achieve my goals. As such, I feel that learning to set more long-term goals with tangible results is what I should do when seeking career prospects as well.
Thus, learning that a career fit for me is one that allows for me to “implement as many parts of my self-concept as possible” instead of “focusing only on skill” (Navigating Your Career Journey - Meruelo Family Center for Career Dev. - Week 4) helped me realign my career interests. It served as an indirect reminder to keep my values in mind when searching for a career path that will allow myself to live a life well lived, one where I can experience joy and not just satisfaction on the occasional basis. In an age where most change their careers every few years, I have also come to understand the importance of focusing on myself and my personal development in order to feel fulfilled at the end of my career, and ultimately, my life. Getting the opportunity to reflect on my values and my self-imposed limitations gave me a new idea of where I should direct my career in the future so that I can be happy with where I am in the future.
The importance of feeling control and experiencing personal development became even more evident through Tasha Eurich’s article, where she mentions that those that are high in insight can feel empowered and can overall “enjoy better relationships and feel calmer and more content” (“The Right Way to Be Introspective by Tara Eurich - Moreau FYE - Week 6). Eurich’s article forced upon me the importance of feeling that I have a proper balance over all aspects of my life, since I constantly feel pressed for time with impending deadlines despite my time management skills. As such, this quote helped validate the decision I made to focus less directly on my academics but with my own personal being as well (i.e. through spending more time with friends and by going to the gym more often. I understood that being a more well-rounded individual that is in touch with the world around me is as well as being able to speak on my experiences when interacting with others (such as in a working environment) are more important than having a perfect GPA (while doing well in all my classes is of course still a high priority). 
Overall, I have come to learn that to comprehend a life well lived, I need to see my impact on others beyond having simple conversations with them. Pope Francis makes it clear that we can and should “become a bright candle, [amidst the darkness of conflict]” and serve as a “reminder [to others] that light will overcome darkness, and never the other way around” (“Why the only Future worth building includes everyone” by Pope Francis - Moreau FYE - Week 7). Seeing how we can improve the lives of others by simply being there for them in times of stress epitomizes living a life well lived since a life well lived involves embarking on a “journey that brings us home” (“Why we need to slow down our lives” by Pico Iyer - Moreau FYE - Week 1). Our guidance to others is clearly valuable for both us and them, since we guide others on the path to a good life while also journeying towards a good life ourselves. Ultimately, while my epitaph may read “Outta time,” it is now my life goal to skew that negative humor into positivity- that I didn’t have enough time to improve the world.