What I can do to help our world
It is always a difficult task to define myself, even though it may appear to people that I have things figured out in my life. The reason that it is difficult is due to my opinion that definitions of ourselves change throughout life. I believe that I am not the same person I was five years ago, and I most likely won’t be the same person five years from now. Five years ago, I was lost and stuck with a feeling of no purpose in this world. Now, I am a little less lost and completely free with a general idea of how I want to change the world. I hope in five years I will no longer be lost, and I will be pursuing my purpose in this everchanging world. Yet, in the present I must give most credit to my sheer stubbornness and determination to pursue a future career in medicine to help sick individuals.
It is crucial to understand where we come from to develop a path forward to who we want to be. I come from a family of wishers, the people who consistently want things out of life without planning to achieve it. I remember hearing them discuss these wants out of life and thinking “I don’t want to sit back and watch my life pass by without working for what I want”. This thought from a young age molded me to be a stubborn person who won’t sway on the important values in my life. I find determination and stubbornness somewhat synonymous, so I tend to use them interchangeably. 
However, due to my determination and consistent need to keep moving forward in life, I began to struggle with my mental health in the Navy. I had felt stagnant and that I was failing at every aspect of that lifestyle. This idea of perfectionism somehow muddled with my determination to work towards my lifetime goals, like if I wasn’t perfect then there was no way of me reaching my goals. It is something that I have been working on throughout this first semester at Notre Dame, the concept that I can still be determined and work hard for what I want without acing everything that comes my way. As Julia Hogan writes in week nine, “Instead of letting your life be ruled by the expectations of others or your own expectation that you have to be perfect, what if you just did your best?” My initial commentary stated this is easier said than done, which I still agree with, but now I believe the more you practice this way of thinking-the easier it becomes. 
Once I can master my strong trait of determination and not expecting too much perfection, I can really contribute to changing the world. I used to find my stubbornness exhausting and draining, but I have found it is the strength that will help me throughout this process. This determination will allow me to not give up in the face of constant failure and setbacks. It will be the trait that contributes to new concepts and ideas to my field because I won’t give up on the good that can come from it. In my opinion, determination supersedes natural intelligence because it trains a person to keep fighting even through the toughest times. This determination also allows for fear to be present but not be a hindrance. Carla Harris states “Fear has no place in your success equation”, and determination is the key to work through that fear to stop it from being a variable.
Even though I know what I am made of, sometimes it is difficult to know what I am made for specifically. In a general sense, I am made to help people in some fashion. As I discussed in my week ten QQC, I wanted to help the homeless, and this translates to helping anybody in need. It is a central part of community and belonging for people to give back to those around them. Over the past ten years, I have thought the way I want to help people is through medicine, through healing children that have been hurt and need medical help to be children again. Yet, since being at Notre Dame I have found a new way to help people through research. I am in no rush to make the decision between the career choices, but I know whichever I choose will be to serve those around me with the education I receive. 
The path to reach this goal will be completed through my education at Notre Dame and after my undergraduate experience. My plan is to complete my degree in Neuroscience and Behavioral Studies and proceed onto medical school. After medical school I hope to specialize in Pediatric Orthopedic surgery, it is a specialty that can change the trajectory of a child’s life who lives in pain. This will give me a sense of connectedness to the community that Peter Palmer discusses in week 11 in my professional life, but I don’t believe changing the world is only done in jobs. It is important to keep helping through volunteering or just helping a friend, I think devoting time to a group or one person can be the right steps to changing the world.
Although I believe that people are consistently changing, it is important to remember who we are in each stage of our lives. In week five I discuss how there are multiple factors that shape a person and this idea of who we were and who we are now is a significant factor. Where we start allows for growth in the direction we want, it allows us to focus on our values and become that person. Accordingly, throughout our lives evaluating who we are in the present allows for a redirection in the path we want to take if we aren’t currently on it. Right now, I am a person who is made of determination to reach my goals, while still finding a way to help those around me in any capacity.