iExamen 2

            Practicing self-reflection while home from college due to the coronavirus sparking a worldwide crisis is incredibly fitting. As my family and I quarantine ourselves and disconnect from the social world, observing my attitudes and actions has the potential to be most effective.  I think that by the end of the time I am quarantined with my family, I will have spent the most quality time with them than ever before. It is a good idea to challenge myself to live, at least for a day, with the mindset of only saying things that are kind, useful, and true. When I went into this day and observation, I had hoped to improve the time spent with my family members and to avoid any potential conflicts. It is a difficult adjustment coming home from school, unexpectedly, and living with family again, especially when we cannot leave the house. I started the day by going downstairs to make myself breakfast. I was trying to think of how I could apply to be kinder into my life, in any way, no matter how simple or extreme. I decided to make breakfast for my family and their response was well worth it. It took barely any extra effort or time to do something that would make others happy and that was a great feeling. I think it was especially important that I did something that would make my family happy as this is such a stressful and uncertain time. It made me want to continue to do something every day to make them happy and help to relieve the stress of everything going on.

 Throughout the rest of the day, I worked to make sure that anything I say or act upon is useful and positive intent. In order to accomplish this, I needed to make sure that I thought before I said anything and did not let my emotions get in the way. For example, I was initially disappointed with the fact that I could not see my friends from home and that I was losing the second semester of my freshman year at college. However, after more careful and thoughtful reflection, I realized how lucky I truly am. So many people are going through a much more difficult time than me right now. The only thing that I have control of in this situation is staying in my house and keeping those struggling in my thoughts. It would be useless and selfish to complain about something that does not impact me to the full extent as it does others.

This self-observation reminded me to reconnect with myself and who I truly want to be. I want to be kind and I want to make others feel good. Unfortunately, sometimes emotions get in the way of that goal. After completing this iExamen, I am going to consistently work on being more mindful of my actions and thoughts.