Blog Post #1

Virtue One

The first virtue that I plan to work on is self-confidence. Having self-confidence, means trusting yourself, and being comfortable with who you are are and how you act. Confidence, to me, means that you are happy with who you are and not afraid to express this. I am picking this particular virtue to focus on, because my self-confidence has been deteriorating for years, and as I grow, I am less and less content with who I am. I have very low self-esteem and don’t trust myself to do anything. I also picked this trait because I severely lack it, and I believe that having  it will make me happier. I am my biggest critic, and I always put myself down and tell myself that I am not good at anything. Therefore, I hope this experiment helps me gain self-confidence. My plan for attaining this virtue is to be nicer to myself, instead of criticizing my every move. I also plan to grow in this trait by being proud of myself when I achieve something, rather than tell myself that I’m undeserving of it. I also plan to trust myself more by forgiving myself for any mistakes that I will make.

Virtue Two

The second virtue that I am going to work on is my courage. Having courage is having the bravery and confidence to do anything you have the urge to do. Courage is an important virtue to have because without it, it’s hard to summon the motivation to do anything, especially if you are too scared to do so. This is why I’m picking this virtue: so that I can do anything that I want, and so that I actually live my life, rather than living in fear. Having courage is especially vital at this time, but is very hard to have, considering all that is going on in the world. However, I hope that with the help of this project, I can gain the courage that I am lacking, and be brave enough to make a difference in our planet, or even just in somebody else’s life. My plan for growing in this virtue is doing one thing everyday that I wouldn’t do otherwise. In other words, I want to push myself to do something that may scare me, and face my fears. I also plan to act on whatever I have the urge to do, because I think that my courage will grow if I let myself go. Getting out of my comfort zone, and going with my intuition takes a lot of courage in itself, so I also plan to do this as well.

Virtue Three

Finally, Optimism is another virtue that I plan to improve on greatly. Optimism is being hopeful and trusting that in unpromising conditions, there will be a good and positive outcome. It is unsurprising that I lack this, since I am a very pessimistic person. I want my optimism to grow because when I am unsure of what will happen, I usually see the ‘glass half-empty’ and jump to conclusions that the worst is bound to happen. I also find that hope just makes a situation worse, especially if things don’t go as planned. However, I am hoping that if my optimism improves, then I will see things in a different light, where not everything will go terribly. I feel that this will make me a happier person, knowing that not everything is bound to go wrong. My plan for improving in this virtue, is finding the good in every bad situation. For example, if I get a bad grade, I will see it as motivation to do better, rather than a sign telling me that I am ‘not good enough.’ This way, I can practice seeing the silver lining in bad situations, and improve on having a positive outlook.