Reflection: November 19th

To summarize my introductory essay, I chose Benjamin Franklin’s virtues of Industry, Cleanliness, and Tranquility, as well as two of my own: temperance/moderation and productive downtime. Personally, I prioritized the balance between Industry and Tranquility, since as my workload increases I am looking to stay on top of it, without growing restless and burnt out. By having this balance, I feel like it would allow myself to accomplish more, while enjoying myself during the process, which can drive me to do tasks that would possibly fullfill both my industrious side, while making myself feel tranquil. Essentially, by balancing the energy that I had hoped to make more out of my days. Now, though I had set out to achieve all of these virtues, there were some that I had done well at while others were put on the backburner so to speak.

Throughout the process of blogging my virtues, it became clear to me that cleanliness and productive downtime were going to be my struggle suits. First off for cleanliness, I had already developed a habit of having a cluttered workspace that part of myself got used to it and the dirtiness either did not effect me or simply caused myself to avoid it alltogether by moving to another area. At times I had succcesses with cleanliness, but my motivation for it simply was not there, and I often opted for the easy solution since the time I had for it was limited. For the future, I would like to make my goal for cleanliness more specific, by possibly dedicating 10 minutes per day just to declutter. Hopefully by having something more concrete I would be able to see improvements in the area. Moving on to my productive downtime virtue, I also heavily struggled with this subject. Though I had the NYT mini crossword to get me through, it just does not take enough time for all the downtime I had. And with the downtime I had, I just wanted to recharge before my next industrious task and simply give my brain a break. Additionally, my idea for productive downtime would be doing something in the arts, and part of me was not motivated to start on a whole new art endevour in small intervals at a time. Overall, I feel like my productive downtime could be a lot more successful by planning something out that I would do in my downtime that I could revisit at ease at anytime, such as a paint by numbers painting or a puzzle. Overall, though I struggled with these virtues, I still have motivation and innovations to try to fix both my mindset and the way I approach these virtues.

As for my successes in this experience, I believe that my temperance/moderation virtue was the strongest. Even if I did not get through as much school work as physically possible, I still took it in chunks rather than procrastinating on it, which is a huge improvement for myself. Additionally, I had created a set plan for my moderation virtue by also creating a plan for SAT prepartions for a test in December. By taking SAT information in small chunks rather than cramming the final week, I feel that I will be more successful and less stressed come test day. For the future, if I keep a schedule with what I plan on doing, I feel that I would be able to balance my industry and tranquility virtues a lot better since I would have my work done at earlier periods, allowing for more tranquil downtime as well as less stress when it comes to procrastination. I am very proud of being able to improve upon moderation in my life since procrastination is a bad habit that I feel like this virtue can start to fix. Ultimately, my successes in temperance I feel could lead into other areas of life, pushing myself even closer to perfection.

Overall, I feel like this blogging experience allowed myself to be mindful of what I want to improve for myself, which caused the goal of “perfection” to be more obtainable. In improving these virtues, especially temperance/moderation, I was able to have a lifestyle that more accurately reflects what I want for my future. Specifically, with temperance, I was able to increase both my industry and productivity by simply being organized and rationing my work out over a long period of time, which made my work process plenty more enjoyable and effecient. However, there definetly is room for improvements too, which could further guide me to match my goals for my future. If I were to redo this experience, I would give myself specific activities that I could do that would measure my success with the virtues, but would most certainly continue the self reflection. Ultimately, the purpose of this project for myself was to shape my current self to better match what I want my future self to be. Even if perfection is impossible, it should not stop myself from trying to improve myself where I can.

Reflection 11/19/21

The central theme behind all of my virtues was productivity, whether this be in terms of creativity, school work, cleanliness, or my own physical and mental wellbeing. I believe that living and thinking in a passive manner is harmful, if one really wants to make an impact one has to actually take actions with the intention of actually going through with them. Don’t just worry about and lament your problems, try to solve them. I quickly discovered that, in order to make measurable progress, I needed to focus on specific virtues rather than broadly resolving to improve at all five. Every day I would take two of the five and genuinely attempt measurable progress. The results varied (as I will expand on later) but I believe that having virtues and being mindful of my own behavior was beneficial in itself. 

My greatest challenge in this whole endeavor was not a specific virtue but a common problem that spanned several. I faced an epic struggle with the virtue of Resolution. Resolution was not on my list of five virtues, but it was the phantom thread that strung them together, the elephant in the room on every blog entry. I had plenty of ideas on how to improve myself and put my virtues into action, but oftentimes, I simply lacked the resolution to put these ideas in motion. For instance, I frequently decided to try meditation to increase Tranquility and several times was forced to report failure to actually meditate. Similarly, I never got around to fully cleaning my room which was my main goal with Cleanliness. I consistently committed other, smaller failures on my various virtues and eventually, every success I did experience became, in my mind, a victory of Resolution.

The virtue of Industry was as close as any of my virtues came to literally meaning Resolution, so perhaps it’s a good thing that it was in Industry I experienced the greatest success. Since the beginning of this school year, I have struggled with getting homework done in a timely manner. I find myself easily distracted and unable to find a productive rhythm.  However, with the virtue of Industry in mind, I have been able to break out of this habit a little and become more productive with homework. Having the goal of Industry to consider has allowed me to become more aware of my actions while working on homework and remind myself to focus when I notice that I’m falling off course. On the whole, I’d say that I’ve gotten back on track for the year and have genuinely improved in Industry. 

In addition to teaching me to be conscious of my own Industry, this experiment has encouraged me to pay greater attention to the ways I spend my time and if these things are consistent with the goals I would like to achieve. Am I creating a life I enjoy living or mentally sitting backseat as I go through the motions? As I said earlier, I don’t ever want to be passive, especially in my own life. This experiment has helped me take greater initiative in my life and, while it wasn’t entirely successful, has taught me to pay greater attention to the world around me and the effect I’m having on it.

Reflection on November 19

I prioritized my virtues in the following order: moderation, industry, love for family, resolution, and cleanliness. Oddly, I had the most difficulty working on the ones I prioritized, specifically moderation and love for family. I picked these virtues because they are all things I struggle with and think could make me happier if I followed them more. They are ranked in order of importance according to how poorly I demonstrate those virtues already — I’m the worst at moderation and the best at cleanliness. This assignment could be used as evidence of my character because my drive to improve upon these virtues reflects how much I want to contribute to society. Each day of implementing these virtues, I was motivated by wanting to better myself and become the kind of person I want to see in the rest of the world. I hoped the greatest contribution I made throughout this process was to my family. While I did little things like picking up around the house and spending a few extra minutes out of my day talking to them, I feel that these interactions made me happier and more appreciative of them. I’m thankful for this because, now that the holidays are coming up, I’m on good terms with my family, so Thanksgiving will be enjoyable this year.

I struggled greatly with moderation, which I selected because I too often alternate between hours on Tik Tok and days of straight studying in homework — either one extreme or the other. I’d like to spread my life out more evenly so that I’m not overwhelmed with one thing at once — thus, I need more moderation in my life. It’s important for me to have balance in my day-to-day life so that I can get through those long hours of studying and to make going on my phone more fun, which happens when I don’t use it in excess. Difficulties, like loads of make-up work to catch up on when I got back from a trip, got in my way and made it hard to do school in moderation. This had a chain effect that caused me to also spend too much time on my phone when I wanted a break. It was an unbalanced cycle that led me to be less productive than I would be with moderate time on each activity. If I want to master this virtue in the future, I need to force myself to limit the amount of time spent on each activity to a tee. It seems that telling myself that I have even one more minute on Tik Tok will lead to another hour, so exactness is important here.

I made the most improvement on time with family. I was worried about this one being the most difficult as my family is busy and it’s often difficult to coordinate everyone being home at the same time to spend time together. However, I found that by putting in a little effort, I could find some time to talk to my siblings or parents after school or before bed. I’m so glad I did, because my family is so important to me and I wanted to work on showing them how much I care about them. I benefited from this in that I learned that just shooting my dad a text to check in on him during the day or having a conversation with my brother after school lifts my mood so much.

My life improved from working on these virtues because I now know that just setting a goal for myself and setting time to think about it will make me more likely to get better at it. This may seem somewhat straight forward, but often times I think about how I’d like to improve in one way or the other — for example by spending more time with family — but it’s rare that I’ll actually act on that thought. By simply writing down “I am going to do this,” I held myself to that goal and was far better at remembering to do it. I’m grateful for this lesson as I can now implement it in future goals — either academic or personal — to improve my life in the future.

Conclusion Essay: 11/19/21

The virtue in which I struggled with would have probably been Self-Discipline. Though I do think that I followed through fairly well, practicing Self-Discipline… by taking that time away from my phone to get more important things done was definitely a struggle, especially in comparison to my other virtues. I think that mastering the virtue is just a game of time, actively not being on my phone just has to become a habit, and habits take a while to become something of second nature. I think the virtue I succeeded the most in was Order. I feel like I can focus so much more, just by taking a few minutes each day to complete, it’s a fairly easy virtue to achieve, and just leaves me feeling better overall. I think overall I had a fairly successful attempt. I think that I could have done better, but at the same time it could have been less successful. I think that by continuing with working on all of them-Order, Contentment, Acceptance, Self-Discipline, and Purposefulness-I will just be able to keep a clearer mind and feel more content. I think that maybe it’ll be tough to continue thinking about them, everyday, but I hope to be able to just keep them in the back of my mind, to continue progress. 

Day 10: 11/18/21

Today was much more disciplined and at times did not go as intended. I feel like the virtue of Order was in practice through our activities. We were in a bit of a time crunch, but still had things that we wanted to do, before having to be at the airport. Once at the airport I felt that my virtues of Order and Acceptance were practiced again. My flight was delayed a lot, leading to me landing in Kansas City, hours later than intended, at midnight. Before, I was going to land at a time in which I knew that I could get started on missed work, and prepare for the next day, however with this I wasn’t able to get to sleep until 2:30am, and I didn’t get any work done. However, it was outside of my range of control-so I Accepted it and moved on.

Day 9: 11/17/21

Today I spent out of town, so I didn’t find myself spending too much time thinking about my virtues-nor did many situations occur where I felt like they were being called to use. It was one that went fairly according to plan. Actually, I think that Contentment was the one that shone through the most. I was able to spend time with a friend that I don’t see often, because she moved last year. We went to a few coffee shops today-which is something I enjoy doing when traveling. I also went to a concert-concerts are one of my favorite things to go to-so it was a pretty good, Content, day. 

Day 8: 11/16/21

Today was one where I had to practice my virtues Acceptance and Self-Discipline the most. I had a flight, originally at noon, so I knew that with missing school I would have to (and did) practice Self-Discipline by using all of my spare time to do any school work I could, before the flight-and during layovers. When my flight was delayed a few hours I practiced Acceptance. Though at first I was kinda upset, because it messed with plans I had made, I knew that I had to move on and accept it for what it was. I also practiced Order, in a way, before going to the school-I knew that I had to have everything I needed packed and organized-so I would not be stressing a bunch, right before having to leave. I feel like today, though outside of my typical schedule, was a fairly good one in regards to practicing my virtues.

Day 10

Today I focused on creative productivity and industry. I experienced success in creative productivity, though not as much as I would have liked. I’ve agreed to help out a friend and do a scene in a play (Almost Maine) that is going on this weekend, as the actress who was originally going to play the role got Covid and had to skip. The play is happening on Saturday and I got the script Wednesday night. However, I didn’t start working until tonight when I realized that I had four long pages of dialogue that had to be ready in two days (on top of school and work). Feeling a little stressed out and hopefully, I will be able to pull that off. I do give myself points for working on it. I also had a freelancer meeting today after school and we were very productive with rating, which is positive. So, all in all, I’d say it was a fairly creatively productive day and I’d give myself a 4/5.

My industry today was definitely not as impressive as it was yesterday, although it wasn’t totally bad. I had a headache while working on homework and that really impaired my ability to focus and be productive. Plus I got distracted talking on the phone with a friend. I might have been able to overcome this had one of my Apush assignments not been so grueling, but, as it was, I was unable to keep a positive mindset. Despite all of this, I did manage to get some work done, but it was far less productive than I would have liked. I give myself a 3/5 on industry.

Rafaela Grieco-Freeman: Day 10

Thursday, November 18th, 2021

Today was an average day; I had spent quite a bit of time studying for an upcoming chemistry test and currently feel a bit restless despite late start. I am most certainly looking forward to crashing in my bed tonight, but for now, my virtues. My best virtue for the day was industry (8/10) as I worked through the entirety of my afternoon, as well as most of my school day. For temperance/moderation, I would rate myself a 5/10, since I was too busy with school work to get rarely any SAT preparation done, however, I did start to compile questions for my college visits that are upcoming this break. For productive downtime, I would rate myself a 5/10 since whenever I did take a break from my work, I just wanted to shut my brain off for the time being while I was recharging. As for my cleanliness, I would rate myself a 6/10 since once again I have decided to work at the dinner table instead of cleaning my room, however, I was able to reorganize a few of my folders/binders for school. Lastly, for tranquility, I would rate myself around a 5/10 since I have a little lingering stress for the upcoming school day, but I am keeping Thanksgiving Break as a motivator as we wind down from this virtues project. I am curious to see what will happen after I stop blogging about these virtues daily. Goodnight and see you all tomorrow! :))

Day 10 on November 18

Today was a great wrap up as the conclusion of these virtue blogs nears. I was industrious during the school day and got finished with all of the work I set as a goal for myself to do. This left me feeling very accomplished and relaxed so that I don’t have to stress about too much schoolwork over break. I also worked on moderation by balancing all of this work out with some time to relax on my phone after school and at a workout class. Also, I had a nice conversation with my brother to count for family time. All of these things set me up for a good day and made me realize how much more fun life is when I set and accomplish goals.

Rafaela Grieco-Freeman: Day 9

Wednesday, November 17th, 2021

Overall I had a decent Wednesday for this week. I find that odd block days tend to be the most stressful since I have all my core classes so I am just content on getting through today with everything going on leading up to the break. As for the virtues, they were above average, but not quite as good as yesterday and Monday. For industry and temperance, I would rate myself around a 6/10 for those as I continue to balance school work and SAT Prep, though I did not get as much progress as I was hoping for either of those. For cleanliness, I would rate myself a 4/10 since I still have not fully cleaned out my desk area, instead opting for the dining room table. For tranquility, I would rate myself around a 6/10 since today I found to be somewhat stressful throughout with all of the work coming to a close before the break, however, after a very chilly soccer practice, I was able to take a long hot shower to destress and warm myself up! Finally, for productive downtime, I would rate myself a 5/10 since I felt unmotivated to start any creative projects in the downtime that I had, instead choosing to be on my phone (at least I had read an article that my father recommended to me, even if it was not really long). Overall, I am grateful for getting through this long school day and having my workload organized for the next few days as Thanksgiving break inches closer and closer. Plus, its late start tomorrow, so I am most certainly excited to recharge tomorrow morning as a result :))

Day 9 on November 17

The virtue I improved on the most today was moderation. While I was productive in getting some assignments done, working out and eating healthily, I also allowed myself some time to wind down and took a nap after school because I was exhausted. This balance made my day more enjoyable and made me more calm as I got ready for bed. I wasn’t my most industrious today, though, because I didn’t get any math assignments done that I had set a goal for myself to complete. As for cleanliness, I definitely didn’t do well because my room and bathroom are pretty messy right now and it’s making me a bit stressed, so I know I need to work on that more and clean this weekend. For love for family, I spent some time talking to my brother and also picked up Chipotle for my family’s dinner tonight.

Day 9

Today I focused on the virtues of industry and tranquillity. I was especially successful in industry, maybe more so than I’ve been since the beginning of the virtues experiment. I missed school on Monday so when I came home today, I had more homework than normal. However, I stayed focused, didn’t let myself get discouraged, and was able to successfully complete my homework. I was able to get into a productive rhythm while working on long assignments—rather than falling into despair and, subsequently, distraction. I also organized my weekend schedule and did a good job of getting back to everyone and keeping everything organized. I would give myself a 5/5 in industry.

I did a fairly good job of practicing tranquillity today. I stayed positive in the face of my previously mentioned mountain of homework and did a generally good job of avoiding negative thought patterns. I still have yet to meditate before bed (maybe resolution should have been one of my virtues?) but I’ll give it a shot tonight. I give myself a 4/5 in tranquillity today. 

Rafaela Grieco-Freeman: Day 8

Tuesday, November 16th, 2021

Overall I feel like I had a really good day today! For my video production class, I got to film a story at my elementary school and visited my 5th-grade teacher, which was a lovely surprise when she recognized me. It was definitely the highlight of my day getting a big hug from her, especially since I haven’t properly seen her in 6 years! As for my virtues, I would say some of my strongest were industry and temperance (at an 8/10) as I got on top of some work that is not necessarily due and even attempted some extra credit in a class. For tranquility, I would rate myself around a 7/10 since after my stresses for filming at my school I felt that I had finally got everything into place for the rest of the week. Cleanliness I did not do as well in, maybe around a 5/10, since instead of cleaning my workspace I just moved to the kitchen table for my homework, but I was able to organize my room overall a little bit by putting away laundry. Lastly, for productive downtime, I would rate myself a 5/10, since when I had a moment of downtime it was often spent on my phone. However, I did attempt an actual crossword with autofill on, and “completed” it in 41 minutes and 55 seconds (super impressive, I know). Overall I feel like over these past few days I have seen a definite improvement in my virtues which has been encouraging me to keep at them, even if there are slight bumps in the road to “perfection”.

Day 8

I focused on physical health and creative productivity today and I think I did a pretty good job of improving at each virtue. For creative productivity, I had an acting lesson this afternoon and got two new monologues to work on. One of them is a lot of fun and the other one is challenging, so I’m looking forward to learning and working on both. Last night I wrote a monologue for rep theatre class and tonight I resolve to get one of my poems finished and ready for submission. So, all in all, a pretty creatively productive day. I would give myself a 4/5. 

I also took steps to better my physical health, taking advantage of the good weather by going on a walk after school. Typically I would save time and drive to the library/the bank, but today I walked everywhere I needed to go. My eating hasn’t been super healthy (though it hasn’t been bad either) and I will try and get something good to eat for dinner. Overall for physical health, I would give myself a 3/5. 

Day 8 on November 16

Today I worked mostly on industry and moderation. I had a lot of make up work to do for all of my classes since I’ve had to miss school lately, so I wanted to get some of it done and set goals for myself to complete many tasks today. I was very productive in finishing these assignments and make up tests, and ended up using my seminar time and staying after school to retake some tests and quizzes. I worked on industry by efficiently completing these things instead of putting them off to do later in the week. I’m really glad I did because now I don’t have to worry about doing them later. As for moderation, I wanted to balance all of this work with some relaxation time, so I also went to a work out class to take a break from school stuff and also spent time listening to music and relaxing when I got home before getting back to work.

Rafaela Grieco-Freeman: Day 7

Monday, November 15th, 2021

Mondays are always pretty hectic, but luckily I still had some time to work and focus on my virtues for today. As for my virtues, I would say my strong suit was industry, ranking it a 7.5/10 for today. I got a lot of work done for my classes, plus I put in extra work to organize an interview for tomorrow. For cleanliness, I would rate it about a 5/10. I cleared my desk space a little to work and cleaned up leftover glasses of water from my bed stand, but I am still procrastinating on putting laundry away (oh well!). For tranquility, I would rate myself a 5/10 as well, since I was able to take a brief nap after school to get me through the evening ahead. Plus, a shipment from an Argentine goods company finally came in which really put me in a good mood as I got some snacks and candy that are not part of the US. For productive downtime, I would rate myself a 4.5/10 since I did not really have any downtime for the day other than taking a nap, which can be seen as both productive and counterproductive since I was able to have more energy later, at a sacrifice of time at the moment. Lastly, for temperance/moderation, I would rate myself a 6.5/10 since I got ahead on my homework which was nice for a change, and continued on with SAT preparations. I feel today has been the strongest my virtues have been thus far, so I am really pleased with the results.

Have a good night! 🙂

Day 7

Today I focused on tranquillity and physical health. I missed school due to illness (previously mentioned in entry 6) which was excellent for both of these things. Actually, missing school did have a negative effect on my tranquillity because now I’m worried about all of the assignments I’ll have to catch up on. But I’m trying to stay positive and focus on that tomorrow. I think that sleeping had a positive effect on my tranquillity (it’s hard to be stressed out when you’re unconscious) as well as watching movies. I watched Moneyball, which was surprisingly captivating. It did an excellent job of making a very niche situation accessible and interesting. I also rewatched the first Iron Man (still my favorite Marvel movie). Tonight I went out to eat with my friends, which positively contributed to my tranquillity.  Overall I’d give myself a 4/5 in tranquillity.

My physical health was pretty bad to begin with, considering that I was sick today. I think missing school and getting some sleep contributed to me getting better, although I did eat pretty poorly at dinner tonight. I would give myself a 2/5 in physical health. 

Day 6

Day 6 was very bad, evidenced in the fact that I am writing this blog entry a day later. I focused on cleanliness and physical health and didn’t do great in either area. I slept late and sort of moped around the house until work. I felt pretty gross but went to work anyway (a bad idea). I had what I think was a migraine or something caused by dehydration and had to leave early. Then I was sick and missed school the next day (today). So not a great physical health day, although I don’t think it was entirely my fault (except the dehydration part which probably was). I’d give myself a 0.5/5 overall. 

As for cleanliness, I didn’t do anything to mess up my room, which certainly counts for something. I also didn’t do anything to improve it. There isn’t much else I can say in that department and I’d probably give myself a 1/5 for cleanliness. This is kind of a depressing entry so, for the sake of positivity, I also read over one of my poems and decided that it was good enough to submit to the freelancer. So a 2/5 in creative productivity.

Day 7: 11/15/21

Today I went to work and school. It’s a Monday, typically I don’t work on Mondays, so I practiced my virtue of Acceptance by knowing that I wouldn’t necessarily get to spend my time as I wanted, but knowing that that’s okay and moving on. I practiced my virtue of Self-Discipline by taking the free time I had, at work and school, and using it to get homework done, instead of wasting it. Today I felt like it was more difficult to practice anything super explicitly because so much of my day was already planned and structured… there wasn’t much room to waste time… but also little to spend time in a way that may reflect into my virtue of Contentment. 

Day 6: 11/14/21

Today I spent time with my friends. I feel like that allowed me to practice the virtues of Contentment and Purposefulness. Spending time with people, friends feels like a much more enjoyable and a better use of free time-in contrast to mindlessly scrolling through social media. We went vintage shopping, which is something I enjoy but don’t always get to do-I feel that also ties into Contentment. In the evening I practiced Order and Self-Discipline. First, Order, by picking up my room to help with a better start to the new week. Then, Self-Discipline, by putting away my phone so I could get homework and other stuff that needed to happen, done.

Day 5: 11/13/21

Today I worked, and with that, it was sort of hard to practice some of my virtues. However, we were busier than I had anticipated, when heading into the day. With people waiting around outside before we had even opened, I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to get some of the things that I intended to do, done. I was able to practice my virtue, Acceptance. I knew that my day wasn’t going to go as I had planned, but I didn’t let that derail how I felt-I accepted that that was how it was going to be and moved on. In the evening I practiced Purposefulness, I had free time and spent it with my family.

Day 4: 11/12/21

Today, in school, I practiced my virtues Order and Self-Discipline. Sometimes, especially on Fridays, I tend to push off my work. However, instead, I tried to focus more on making sure that I got mostly everything done, that needed to be so, in school. In getting most of my work done in school, I was able to spend the rest of my day with friends. Practicing Order and Self-Discipline-doing the things I needed to get done earlier in the day, allowed for me to practice another one of my virtues, Contentment. The rest of the day I spent with my friends.

Day 7 on November 15

Today wasn’t the best day for my virtues, probably because I was occupied with other things since I have a lot of makeup work to do for school. I improved on moderation by trying to balance all of my makeup work with a little time reading a book because I was getting stressed out. This was great because it gave me a little break and made it easier to continue working after relaxing for a moment. I worked on my industry by cranking out a few assignments that I needed to finish and doing them quickly without sacrificing much of the quality of the work I did. I unloaded the dishwasher for my family today to work on my cleanliness which was great because my dad said it was super helpful and I was happy to contribute. I sadly didn’t have any time to spend with my family, because they were all busy and not home when I got back from school.

Day 6 on November 14

Like the first day of traveling, today was a difficult one to enhance my morality. I woke up bright and early at 3 a.m. to leave for the airport and then slept during the whole plane ride. When I had time to work during a long layover, I edited stories for the Harbinger and worked on a little bit of Physics homework to improve my industry by utilizing the time that I had. Then, on the plane, I practiced moderation by spending half of the time doing random things on my phone and the other half reading an iBook. The cleanliest thing I did today was unpack right away when I got home so that I didn’t have to have stuff lying around for a long time, which I’m happy I did as it prevented unnecessary stress and allowed my to relax in my clean room. I spent some time with my family — really just talking to them about my trip and what’s been different since I left last week. This was nice because I really missed my family while I was gone and was glad to have time to catch up with them. I worked on resolution by making a decision on what to get for dinner at Chipotle. I couldn’t decide if I wanted a rice bowl or a salad, so I ended up getting a rice bowl with lettuce on top.

Day 5 on November 13

Today was as good a day as any to improve on my virtues. I spent 30-ish minutes on Tik Tok and the rest of the day barely on my phone for a moderate balance, and tried to conserve time and be efficient by working quickly on my designs at the workshop for the industry virtue. While I didn’t finish my design in the given amount of time, I got a lot of it done and was proud of myself for how it turned out. I texted my dad today a bit and sent him more pictures to count partially as family time. The only thing that challenged my resolution today was deciding whether to get a pretzel or french fries at a food court outside this haunted house-themed penitentiary, and I decided on the pretzel pretty quickly — I think my timer has made me better at making quick decisions because it came more naturally than normal. I packed up my stuff that night and tried to tidy up the hotel room to work on my cleanliness.

Day 4 on November 12

Today was a long day, and full of virtuous work. I tried to keep the hotel clean by organizing the bathroom a bit after things got tossed around and it became messy. I also had to make a decision on what to order for lunch — salad or a sandwich. Not an intensely deep decision to make, but challenging nonetheless. Successfully, I decided to eat a salad in under a minute. I didn’t do well with the love for family virtue because I didn’t talk to any family members today — I was so caught up in the activities of the trip. It also wasn’t my best day for the virtue of moderation. I spent an hour on Tik Tok when I got back to the hotel at night and didn’t get much work done either, so I definitely wasted some time. However, it was the first day of our journalism workshop today for designing, and I accomplished a lot at the workshop. Then, when I got back to my hotel room, I finished a design that was homework.

Day 3 on November 11

Today was the first full day of my trip. I worked on moderation by spending very little time on my phone and instead enjoying Philadelphia by walking around and appreciating the city. I made a quick decision early on when picking an outfit to wear and tried to work on cleanliness by organizing my suitcase after making a mess when I was looking through my packed clothes. While it was impossible for me to spend time with my family as they weren’t there, I texted my dad about how the trip was going and sent him photos we took that day because he always asks me to do that. As for industry, I didn’t do very well on this today because I didn’t have time all day to work and didn’t want to do homework when we got back to the hotel at 10 pm as I was exhausted. Instead I gave myself a break and went to bed early.

Day 2 on November 10

Since I was traveling most of the day, there weren’t too many opportunities to work on my virtues, but I did what I could. Starting off, the only family time I had was a 45-minute car ride with my dad at 5 a.m. on the way to the airport. This was actually more family time than I get most days, but we were both tired and I could barely form words. I excelled in moderation today because I hardly went on my phone as there wasn’t wifi on the plane and then when I got to my destination, I wanted to talk to friends rather than watch tv or Tik Tok. I didn’t have a chance to work on resolution, because decisions for the trip were already planned out, or cleanliness, because I wasn’t at my own house and didn’t have anything to clean. Industry was also difficult to improve on because I wasn’t able to do much work without wifi, but I did edit some stories for the Harbinger.

Day 1 on November 9

My first day of working on my virtues was successful and boosted my confidence to continue my journey to moral perfection. I only watched 20 minutes of Tik Tok today in the middle of doing my homework and then went back to work. This was a nice balance because it gave me a break but didn’t stall my productivity as I didn’t go overboard on it. My strategy for resolution was especially helpful today as I packed for a trip. I’m a notorious over packer and couldn’t pick clothing pieces to choose from when I had to narrow outfits down for the sake of space. To decide, I set my minute timer and the time crunch really helped me decide what was actually important to me to bring. Industry was useful today because I had little time to work on homework, but also wanted to get some work done before leaving for my trip. So, I made use of about an hour to get two assignments done. I also cleaned my room one last time before leaving and washed the dishes for my cleanliness goal. Sadly, I couldn’t spend any time with my family as I was so busy preparing for my trip.

Day #7 – 11/14/21

Overall, I think I succeeded slightly more today than yesterday; specifically, I succeeded much in Resolution. Not only did I get all the homework necessary done, I also had the will to see my father for dinner at Bamboo Penny’s. Though, in this, I did not exercise much Sincerity, as I sadly am quite ambivalent towards the man and it’s hard to get in any sort of debate with him without it divulging into conflict I’d rather not involve myself in. If nothing else, I was glad I was able to redirect the conversation as to avoid that point of conflict.

In regard to the lesser successes, I think I generally succeeded with Awareness; I spent more time skipping activities when I realized I wasn’t gaining Enjoyment from them, and I barely picked at my nails at all. In this, I also automatically succeeded in Enjoyment, in the only way in which I truly could on my lonesome. As well, I had some success with Regulation, but not as much as prior days. I spent some time in bed on my phone, but I set a strict deadline to get off and followed it; afterwards I went to bed at a normal time.

Sleep Log

7:48 – Return Home
8:51 – Water
9:57 – Lights Off + Pajamas + In Bed
10:29 – Off Phone

10:40-6:30 AM – 7:40 Hours, 81 Sleep Score, Two Notable Wake Ups (1:21-1:30 and 3:24-3:30)

Tomorrow, I hope to focus on Sincerity, and although I don’t see any improvement in regards to such with my father, I hope I can improve on my mistakes and any conflict Resolution with my own peers. As well, I wish to continue the pattern I created for Enjoyment and Regulation, as such have been conducive towards my happiness.

Francesca Stamati — Introduction

My goal for writing this blog is to strive for Benjamin Franklin’s “moral perfection” by attempting to master five morals inspired by his own list. Like Franklin, I want to make myself a better person and get rid of bad habits that restrict my happiness. However, Franklin and I differ in our end goals. While he wanted to achieve perfection, I recognize that failure isn’t inherently bad and just want to do my best.

The morals I’m working on are moderation, resolution, industry, cleanliness and love for family. I chose the first one, moderation, because oftentimes I go overboard on things — whether it’s junk food, Netflix or time on Tik Tok. My plan of action for this virtue is to allow myself no more than an hour on Netflix or Tik Tok every day. Resolution, I chose because I’m an indecisive person and want to work on setting my mind to something and sticking with it. I’ll set a minute timer when I need to make a decision for this virtue. I’d like to improve on industry because I want to be as productive as possible so that I can get all of my work done every day with efficiency. I’m going to restrain myself from going on Tik Tok or spending too long talking to friends when I have work to do. Next is cleanliness. While I’m a clean person and always keep my room tidy and organized, I could do a better job of cleaning my bathroom and also contributing to my family by cleaning the kitchen when it gets messy. For this, I’m going to clean one thing in my bathroom and kitchen every day. I want to improve on showing my love for family because I often get caught up in my work and own life, so I forget to check in on my family members and spend time with them. To show my family how much I love them, I’m going to spend at least 30 minutes around at least one family member every day.

Now that it’s almost winter and getting colder, I want to make sure I’m staying happy in the darker weather. It makes me sad to spend every day on school and activities while I’m in a bad mood, just going through the motions and not really being in the moment. Practicing mindfulness by being aware of my actions will make me more present and hopefully make long days more enjoyable. I predict that I’ll have the most trouble with moderation as going overboard is a tough habit to break, and that cleanliness will be the easiest since I’m already clean. While these goals may be ambitious with my busy schedule, I hope that I can improve in these areas and put myself in a better mood.

Rafaela Grieco-Freeman: Day 6

Sunday, November 14th, 2021

Overall, I had a pretty relaxing Sunday, which is a good way to end the weekend for next week’s workload. It is crazy to think that these blogs have been going on for nearly a week! Overall, I believe that my virtues were mediocre today, nothing too crazy but not awful either. As for industry and temperance/moderation, I would rate them both around a 4.5/10, since I got all my homework that I needed to get done, done. However, I did not really get ahead on other tasks that would be necessary. My productive downtime was about a 5.5/10 since I did attempt an actual crossword with my spare time, but other than that I did spend quite a bit of time mindlessly on my phone. I would rate my tranquility a 6/10 for today since I was a little high-strung for some reason but was able to drive around and listen to some music to put myself in a good mood. Lastly, for my cleanliness, I would rate it a 5/10 since I did some light cleaning around my room, but nothing exceptional. I hope to see my virtues excel over the next school week, especially since I need to be on top of my school work for my classes. I feel like the extra time with the weekend at times was wasted, but at least allowed myself to recharge to have more energy for school.

Good night!

Day #6 – 11/13/21

Overall, I don’t think I truly did too much work when it came to most of my virtues. In terms of Enjoyment, I read some and played some games, but at the same time there was nothing substantial in that as to bring me happiness (though, I was proud of myself for finally sitting down to watch Bo Burnham’s Inside). It was just a mild contentment; not enough for me to be upset about, but at the same time not memorable. Like white noise. In terms of Resolution, I didn’t do too much, though I worked on Calculus and Foods work, and willed myself to do some chores I’ve been neglecting. In terms of Awareness, there wasn’t truly much there, and although I stopped myself from picking at my skin much there were only a couple of hours in which I felt truly there. As well, there could not be much work in Sincerity, as I spent most of the day recuperating from the social activities of the work-week. Overall, the only true success I had was Regulation, as I willed myself to shower and do some self-care while also managing my sleep schedule throughout the weekend.

Sleep Log

8:45 – Water
9:20-9:50 – Shower + Brush Teeth
10:00 – Water
10:07 – Pajamas
11:03 – In Bed + Phone Off + Lights Off

11:15-7:18 AM – 8:03 Hours, 82 Sleep Score, One Notable Wake Up (5:51-6:03)

Tomorrow, I’ll try my best to complete all available homework, and try to work on some more mindful tasks as to keep myself Aware. As well, I’ll try talking to some friends and will see if that helps.

Rafaela Grieco-Freeman: Day 5

Saturday, November 13th, 2021

I had a pretty relaxed yet somewhat productive Saturday. I got to sleep in which was always nice, and I got to go out to lunch with a friend which resulted in quite a tranquil afternoon. As for my virtues, I would highlight my tranquility for the day, as I spend a lot of time just doing things I enjoyed and calming myself down the for next work week (giving myself a 7/10 for today). I was also relatively good at my industry and moderation/temperance virtues (giving them both a 6/10), as I created those hot cocoa bombs (which I needed to film myself doing for a video class) and got some of my other homework done, though nearly not as much as I could have. As for cleanliness, I did not really get to cleaning my room and workspace, but I did make the point to clean up all of my items needed for my making of the hot cocoa bombs (so I would rate myself a 5/10). Lastly, for productive downtime, I did not really do much for this aspect as I was either doing work or mindlessly relaxing, so I would give myself a 3/10 for today. Hopefully, I can turn that around tomorrow as I gear up for the week ahead of myself.

Anyways, good night! (P.S. I will be sure to post an image of the hot cocoa bombs once I use them, I just was not really in the mood for it tonight)

Day #5 – 11/12/21

I honestly am really happy with this day and how it happened! In general, the only thing I think I struggled with was Regulation, as I don’t have a sleep log prepared for today, and I am now slightly off my showering schedule. Perhaps I struggled a bit with Resolution, as I didn’t get much work done this day, but I think that’s balanced out with how I used it towards Sincerity. Besides that, however, everything else went well. I decided not only to spend time with friends after school, both through Board Game Club and through a sleepover, but I did so while allowing myself to do the things both I and my friend Enjoyed. Furthermore, I felt mentally present for most of the day, though I did catch myself picking at my skin a couple of times. I think having someone who I can talk to somewhat easily in Calculus helps, and I was able to work on a couple of my American Eyes while doing so. Sincerity was easily my strongest suit though, as I was able to discuss some conflict between peers to one of my teachers, and she was willing to listen which was wonderful. I am just reminded of how important it is to state what makes you uncomfortable to people who are willing to do something about it, and how comforting it is to know that they have.

I hope to keep the pattern of Sincerity up, though I know I’ll have to work on some Regulation this Saturday to make up for the missed log.

Day #4 – 11/11/21

I think this day was a bit of a struggle, with my Awareness being quite low as I was barely present and able to focus throughout lunch, chemistry, and Spanish; though I luckily didn’t see an increase in skin-picking. However, my Resolution was quite high, as I was able to get most of my work done, and alongside that I was finally able to get myself to go to a Thursday club (two, actually!). With that, I think my Sincerity was pretty high, as I actively worked towards one of my interests, that being the examination of literature and art. I think my Regulation was alright, and I was able to get to bed effectively without my phone (I wish I could say more, but I already forgot what I mostly did for my afternoon, which definitely says something about my Awareness there)

Sleep Log

8:23-8:53 – Shower + Brush Teeth
9:04 – Pajamas
9:35 – Water
10:19 – Lights Out + Phone Off

10:23-6:41 AM Sleep, 8:18 Hours, 84 Sleep Score, One Notable Wake-Up (2:30-2:36)

I think I want to further work on focusing my mental energy, and through that not only be aware of when I’m not completely there, but work on effectively communicating such to peers I trust in case it affects work. As well, I’d love to continue my pattern of Resolution!

Rafaela Grieco-Freeman – Day 4

Friday, November 12th, 2021

Today got off to a bit of a rocky start, but I was happy to get it back on track as the day moved on (I did not have the best sleep last night, so most of the morning felt like a dream as at times I did not feel truly awake). However, I had a nice evening and got to enjoy some time for myself. As for my virtues, I feel like my highlight was tranquility. I had come home after school not feeling super energized but I was able to recharge by watching a movie (Bad Genius on Netflix, I highly recommend), so I rate myself a 7/10 on tranquility. I also did a good job on productive downtime, as I used some watercolors and just doodled for a bit with them (so I would also give myself a 7/10 on that virtue). I also did pretty well for my productive virtues, giving industry, moderation/temperance, and cleanliness around a 5.5 out of 10. I had mapped out all the homework I am needing to do this weekend (and even got started on some of them during free time at school) and got my workspace ready for when I tackle those activities. Overall, I am happy to see the gradual improvements of these virtues by simply keeping them in my mind.

Happy Friday! 🙂

Day 4

First off, I’ve decided to stop focusing on all five of my virtues every day and start focusing on just two a day. I feel like, for me at least, trying to work on all five at once leads to neglect and the failure to make any real improvements. I will therefore begin a more centered approach and work on just two a day. 

Today I concentrated on tranquillity and industry. I had planned to try a type of meditation last night, but that didn’t end up happening. When it was time to go to bed, I just completely lost interest and didn’t do anything. So not my best moment, a failure in both tranquillity and industry. Other than that, I had a pretty good/tranquil day today. I was exhausted this morning, but by seventh hour (rep theatre) I was doing pretty well! I’ve got a lot of homework to do this weekend but I’m trying to stay positive and not let it weigh me down. So overall I’d give myself a 3/5 for tranquillity today. 

I have struggled a bit today with industry, which is frustrating considering how on top of things I’ve been throughout the rest of this week. I didn’t finish a couple of assignments that could have been done in class if I’d been more productive, leaving me with weekend homework. And tonight, I let reading my mom’s People magazine distract me from homework (for anyone who’s interested: Paul Rudd, pride of Kansas and also the Shawnee Mission school district, is People’s sexiest man alive). I’ve made plans to be very productive this weekend and hopefully, I will actually be able to make that happen. Today I’d give myself a 2/5 on industry. 

Day 3: 11/11/21

Today my focus lied within Purposefulness and Contentment. I feel like a lot of time, by not being able to get all of my work done at a reasonable time, I neglect things that are important to me. Today I practiced Purposefulness by putting my phone away and spending time with my little brother. I helped him with his homework and just spent screen-free time with him. Music is something I really enjoy, so by practicing Contentment, I made time to listen through a new album. 

Ranking how well I practiced each virtue today: Order 4/5, Contentment 4/5, Acceptance n/a, Self-Discipline 4/5, Purposefulness #4/5.

Rafaela Grieco-Freeman: Day 3

Thursday, November 11th, 2021

I had a pretty good day today, even though it was a little slow in the middle it picked back up and I was able to enjoy my late start as well as my evening. As for today, I believed that my virtues also improved slightly from yesterday, which is great too. To start off, there were no conflicts that were notable today, so once again my tranquility has no score for today. As for my strong suit of the day, I would put it at my productive downtime virtue, ranking it a 7/10. I completed the New York Times mini crossword (and even tied my father for time which is exciting, since he usually blows me out of the water on those) and even attempted the actual crossword, though not especially successful. I also planned and ordered a chocolate mold as I plan on making those hot chocolate “bombs” over the weekend, which hopefully goes well. As for my other virtues, I would rank industry a 6/10, as I got all my homework done enough so that I have extra time for myself. My cleanliness is also at a 6/10 since I was able to keep my workspace clean and distraction-free from yesterday. Finally, I would rate my temperance a 5/10 as I continued to stick to my SAT schedule. Overall, I feel good improvements from yesterday and I hope this continues moving forward.

Good night!

Day #3 – 11/10/21

Overall, I have relatively mixed opinions about this day. In regards to Sincerity, I think I somewhat failed, as within one of my classes I did not speak up about my discomfort with something (though, I did listen to music and that calmed me down, so that was quite nice). However, I still did what I wished to do in the day, and decided to join for a round of Ping Pong club even though ping pong is not my strong suit. I think my Awareness was stronger than yesterday, as I barely picked at my skin and stopped myself once I started. Furthermore, I kept myself in the present moment during difficult-to-focus in classes. Overall, I think my strongest part was actually Enjoyment, as I participated in many activities I joined, and even whipped out my cello to have some fun by playing Enter Sandman by Metallica. It’s the best I’ve felt in a while. Sadly, with this my Regulation was not great, and I not only used my phone in bed but stayed up later than I would normally encourage myself to. (Plus, I scheduled two events at the same time! Not my strongest moment)

Sleep Log
8:17-8:33 – In Bed
8:45 – Pajamas
9:30 – Water
10:05 – 10:20 – Cello Practicing
11:09 – In Bed, Lights Out
11:24 – Phone Off

11:41 – 7:11 AM Sleep, 7:30 Hours, 77 Sleep Score, One Notable Wake-Up (5:16-5:24)

Tomorrow, I’ll focus on being more Regulated while trying to keep the pattern of increased Enjoyment and Awareness up. As well, with Sincerity I hope to keep my mental awareness there, but be further cognizant of my boundaries, violations of such, and then communicating that to who is necessary.

Day 3

Tranquillity 2/5

After reading comments, as well as other people’s techniques for the virtue of tranquillity, I’ve decided to try meditation tonight. I will be sure to update on how that goes and how I do it specifically. As for today, I didn’t do horribly in terms of tranquillity, but this doesn’t have a lot to do with the habits I am trying to develop. I feel like my tranquillity is basically the same as it was before I started focusing on it. It’s hard to recognize when one is falling into negative patterns of thought and even harder to actually move on to positive thoughts. Hopefully, meditation will help me improve in this regard. 

Industry 4/5

I had another day where I felt very on top of things and productive. I’ve had a lot going on today (ran freelancer meeting after school) so there hasn’t been an opportunity to get super distracted, but with the free time I’ve had, I’ve been pretty good about getting things done and focusing on school. 

Physical Health 1/5

To be totally honest, today was a bad day for my health. I felt sick at lunch so I didn’t really eat anything and I haven’t gotten any kind of physical activity either. I’ve felt kind of gross all day and will probably lie down after writing this. 

Cleanliness 2/5

I haven’t had time to clean my room fully yet, but I’m trying to be generally clean and not make things messier. I was successful at this today, but to be fair, I haven’t been home all day so I haven’t had the opportunity to make a mess. 

Creative Productivity 2/5

I’ve made plans to work on my Frequent Friday this weekend, so I will be sure to update on how that goes and if I am successful. Other than that, I didn’t write anything new or work on much creatively. 

Connor Lawson – Day 2 Update

For this day, I was excelling with my self-control virtue, I was able to resist all junk food and candy for the day. I was proud of myself for being able to do this. I specifically remember staring down an ice cream sandwich that was in the freezer for around a minute, just telling myself that it wasn’t worth it. Once again, there was no need to study for any tests, but I did complete all my homework for diligence. I did well with keeping calm and Tranquil, There was nothing to even get upset about this day. For honesty, I didn’t lie, and for sincerity I was supposed to do laundry around 7pm, but I put it off until 9pm when my mom told me to do it again. 

Day 2: 11/10/21

Today my primary virtue focuses were Order, Self-Discipline, and Purposefulness. I spent my time getting my space into order, along with focusing on getting my work done-in hopes of that allowing me to spend more time towards Contentment tomorrow. Through practicing Self-Discipline, I was able to get everything done early enough, which allowed me to practice Purposefulness. With the extra time I had, in the evening, I spent time with my family. I stayed down for the entirety of dinner, which I don’t always do because I feel that I’m rushing to get all of my work done.

Ranking how well I practiced each virtue today: Order 4/5, Contentment 3/5, Acceptance n/a, Self-Discipline 5/5, Purposefulness 4/5.

Day 2

Tranquillity 1/5

I didn’t really make any progress in achieving general tranquillity today. I am beginning to suspect that this might require a more definite strategy than the “general positive thoughts” thing I had going.  

Industry 4/5

I have been fairly productive today and, while I’ve definitely had some moments of distraction, on the whole, I’ve felt very on top of things. Throughout the school day, I used extra time to work on homework and after school, I avoided getting on my phone which saved me from falling down that time-consuming hole. I also had work tonight which adds to my feeling of general accomplishment.

Cleanliness 3/5

My cleanliness rating is kind of in the middle today because my room was straightened up by the hired cleaning service my parents pay for. So things look a lot better than they did, but it’s no thanks to me and therefore I shouldn’t get the credit. My room still needs to actually be cleaned, not just generally neatened, but for now, I will do my best to maintain its improved state.

Creative Productivity 2/5

I have not been creatively productive today. To be fair, I’ve had a full day and there hasn’t really been time. However, I have had a good idea for my Frequent Friday so there’s that. Will probably start writing it soon

Physical Health 2/5

I wasn’t super active today, but I did lift things and walked around at work. Definitely kind of a stretch, but I’m going to go ahead and give myself a point.

Rafaela Grieco-Freeman: Day 2

November 10th, 2021

For today, I felt like I did alright in my virtue completion, though not excellent, despite having an overall good day which is somewhat confusing. I think it’s because I succeeded in virtues that I already prioritize outside of this project, which is somewhat throwing myself through a loop, so that will need some getting used to. However, I felt like I had a definite improvement on cleanliness from yesterday, possibly bumping it up to a 6/10. I followed Luke’s advice from earlier and I felt like it really helped with preventing distractions from my desk space. However, I still felt at times, not the most efficient, putting my industry and productive downtime virtues at a 4/10 for today as I got distracted by my phone easily, and justified it as my rest which was not exceptionally fulfilling. The virtue of tranquility did not really come up as any nervousness or frustration was very small and not substantial enough to make an impact (so putting it at a N/A out of 10 possibly; I may need to redo my ranking system). Temperance was alright though (putting it at a 5/10), as I continued my SAT preparation, but maybe not on other ongoing long-term projects.

I am interested to see how my virtues improve, fail, or fluctuate as this blog continues. Good night!

Day 1

Tranquillity 1/5

I can already tell that this is going to be the hardest virtue to adhere to, as well as to measure. I wasn’t a frazzled mess today, but I don’t think this has a lot to do with me. It just wasn’t that sort of day. I want to try to pay more attention to my thoughts and recognize when something I’m stressing about is unnecessary so that on the days when I actually am a frazzled mess, I’ll have the mental resources to handle it. This will also allow me to be less stressed about pointless things day to day. 

Industry 3/5

I feel like I was largely able to avoid unnecessary distractions today. I had a couple of slip-ups, but on the whole, I was pretty productive and on task.  I did push off focusing on my work in seminar in favor of hanging out with friends while working in a more distracted manner. However, I don’t totally consider this a failure because I feel like I was better off afterward in a way I wouldn’t have been had I only done homework.  I did struggle with some of my assignments when I got home, but I was more productive than I have been in a while and there was only one short instance in which I fell completely off task and got on my phone.

Cleanliness 2/5

Today I partially straightened up my room. I didn’t make much of a dent in the overall mess, but I made it a little bit better which is definitely something to be happy about. I plan on cleaning it properly when I have some time this weekend. 

Creative Productivity 4/5

I took some time after homework to actually write a new poem for the first time in a while. It’s not the best thing I’ve ever written, but it’s new and I’ve actually finished it, which is saying something. I also took some time to think over ideas for my frequent friday, which I need to start writing right about now. Hopefully, if I keep it in my mind, I will come up with something worth writing.

Physical Health 3/5

I think I did a relatively good job with physical health. I abandoned the couch and my book to go with my mom and walk the dog around the neighborhood. The weather was really beautiful and walking at night was surprisingly nice (much better than walking during the day). It is definitely the sort of thing I should do more often. However, I didn’t eat particularly well, which I need to remember to do in the future. 

Day 1: 11/09/21

Today is my first day in working on my five virtues (Order, Contentment, Acceptance, Self-Discipline, and Purposefulness) and my journey to some sort of moral better-ness. The virtue most apparent, today, was Acceptance. My day went un-according to plan. I was sick, which meant that I had to stay home from school, and because I’m going to be absent next week too, it stressed me out. However I knew that this was outside of my control, so I did my best to just move past it. The other virtue I focused on was Self-Discipline. Instead of spending my whole day doing nothing, laying on my phone, I tried to do things that I needed to get done, in hopes of minimizing how behind I got. Overall I think that it was a fairly successful first day of working on my virtues.

Day #2 – 11/9/21

Overall, I don’t think this day was horrible, but I acknowledge that I was much less successful than the day prior. In regards to Sincerity I did okay, but I was around someone I was uncomfortable with and did not set my boundaries, and for that I am slightly disappointed. However, my Awareness was quite nice, and I felt pretty cognizant for all my classes and conversations, even Spanish which is normally a rarity. I think this change was due to me sitting with an individual I know, rather than an individual I can only consider myself mildly acquainted with. Sadly, my Regulation was not strong at all, with me finding myself picking at my skin for 20 minutes in the car, which lets me know that I cannot let myself linger in there once I’m done driving; furthermore I had my phone out in bed, though I’m proud of myself for only using it for ten minutes. Sadly, this led to me ruminating afterwards and having a mini-breakdown before bed, so changing my night-time routine has moved itself up my priorities.

Sleep Log
7:49-8:16 – Shower + Brush Teeth
8:58 – Pajamas
9:40 – Lights Out + In Bed
9:54 – Phone Off

10:15- 6:12 AM Sleep, 7:57 hours, 81 Sleep Score, One Notable Wake-Up (5:45-6:00)

I will not consider this day a failure, as there were aspects in which I improved upon my usual behavior. However, I will acknowledge that there are important areas regarding Sincerity and Regulation in which I specifically need to focus on, and use that knowledge to improve tomorrow.