Author: Miles Crosser

Writing these entries and sticking to my virtues was a challenge. I had to constantly remind myself why I was doing this and what was my purpose. My virtues were difficult ones as well as i chose to work on tranquility, silence, order, dedication, engagement. These were the aspects in my life I thought I could improve on. People have told me I need to be more quiet or more engaged so these words inspired me.

The virtue I struggled with most was dedication. As of late i wasn’t putting all my effort into school and was messing around a lot. I wanted to change this and become more focused and dedicated. Before I left for school I would always tell my self, be dedicated today. Waking up and saying this set a tone for the day and I feel really helped me. In soccer practice instead of doing the bare minimum I would do the extra mile so I could improve. I really started to see results as the days went on. It was super hard though. There were days when I just felt unmotivated and didn’t want to do anything.

My most successful virtue was tranquility. I felt like this was going to be the hardest for me but in the end did well. During school i was relax and not messing around a ton. This got me in less trouble and made me feel like a more respectable person. At my soccer instead of freaking out when my teammate messed up I was calm and said it was ok.

These virtues were not easy to keep up with. It was a constant battle to remember them. I would feel guilty if I didn’t follow through with my virtues because I said I would complete them. In the end I definitely became more calm and dedicated to even the little things in life. I will carry over these virtues into the rest of my life and maybe even get new virtues I can improve on.

It’s the last day of the blog! It has been a long ride of giving effort into this and Im proud of myself. It didn’t go as I planned but I feel like as an individual I really improved. Going into this I was loud and never quiet. Now i have boundaries and am able to control myself. I have a new sense of order and overall I feel like an overall more complete person. I woke up this morning super happy for the day and hopefully, I carry these virtues over into life after the ten days of entries.

It took a while, but I’m finally not sick! I woke up and was so ready to go to school and see my friends. I normally hate school but i hadn’t been in so long. When I got there i really wanted to interact with everyone and talk. I quickly remember my virtue silence. It was super hard for me but I held my self from interacting and focused on the class. This is real improvement from nine days ago as I definitely would’ve gotten in trouble and been loud. These virtues have paid off so much and Im thankful I’ve done them.

Im feeling better! I didn’t go to school today as I still have a little fever but Im getting better. I am so thankful as I feel like i’ve been sick forever. My dog was being her normal self and barking a ton. She does it mostly when guests come over but today, she was just barking to bark. It was really annoying but the old Miles would’ve just accepted it and waited for her to stop. Instead, I realized she needs order if she’s ever gonna stop. So I grabbed her and told her to stop. She immediately stopped. I was happy as order is my virtue and realized Im improving with these virtues as we go on through this blog.

Unfortunately I woke up and I’m still sick. I was super disappointed as I had things planned today but I felt better than yesterday. I really thought about my virtues and really wanted to try and engage a little bit. When my mom brought me food I had a long conversation with her and I think she really appreciated it. The rest of the day I played Xbox and instead of yelling and screaming at the game like I normally do, I was tranquil and didn’t let it get in my head. Hopefully tomorrow Im a lot better and able to engage in normal life.

I woke up today and had a super high fever. It was 101.7 and I felt really awful. I went straight to the couch and started watching a show. My mom had to leave the house for a while and I really needed medicine. Instead of showing dedication and getting up I just stayed on the couch and got even worse. Dedication is one of my virtues and I did a really bad job. The rest of the day I sat in silence and watched Stranger things. Silence is one of my virtues and I did an amazing job at that. Hopefully tomorrow I feel a lot better and am able to really focus on virtues.

Today I had a super bad day. Nothing seemed to be going right. I was going to try and focus order but it just didn’t work out. I woke up and my mom was super mad at me. That set the tone for day and I just wasn’t feeling it. I tried going to school and not talking to anyone but this really annoying kid wouldn’t stop talking to me. Then, going to my next hour, i tripped over stair and hurt my knee. It was super annoying and was just not in the mood at all. Hopefully tomorrow is much better and Im able to focus on my virtues.

While doing this blog it has seemed to really help focus on one word at a time. That way Im doing my best work. My word I want to focus on today is silence. Silence is a very important virtue in life and something a lot of people don’t poses. I definitely do not have this virtue. Im overall a loud and obnoxious person. People tell me all the time but its super hard for me. At the night time i was looking for a snack and I slammed the pantry door. I quickly realized this was bad for my virtue. I changed my ways and was quiet for the rest of the night.

Today, I really wanted to focus on engagement. In the morning my Mom tries to talk to me and ask how Im doing and sometimes, I give really short answers or nothing really at all. So today, I made sure to ask how she was and really tell her how im feeling about things. Math class is the hardest class in school for me. Ive never really understand math even since elementary school. Instead of dozing off I focused really hard and accomplished my goal of engagement. My day I feel like, was improved a ton by just simply engaging in life.

Today, my focus was dedication. I went into the day with the goal to get better and improve. I started off instead not eating breakfast like normal, making myself eggs. In order to do this I had to wake up 2o minutes earlier. It was definitely worth it as the eggs were great and really woke me up. I then went to school with the goal to learn. Sometimes i tend to mess around and forget to do work. Today was different though. I went through my first hour class got all my work done and still had fifteen minutes before we were done. That was my morning and it was very productive.

Today I decided to focus on tranquility. I am normally a very hyper person and If I am more calm then I wont be as tired at end of day. Whenever I get home from school Im just dead tired because Im always moving and talking. Today instead of being hyper during lunch I decided to be quiet and just have light conversations with people. When I got home I still had a ton of energy and overall felt better about myself. I had soccer practice and i felt like a different player. I was doing the extra work and my coach noticed it and said good job.

In my Blog, I really want to improve aspects of my life. I think it’s time to start focusing on more of myself and really take these virtues seriously. The relationship between Ben Franklin and me is similar and different at the same time. We both work extremely hard at the thing they are passionate about. The difference between us is that he is a genius and I’m just your average student. 

My virtues I have decided to pick are tranquility, silence, order, dedication, engagement. I have chosen these virtues because they are what I lack in life and I think could really improve my life for the better. I’m going to write a reminder on my phone so every time I pick it up, I see what my virtues are. My most important virtue I want to improve is dedication. If I dedicate myself to these virtues and other aspects of my life, I will be a better overall person.

My hope for this project is that I improve. I don’t need to be perfect at all, I just want to be better than I am right now. My prediction for this is that I’m super focused and that I dedicate myself to these virtues. If I ever find myself being lazy about these virtues I will just look at the work dedication and remember that is what i’m working. I think i’m going to really improve my life for the better. 

Entry 1: Today I decided to focus on tranquility. I am normally a very hyper person and If I am more calm then I wont be as tired at end of day. Whenever I get home from school Im just dead tired because Im always moving and talking. Today instead of being hyper during lunch I decided to be quiet and just have light conversations with people. When I got home I still had a ton of energy and overall felt better about myself. I had soccer practice and i felt like a different player. I was doing the extra work and my coach noticed it and said good job