Integration Three Andrew Burgis Professor Bryan March 4, 2022 Andrew Burgis: A Guide to a Life Well-Lived Andrew Jeffrey Burgis lived to the age of 87. He was adored by many, well known for his smile, compassion, and love for everyone around him. Before he died his peaceful death, he wanted to leave us with three key takeaways that he found made a life that was truly well-lived. The first of these was the idea that we must never stress about the small things in life. Rather, we should focus on the bigger picture, as we attempt to decipher what we truly care about, focusing on not attempting to be perfect, but instead striving to be the best people that we can be. The second thing that Drew wanted to leave with us was the idea that we should search for joy, doing the things that make us happy. In this process, he encourages us to constantly question ourselves, asking how the things that bring us pleasure and happiness not only improve our lives, but also the lives of others around us. Lastly, he challenges all of us to think about the role that others play in our journey and goal for a life well-lived. As he explained to us before he passed, many of the examples and works he cites come from a class he took in college while attending the University of Notre Dame. Each week, their assignments challenged him to reflect on his life and ultimately, played a major role in developing him into the father, friend, and man that he became. Theme One: The importance of direction and the beauty in imperfection Throughout weeks one and two, Drew was encouraged to begin thinking about what makes a life well-lived, and how he could attempt to focus on certain aspects of life to truly make that a reality. In the process and as we look back at his old weekly journal entries, he discussed in Week One of that semester much about how, at times, he felt as though he was overwhelmed with the smaller details of life. He explained how he felt lost, forgetting and losing sight of what really mattered in the bigger picture. As he searched for inspiration for his writings, he found an article that really spoke to him. One particular piece that he found applicable to his own life read as follows: “And the more facts come streaming in on us, the less time we have to process any one of them. The one thing technology doesn’t provide us with is a sense of how to make the best use of technology. Put another way, the ability to gather information, which used to be so crucial, is now far less important than the ability to sift through it.” ("Why We Need To Slow Down Our Lives" by Pico Iyer - Moreau FYE Week One) While this quote may not exactly represent the idea that Drew gathered, it certainly relates as it explains the importance of how we must be able to effectively sift through information, determining what exactly is important to us in our journey, and what is not. Similarly to Week One, Week Two focused much on the keys to living a good life, as Drew wrote about how that process involves not only embracing our own imperfections, but embracing and understanding the imperfections of others. He encouraged all of us to not focus on these imperfections, but instead be able to acknowledge and understand them, working to improve our relationship with ourselves and others. As he looked for inspiration, we found that he referenced the video resource from that week. He found the following part of that video applicable to his own life which states, “Sometimes I was so full of myself that it was just idiotic. He wasn’t perfect either, and he wasn’t afraid to admit that.” ("Hesburgh" by Jerry Barca and Christine O’Malley - Moreau FYE Week Two.) Here, Drew wrote about just how crucial it is that we not only keep in mind not only our own flaws and imperfections, but recognize that no others are perfect either. In doing so, he explained how that not only brought him to a better https://ideas.ted.com/why-we-need-a-secular-sabbath/ https://ideas.ted.com/why-we-need-a-secular-sabbath/ https://notredame.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=10159379-7eca-4549-8581-ab9500c9ecd9 understanding of himself, but how that improved his relationships and connections with others around him as well. Theme Two: Connecting how our life’s pleasures and careers encourage growth As the semester went on and Drew continued to strive to answer the question of what truly made a life well-lived, he discovered a major part of answering that question could be found in how joy progresses our lives. Drew always believed that we should do what makes us happy, but in the process think about how our actions make us grow and develop. Week three’s article brought him great material and thought for his weekly journal, as he read how “Joy always pushes us forward. It’s a impulsion, a pressure to move forward, to do more, to expend oneself more deeply, more richly, to open ones talents even more widely than one had before.” (“Three Key Questions” Fr. Michael Himes - Moreau FYE Week Three) Here, Drew began to truly understand the importance of how we can connect joy and pleasure to growing and expanding our talents and knowledge. Throughout his life prior, Drew had struggled greatly with attempting to combine his own happiness, with making others happy, all the while trying to grow himself. While he never truly mastered this idea, the more he thought about it, the better he lived and the more he strengthened connections with family, friends, and everyone in between. Connecting to Week Three, Drew’s Week Four journal focused on the ideas of how it is crucial for us to connect not only what brings us joy to self-growth, but our career choices to growth as well. One of that week’s resource articles states “The idea is 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” by Meruelo Family Center For Career Development - Moreau FYE Week Four) Thinking critically about how his career choices https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/40299/files/467258?module_item_id=143051 https://undergradcareers.nd.edu/navigating-your-career-journey---moreau/ would not only affect himself, but affect others around him became largely important to Drew. As he ended up following in his father’s footsteps (his biggest inspiration), he ended up working his dream job in private equity, constantly challenging the business industry as he attempted to grow the good in business. Theme Three: Determining, thinking about, and understanding the role that others play in our journey to a life well-lived Throughout weeks five through seven, Drew thought much about the idea that while living a good life was largely on himself and the decisions he made, there was still much left to those around him. In his Week Five journal entry, Drew had a long, detailed discussion with his girlfriend, where he asked her some major questions about himself, hoping to hear someone else’s perspective on what he does well, and what he could improve. She told him about how she gets the sense that Drew valued his family and friends greatly. She also told Drew about things he could improve and how, while generally focused, he sometimes lost his way in the world of technology and social media, where he would become distracted, jealous, and, at times, insecure, as he got caught up in comparing himself to others, rather than living his best life. Unfortunately, this would cause him at times to lose sight of himself and regress in self-growth, but he knew that she was right and that he needed to make a change. Week Six gave Drew much to contemplate, as he read about what personal obstacles might get in the way of a well-lived life, and the ways in which he could deal with them. As he researched for his weekly journal, he read about how there is actually a wrong way to be introspective. One point that stood out to him explained “The people who scored high on self-reflection were more stressed, depressed and anxious, less satisfied with their jobs and relationships, more self-absorbed, and they felt less in control of their lives. What’s more, these negative consequences seemed to increase the more they reflected.” (“The Right Way to be Introspective (Yes, There's a Wrong Way)” by Tasha Eurich - Moreau FYE Week Six) He found this really applied to himself as people always thought of him as extremely smart, but also extremely calculated, sometimes to too great of an extent. In this way, he often overthought many things that would otherwise seem relatively straightforward and, in the process, would become overly stressed and caught up in the details of things that really didn’t matter all that much. Lastly, and one of the most important pieces to Drew’s journey and knowledge of attempting to pursue a life well-lived was found in his Week Seven journal. Here, he explained how relationships contribute to a good life and as he read the text resource provided by his professor, how perspective is key to living well. The text that he read was astounding, and helped him take a step back and realize just how lucky he is. A particular piece of the text that he found interesting described how “If a colono, for example, “escapes” to the mountains, the entire camp is given even worse food until they capture the inmate, who is carried into camp, tied on a stick, hanging from legs and hands like an iguana, and is soundly beaten.” ("Tattoos on the Heart" by Fr. Greg Boyle, S.J. - Moreau FYE Week Seven) Here, in that moment reading that text, Drew realized just how lucky he was. Going to school at his dream University, with an incredibly loving family at home, and a group of friends at school that he had already formed life-long bonds with. Ultimately, Drew left a great impression on all those who he encountered in his life. As he was encouraged to do so much throughout his time at Notre Dame, he constantly strived to search for and live out a life well-lived. In this process, he was not only able to maintain a https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/40299/modules/items/143141 https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/40299/modules/items/143141 https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/40299/files/523820?module_item_id=167949 successful career and provide for his family, but in that process form so many strong connections and bonds with others around him. What made Drew unique, though, was that he not only challenged himself to live well, treating others with respect and dignity as he sought self growth, but that he challenged others around him to do the same as well. He worked tirelessly to not only live the best life he could, but did everything in his power to ensure that everyone around him had the opportunity and knowledge to attempt to do the same.