Reflection- November 19

Over the course of the past couple of weeks, I had picked five virtues (Passion, Academic Acceptance, Patience, Tranquility, and Moderation), just as Franklin once did. When I first started blogging and practicing each of these virtues, I didn’t think that it would be much of a challenge. However, I was proven wrong in the sense that I had the most trouble being accepting towards my grades and school work. Academic Acceptance was the most important virtue for me, and the most challenging because I feel as though I consume myself with school, constantly worried about my grades and how they will affect me in the future. To practice Academic Acceptance, I would set reminders on my phone with smiley faces and emoji’s that would remind me to not get down on a bad grade and that grades do not define who I am. I so badly wanted to succeed in this virtue, but in reality, I sadly did not. I had some days where I did amazingly with this virtue and others where I did not do so well. For example, chemistry is a harder class, and I expect to get A’s on my tests and quizzes, but I came across a few days where I would miss a couple questions on a quiz and I would have to tell myself that it’s fine getting an imperfect score. Other days, I would get really down on myself for getting a B on any test or quiz in my classes, and I would let that one grade essentially bother me for the rest of the day. Now that my virtues assignment is over, I do not want to give up on practicing Academic Acceptance. In the future, I want to be able to look at a bad grade and not let it affect me. It is hard for me to come up with new strategies on how I can improve and practice Academic Acceptance because my last strategies did not do as well as I thought they would, but I am positive that I will create new ways for me to not get stressed over grades.

As for a virtue I was successful with, was Passion. I had been pushing myself to take photos as much as I can these last couple of weeks, and that I did. As I mentioned in one of my earlier blogs, I got to take photos for the PowderPuff game held at East, which was exhilarating. I also got to take photos of my best friend for her senior photos which was the most fun I have ever had taking photos. In order for me to have succeeded in practicing Passion, I would set my camera and camera bag somewhere visible in my room to remind me to go outside and take photos, or even view Pinterest for photo inspiration. I believe that I will benefit from this virtue by teaching myself to do what I love or want to love more and transfer that knowledge into my future. Finding your passion is very important in life, I believe that life can be mundane without finding something you truly cherish and enjoy. Being able to improve taking photos and enjoying it more has taught me to be more bold, brave, and confident with myself and my camera, which will benefit me later in life.

To conclude this amazing, virtuous journey, I am proud of my overall result, and I definitely saw improvements with myself. I tend to have a perfectionist attitude, but although I didn’t improve with every virtue like I had hoped, I have accepted the fact that failure is how you learn. As I have already stated, Academic Acceptance will be extremely difficult, but I am willing to master this virtue and challenge myself everyday. I am glad that I was able to participate on my road to moral improvement, and the main aspect that kept me motivated was the comments I got on each post. I found it encouraging having my fellow classmates being optimistic and motivational towards my virtues. I am excited to see what the future has in store for me and my prolonged voyage to Academic Acceptance

Day 10- November 18

Following back up with yesterday and my new study strategy, I wasn’t the biggest fan. I was studying for what felt like hours on end last night, and stopped my new study strategy after the first hour, I just felt like I was better off studying how I normally do. On the other hand, today, I wanted to work on academic acceptance and passion. I was really trying to be optimistic and confident about my chem test this morning, but I just don’t think it went well. I was really trying to accept the fact that I didn’t do my best, but I just couldn’t stop thinking about how badly I thought I did. So, in conclusion, I give myself a solid 0/5 for academic acceptance. Even though today was rough practicing academic acceptance, I definitely feel as though I’ve improved over the course of the past couple of weeks. As for passion, I did really well with this virtue! I brought my camera to school today and took some photos for my print story for Harbinger and used the green room in the library which was fun. For today, I give myself a 5/5 for passion. I hope everyone has a great rest of their week :)))

Day 9- November 17

I typically write my blogs at the end of the day to show my progress and what I worked on, but I’ve decided to write my blog at the end of the day to set goals and predict how well I will do. Today, I really want to focus on patience and academic acceptance. I’m starting to get nervous about a few upcoming tests, but I just need to tell myself that I need to be patient and really make sure I understand all of the content. I’m going to try a new strategy when I’m studying: I’m going to study for 30-40 minutes working in sections of what I need to focus on, and then I’m going to take a break to give my brain a rest. I’m eager to see if this study strategy will work, and allow me to be more patient with myself. I guess this is also a way for me to practice moderation as well. As for academic acceptance, I’ve come to the conclusion that I probable won’t get a good grade on another test I have, but I’ve accepted that fact and I’m fine with it. I’m telling myself that I’ve given all the effort I can and that it’s totally fine to not always get good grades. I’ll keep you guys posted on the new patience/study strategy 🙂

Day 8- November 16

Today was much better than yesterday. I was mainly focusing on academic acceptance, tranquility, and moderation today. I woke up a little earlier this morning so I could have a slow morning and have some extra time to myself before leaving for school. Usually when I have extra time in the morning, I go on my phone, but today, I reminded myself that I was going to work on moderation, so I got some studying done before my chem quiz. I was surprised to see that I did so well on my chem quiz just because I didn’t study the content hardly at all the night before. I ended up missing two questions which is alright, but I’m trying to tell myself that it doesn’t need to be a perfect score. I got over the score pretty quickly and moved on with my day, making sure I was practicing tranquility and moderation throughout the day. I was hardly on my phone today which was awesome, so I got most of my work done. I give myself a 4/5 for moderation and 4/5 for tranquility. I definitely got stressed before my quiz which wasn’t a good way to practice tranquility, but I turned my attitude around and surrounded myself with my friends at lunch which put me in a good mood. Now, I’m about to get some more homework done that I wish I would’ve gotten done a little earlier. I hope everyone has a great night :))

Day 7- November 15

I didn’t have the best day. I totally thought I could push through this tough week and just look forward to the nice, long break we are about to have, but today felt like a million years. I was trying to practice tranquility today, but didn’t do well because I was stressed all day about a few upcoming tests I have. I give myself a 2/5 for tranquility. I didn’t practice moderation at all today, so that’s going to be a solid 0/5. Academic acceptance started off very rough for me, because I was struggling with some of my classes, especially the ones I will be having tests in, but my attitude turned around when I found out I received a 29.5/30 on my chem graph! Academic acceptance gets 4/5 for the day. I sadly didn’t practice any passion today or patience, so those both get a 0/5. I’m really hoping that tomorrow will be a better day, along with the rest of the week. I hope everyone has a good Monday night 🙂

Day 6- November 14

Today was a spectacular day!! I woke up relatively early and edited some photos from the powderpuff game, which was how I worked on passion for the day. Then, I had a meeting with my friends regarding our Junior Board project, and we were very productive which is good. I didn’t practice much of patience today, so I am going to have to rate that a 0/5 and the same goes for academic acceptance, just because I didn’t have to worry too much about grades and school work over the weekend. However, I did a really good job with tranquility and moderation. I was hardly on my phone today, so I give myself a 5/5 for moderation, and a 5/5 for tranquility because I was completely happy and worry-free the entire day. I ended my night going to the Uptown Theatre with my friends to go watch ABBA Mania perform, and it was absolutely amazing. Although it’s a Sunday night, I like to look at the concert as a way to positively kickstart my week. That concert was a 5/5 and the vibe was so, so immaculate. I hope everyone had an awesome weekend!

Kate Beaulieu- Day 5

I started off my day by shooting the powderpuff game, which was a goal of mine and a way for me to practice passion. The game was super fun and just funny to see the cheerleaders and dancers play football instead of the football players, who were cheering. I got some really good photos which made me happy. After the game, I continued to be productive, and had a meeting at a coffee shop and got a lot of work done and got to see my friends. As for my other virtues, I find succeeding in tranquility is much easier on the weekends than during the week, because I have far less to do and worry about. However, I did not do well with moderation today, because I was on my phone for about 3 hours. It’s definitely more challenging to stay off my phone on the weekend because I have more free time. I didn’t focus much on patience or academic acceptance which is alright, I will do that tomorrow! All in all, I had a great Saturday and succeeded in practicing the virtues I most wanted to hone in on. I hope everyone had a great Saturday 🙂

Day 4- November 12

I had a great Friday overall! I started my day at 5:30am and had a slow morning and then a relatively slow day. I barely have any homework for the weekend, which is always so nice. Regarding my virtues, I really only practiced tranquility, just by listening to the alarms I have set on my phone and starting my day extra early to have time to myself. I rate passion 0/5, academic acceptance 3/5, tranquility 5/5, moderation 2/5, and patience 2/5. I was really hoping to do something with my camera today, but I was super busy after school so I never got around to it which was frustrating. But, I decided to not let today discourage me from incorporating photography in my weekend, so I have decided to shoot the Powder Puff game tomorrow morning, which will be super fun! This is most definitely one way I will be practicing passion while also being able to see my friends. Along with practicing passion tomorrow, I am wanting to still improve on patience with myself and others :))

Kate Beaulieu-Day 3

Today was so nice being able to sleep in and take advantage of late start. I always feel like having late start makes my Thursday’s so much better just because I’m moving at a slower pace. Overall, I did pretty well with practicing all my virtues, I didn’t have trouble with any of them today. The one I was mainly focusing on was moderation. I was practicing moderation by putting myself on a strict schedule with technology, specifically with my phone. I feel like I’m constantly on my phone, scrolling through social media, while I could be knocking out some homework. I start to feel guilty after watching Tik Tok’s for hours on end, and it’s not like I get anything out of being on social media. So, I have started setting alarms with about three minute intervals to force myself to get off my phone. These alarms are set at night because this is when I want to get my homework done so I’m not working all night. I intentionally didn’t set my alarms right after school, because I make time for myself to rest for about an hour or so, and unfortunately, being on my phone can be somewhat relaxing. On the good side, the alarms successfully worked, and I got all of my homework done before 9pm :)))

Kate Beaulieu-November 10

Today was a really good day for me! It was mainly good because I got to leave school early for an appointment that was taking place during 7th hour, so that was nice. For today, I mainly focused on tranquility just because I knew it was going to be an easy day in general, so why not take advantage of it and have a relaxing day. I was brainstorming last night ways for me to have a peaceful day, so I set an alarm on my phone with emoji’s and smiley faces and told myself to have a good day. Since that alarm was set before I left for school, it reminded me to not let school stress me out, and to just enjoy my short day. I for sure give myself an A for tranquility, but on the other hand, I give myself a C for practicing patience. I not only want to practice being patient with myself, but with others around me. Today I was driving a lot, so I found myself getting impatient at red lights or when there was a lot of traffic. I forgot to tell myself that I didn’t need to be anywhere super important, and to just relax. For tomorrow, if I find myself becoming impatient, I’m going to tell myself to be optimistic and maybe just listen to music to soothe me 🙂 To end my day, I am letting my brain relax, watching One Tree Hill and listening to the beautiful rainstorms!

Kate Beaulieu-Day 1 of Moral Improvement

Day 1

I began my day waking up at 5:55 am which is a couple minutes earlier than usual, but I wanted to give myself time to make a cup of coffee and have a slow and relaxing morning. Waking up earlier and treating myself to coffee was a strategy of mine to practice tranquility. I noticed that having a slower morning put me in a better and more focused mood for school. I took the day at a moderate pace which helped me become more patient with myself and others since my brain wasn’t going a million miles an hour. The only somewhat negative part of my day was taking a chem quiz and finding out that I didn’t get an A on it, which made me upset at first, but then I remembered one of my virtues which is academic acceptance. I looked at my score for a minute or so, and came to the conclusion that it is perfectly acceptable to receive a 13/15 on a quiz rather than a 14/15 or 15/15. To practice academic acceptance, I only allowed myself to look at the score for a short amount of time and forced myself to put my phone up so I wouldn’t obsess over the imperfect score. Lastly, I ended my day with photography, something I am wanting to be more passionate about. I took photos for Harbinger during school, and wanted to go home and edit them to see the final product. I was happy with how the photos turned out, and decided that I should schedule specific days I want to take photos. Overall, I succeeded in practicing my virtues which has started me off on a good note with my journey. Today was a good day!

Kate Beaulieu-Introduction Essay

My Road to Moral Improvement 

Being assigned to challenge myself morally for the next couple of weeks will both test and improve my everyday routine and mindset. Just as Franklin believed and practiced virtues that would better himself, he proved that if one were to select a few weaknesses or rather hone in on what someone would want to change about themselves, they could grow as a person and change their life. Seeing how balanced Franklin managed to make his life by dedicating himself to following certain virtues, he has motivated me to do the same. I am prepared to struggle in the beginning with breaking old habits, but I am stimulated and driven by success and am motivated to see similar results as Franklin did. I am excited and eager to see my progress when I am finished, which will encourage me to follow through on my journey.  Both Franklin and I are alike in the sense that we both wanted to try self-evaluation and improvement at one point in our life, and at the end of the experiment, I will be able to say that just like him, I will have documentation of my efforts in changing my morals. 

Consequently, I have evaluated what I need to work on most in my life and came to the conclusion that it’s related to stress and negativity. I carefully chose a few of Franklin’s virtues and my own, which are: moderation, tranquility, academic acceptance, patience, and passion. Having chosen these five virtues, it’s important for me to explain and reflect on my reason for why I selected them. First off, practicing moderation and tranquility both go hand and hand for ways to reduce stress. I tend to push myself too hard, whether that’s academically or athletically and never let my mind or body catch a break. When I am not busy, I tell myself that I need to be productive rather than lying down and giving myself time to recharge. I have noticed that this is an unhealthy habit that needs to be broken, so I will be having the same mindset as Franklin, who believes that everyone should set aside time to rest in order to get things done. I will be altering my mindset similar to his, and will be achieving his way of thinking by providing at least half an hour anytime after school for me to lie down in my bed, possibly light some candles and let my brain temporarily turn off. Using this strategy will hopefully let my brain slow down and take each day moderately and positively. Secondly, I will be practicing academic acceptance and patience, which seem to be consuming me the most, especially negativity regarding academics. I tend to have an a-type personality, and I have set such high standards for myself in school, putting internal pressure on myself that has ruled my mind. I panic when I see two B’s on my quarter report card, or even getting any grade in general besides an A. Patience is another important virtue that I need to practice, which I need to work on in school, specifically in math. I am hard on myself for not being the best at math, and constantly comparing myself to others, never giving myself enough credit or time to learn a new concept. I need to understand that math doesn’t come easily to everyone, and that I need to be patient with myself that it takes me slightly longer to learn new topics in math. I will apply patience to my everyday life by taking a few deep breaths, and tackling one concept at a time. Lastly, passion is something I need to incorporate into my life. I am involved in multiple extracurriculars all of which I love, but I can’t see myself pursuing every extracurricular in the future. I want and need to discover what I truly love and am passionate about so I can pursue that and hopefully learn from it. I believe that when I find one or two things that I am passionate about, it will change my perspective on life. I will apply strategies such as focusing one one extracurricular that I can see myself having a true passion and future with such as photography, and set a reminder on my phone to go outside and shoot something. 

As a result, I yearn for only positive outcomes and exponential improvements. I want to be able to see a visible change in my attitude, and I want my friends and peers to notice as well. I hope to become more optimistic and calm so I can teach others how to do the same. During this journey, I predict that I will most definitely face hardships such as wanting to give up and a lack of motivation, but as I mentioned before, I have a perfectionist and routine oriented personality, so I am confident that I will successfully practice these virtues religiously. By the end of this, I am ecstatic to see my progress and I know that I will be happy that I was assigned to blog and interact with my classmates during my road to moral improvement.