Week 16: Final Blog Post

            The virtues I chose for this semester were relaxation, dauntlessness, and confidence. I personally feel that I was pretty successful in all of my virtues, but I feel that I still have some imperfections that I need to work on. I do not consider myself a completely virtuous being, because I have yet to fully achieve these three virtues. My relaxation virtue has developed a lot in comparison to the beginning of the year. Although I admit, I can get overwhelmed with all the homework given at times, I have learned to alleviate the stress somewhat by planning what to do in a scheduled time. As for my dauntlessness virtue, I think this was the hardest to improve on because I have always been shy. I have had many opportunities to exercise this virtue, and at times I would not feel nervous (mostly with a group), but sometimes on my own I would feel fairly apprehensive. My confidence virtue has advanced quite a bit. My self-esteem level has raised mostly because I have gained assurance in my work. A flaw in this virtue was mostly getting a grade that I did not think I deserved after all the studying/effort I put in it.

Part 2

            Once I leave the Ethics course, I am planning on exercising the five dimensions listed. The first dimension is the mind. In order to develop the mind, I am considering to learn new skills, or abilities that utilize my brain. Some situations that may help me along the way in order to become a good person would be getting involved into more clubs and sports. Furthermore, learning a new language, which I have already started, would also help stimulate the brain, and enrich my vocabulary. However, some circumstances that may restrict me from becoming a good person may be if there are too many things going on at once, that may cause a distraction. By that I mean that issues can pop up in my life that have a negative affect towards me, or unfavorable beliefs from the past may appear out of nowhere. This can result in an overwhelmed and stirred mind.

            Furthermore, the next dimension is relating to one’s emotions. I am planning to prosper in this dimension by controlling my feelings. By that I mean that I want to connect with both my positive and negative emotions in order to link them to what is happening around me. Some instances that may help me develop as a better person would be being more emotionally honest when someone is trying to reach out to me. Being more open with my emotions may allow others to read me better, and have more trust towards me. When I know they are there for me I should share that I am joyful, or even depressed at times, and they can help me when I have those somber feelings. However, some negative situations may be that someone can hurt me (mentally/emotionally) without actually noticing, or vice versa. Someone may not know the effect they are having on others with their critical words, and it may discourage and push down the positive feelings one has.

            In addition, I think that I will advance the dimension of the body by sleeping at an earlier time. This can help my body recharge, and the next morning I may feel refreshed, and ready for the day without feeling tired in between. Some occasions that can allow me to convert to a better person are that I am given less homework from school, at least for a day, granting me more time to rest my body. Also, taking a short nap when I come home, or on the way to school can energize or stimulate my body, so I can run through a full seven hour school day. On the other hand, some circumstances that can challenge my path in becoming a good person may be an overload of homework or exams, causing me to work and study until late at night. Likewise, waking up too early to continue my studies can affect my sleeping schedule, and plus, it can affect the number of hours I will settle my body.

            Moreover, the next dimension is relationships. This can be viewed in various ways; it is not only intimate relationships (boyfriends/girlfriends), but also relationships within the family, as well as friends. In order to become a good person, some situations that may help me achieve this goal can be having gatherings with friends, to get to know them more. That way, we can create a close bond with one another, and have trust prosper within it. As for my family, I can learn to be more grateful, and help them around the house by doing chores and so on. Some obstacles that can cross my growth may be a loss of friendship, or just that a once close friend is slowly drifting into a different crowd of people. That would probably reduce my improvement because I might not want to have close relationships with anyone else because of lack of trust.  

            Finally, the last dimension listed is the soul or spirituality. This honestly is probably going to be the simplest out of all to develop, because I am a Catholic, and I do have personal beliefs. Some conditions that can increase my ability to become a good person can be attending my church more often. Do not get me wrong, I do go to church on Sundays, but I do not go consecutively. This can also be partly a challenge because I may neglect to go when I do not really feel like going. I really want to be determined to go every Sunday, or at least come to confession once in a while, which is when you confess to your priest about all the sins you have done. In addition, I want to start praying before I eat my meal, whether it be breakfast, lunch, or dinner, just to appreciate the food given.

Week 15: Ice Skating Fun

          This week was pretty long, and it felt that way mostly because I knew Winter break is so close. Anyways, my relaxation virtue has increased to a pretty higher level, considering the fact that I finished all my homework earlier than I had expected. Also, I was able to hang out with my friends today, and go to the Kendall Ice Arena to help raise money for the Debate team. My dauntlessness level is slightly in the middle, and I exercised it by speaking in front of my English class, in order to express my opinion about a novel. My confidence level is actually pretty good too mostly because I felt satisfied/self-assured with my four responses given during the AP World History quiz. I felt even more confident because today he allowed us to revise and add on to it with a group of three each. This week went really well, and I hope I can keep it up next week!

Week 14: Spirit Week!

            This week was probably the best week to exercise my relaxation virtue. Although we did have a Greek quiz, and Algebra Test, the rest was not that bad to be completely honest. So, as stated in the title, this week was spirit week! What allowed me to be less stressed was the fact that we could wear pajamas on Monday, and I dressed up today as well. I did not feel too shy this week, but I am a little nervous because I have to recite a short poem of my choice in front of the class as a “punishment” for not getting a correct answer. But I have accepted my fate, and I already learned a poem, so I got that partly over with. As for my confidence virtue, I did not really participate much in class, but I did express myself in Art. What I mean by that is because yesterday we were introduced to making snowflakes, and I was a bit nervous to mess up. However, the complete opposite happened, and it actually looked nice. That raised my self-esteem a bit.

Week 13: Long week

This week felt like the longest week ever for some odd reason. I did take advantage of this, because I was able to exercise all of my virtues. For my shyness, I answered questions that my art teacher asked the class, or gave my views about a painting she was showing around. As for my relaxing virtue, I at times did not have homework due the next day or anytime soon, so I was slightly calm, even though I had to study for a lot of quizzes and tests. For my last virtue, confidence, I felt pretty sure and certain when we were taking an essay exam in AP World History, and I was able to respond to the question in the required five paragraphs. I gave a good amount of information, and I supported it with strong evidence. This week was not so interesting, especially because Thanksgiving break was over, but I hope you enjoyed it.

Week 12: Somewhat improvement

            This week went by pretty slowly, and I feel like I exercised my virtues a bit more than last week. My dauntless virtue was kind of going up then down at times. For example, my shyness decreased when I asked questions to teachers, and I was somewhat more open to them. On the other hand, it decreased slightly because of a language arts presentation. I was very shy to go up and express how I felt about the surrealistic piece that I chose, and I think that I stuttered, or blanked out for what I was going to say. Furthermore, my relaxation virtue did not really change much because although we did have work to get done, some days were pretty calm with almost no homework. As for my confidence, for art, at first I did not like what I was going to draw for the Thanksgiving banner, and I erased everything. But as I was scrolling through my phone to find some ideas, a perfect picture came up, and I decided to go with my instinct, and I drew it. I am very proud of myself for my accomplishments, and hopefully next week will be better. 

Week 11: Pretty Short Week

            This week was very short, and actually pretty relaxing. My stress levels were not so high, even though I had many quizzes to study for, and we had only three days of school. The only bad thing about it was all the homework given, which I am planning to finish on Saturday, so I can at least take a break on Sunday. Anyways, I feel kind of proud of myself for participating a bit during my AP World History period. Although my response was not long, I was not that shy to speak out loud in front of the class. And the good thing was that my answer I gave was correct. As for my confidence virtue, I did not really work on it that much, but I was a bit more open and I had a higher confidence level when my friends told me that my first “anime” drawing was really good. 

Week 10: The Character Experiment: Inventory and Experience #2

1.         The three virtues that I chose for the Character Experiment were dauntlessness, relaxation/calmness, and confidence. I have worked hard to improve these virtues, and although I have not completely achieved them, I am still proud of the progress I made. I took many steps and measures to make a deliberate effort at exercising my chosen virtues. For dauntlessness, I was focused on raising my hand when given the chance to me, or just being a bit more open to others. In addition to that, I also tried to steady my voice because at times I knew I would speak a bit fast when presenting and/or answering a question. Furthermore, relaxation was probably one of the most hardest to be completely honest. My main step was to loosen myself up at situations that I am not normally used to. I also tried to take as much weight off my shoulders to at least lower my stress level and pressure. In order to boost my confidence up, I tried to answer the questions that I was sure I knew, or I concentrated on my gut feeling. Likewise, I studied very hard to get good grades on exams in order to raise my self-esteem.

2.         Throughout these first nine weeks, I had many circumstances that would give me the benefit to practice all three of my virtues. For my first virtue, dauntlessness, some opportunities given to me during school were class discussions that we had to participate in. Also, group work/assignments were very beneficial because when we had to present, I felt more secure with familiar faces next to me, and not as nervous. For relaxation, having Study Hall took a slight amount of stress out of me, so I could unwind myself a bit at home with less work to do. Other situations for this virtue were when the teachers gave us extensive due dates for homework assignments so we can elaborate more, and we could perfect our work. For confidence, some occasions that gave me the ability to exercise this virtue were actually some exam or essay grades. This might seem a bit strange, but sometimes good grades on exams or complex assignments helped me feel confident in myself, and my own abilities. This gave me a sensation of success because I knew that my own instincts were right, and I did not have any reason to doubt them because I studied hard for it.

3.         Although I had many opportunities to improve on my virtues, I also experienced moments and obstacles that got in the way of my attempt to succeed. For instance, some situations that challenged my dauntlessness virtue were when I had to present my art pieces on my own, with everyone just analyzing me, making me feel very shy and insecure. It was hard for me to not speak quickly because I wanted to get it over it, and I knew I made many errors throughout. As for relaxation, many challenges came across me during these first nine weeks such as overloads of homework that were due in a short amount of days. Also, not fully understanding a topic in mainly Physics gave me so much stress because I knew that it would be hard for me to complete the homework given. My third virtue, confidence, also had a couple of interferences that affected my progress for this virtue. For example, when I received a lower grade than I expected, and especially one that I was confident with, that would cause a decrease in my morale. Likewise, my confidence would go down because my instincts were either wrong, or I doubted my own response.

4.         After nine weeks, I do think that I was relatively successful in practicing my chosen virtues. I can continue to make progress for dauntlessness by answering to more questions given to me during class discussions. I may also want to consider practicing this virtue not only in school, but at other locations (restaurants, stores, etc.). I can ask for assistance, order food, or even just simply greet and say hello to someone. For relaxation, although I did practice this virtue, it was the hardest to work on. I can proceed to make improvements on this by spending more time with my family and friends, instead staying home and stressing about everything at all times. In addition, I want to finish homework earlier so I can have more time to rest, and I would not feel drowsy in the morning. For my final virtue, confidence, I may want to devote myself to go more by my instincts, and not feel manipulated or pressured into doing something that I am not sure about or not comfortable with. Also, I would like to study in a spread out time, instead of the day before the exams, so I will feel more confident in my responses, and I would not have doubt in myself.

5.         Based on my experience, I think that so far for the first quarter it demonstrates that it is very difficult to become a more virtuous person over all. There were many ups and downs along the way throughout these first nine weeks, and I have learned through these circumstances over some time. Sometimes I felt as if I was doing very well one week, but then at the following week, my improvement turns around, and that makes me feel as if I was becoming a less virtuous being. It does not make me feel good about myself, and how others will view and see me in the near future. To some people, this may be a simple task to accomplish, but for others like me it is like the finish line is still so very far to reach, practically almost invisible. I have improved a lot, but it is not enough to make me a very good, and ethical individual because I have not completely gained strength in all of my virtues. These sixteen weeks might not be enough to fully achieve my goal to be a more virtuous person, but I am rooting to continue making progress even after this experiment.    

6.         I defined a good person as someone who is virtuous, meaning that they show high moral standards, and they go the extra mile. Good people would complete a full task without a doubt and have an ongoing personality. Over the next two months, some situations that may help me in order to become a good individual can relate to debates in my Ethics class. This can give me a better chance to cooperate with others without having to worry about my shyness. Instead I will be focusing on our team, and forming good arguments to support what I am claiming. Furthermore, I will be expecting that throughout the following two months, I would get used to the handful of homework, and I will be capable of managing my time better. This may help me to remove my mental stress, and allow me to feel a bit at ease. Moreover, I would hope to encounter volunteer opportunities. This would first off reflect a good impression of myself on others so they can see what a true good and helpful being I am. Also, this may help me increase my confidence because I would be able to communicate with people I do not speak to, and I would have a higher self-esteem, knowing that I am being very beneficent.

7.         On the other hand, over the upcoming two months, I may approach many challenges that can affect my development of becoming a good person. For example, I may not comprehend something we may be discussing about, and I could be asked to answer a question relating to that topic. My own confidence level may decrease because I have no clue how to respond to the question given, and this may ruin my chances of becoming a good citizen. Another obstacle may be if there is a major exam that can define our final grade for the quarter, my stress level will rise to the roof. I would not have any time to hang out with neither my friends nor my family, and all I would be doing is studying all night. This can also be a consequence because with lack of sleep it would be hard for me to concentrate, and this causes me to feel in a burden. Finally, another challenge may be if we have to present more projects by ourselves in front of the entire class, and this may cause me to become anxious, or I may forget what I will be saying during my presentation.