I hope you enjoyed reading through my artifacts and that you were able to gather a thorough understanding of my background, the lessons I learned during my freshman year, and how they have shaped me into who I am today. Through this class’ focus on exploring many perspectives on how the world, purpose, and meaning should be viewed I have been able to better understand the limitations of the worldview I grew up with. With this newfound clarity, this class has empowered me to develop my own perspective of life’s meaning and purpose that is grounded in beliefs and values that align with my true identity. While I do not quite know if my evolving perspective fully conforms to any of those that we have discussed in class, I have been able to draw three conclusions about my worldview regarding values and priorities. Through the creation of this project, I have concluded that my worldview is significantly built on the prioritization of journey, the emphasis on self-growth, and the value of autonomy.
I drew the first conclusion from My Freshman 15 playlist and the collage of play ticket artifacts as they both convey my prioritization of enjoying life’s journey over focusing on a supernatural destination in slightly different ways. I mentioned several times throughout my artifacts that I was raised in a very dominating religion. Growing up in this community I was taught to dedicate my entire earthly life to earning rewards in the next, supernatural life. This view neglects appreciation of the tangible aspects of meaning the earthly life offers leading to a very bleak and rigorous lifestyle. These artifacts reflect how I have shifted my priorities from focusing on a world beyond ours to appreciating the bright, colorful meanings the physical realm offers. My playlist demonstrates how I focus my energy on thoroughly enjoying and exploring my present journey by capturing moments of life in the form of music to reflect on. In a different but somewhat similar sense, the play tickets add to the representation of how I better immerse myself in the physical journey. It showcases how I choose to spend my limited time on earth attending theatrical performances and appreciating tangible art instead of working towards heavenly treasures.
The second conclusion is derived from the third and fourth artifacts as they work together nicely to display how over my freshman year I have grown substantially as an individual. While perusing artifacts to include on my website, I noticed that the only way I knew how to describe my current worldview was to compare it to my old one. This greatly showed me how much of an emphasis self-growth has over how I evaluate my life. These two artifacts–the color pink and Howl’s Moving Castle–exemplified some of my strongest progressions of growth over the past year. The re-claiming of the color pink in my life demonstrates my growth from allowing a misogynistic framework to define me to decide for myself what describes me as a person. Personal growth is also seen in the story Howl’s Moving Castle stands to represent. That artifact conveys how I learned to lean on friendships during tough times rather than internalizing my struggles. These artifacts of personal growth are incredibly important to my worldview as they showcase how I have overcome some of the most difficult challenges in my life so far.
The last conclusion that I have made is that at the very core of my worldview, autonomy is immensely valued. All of my artifacts showcase some aspect of claiming autonomy, but the one that stands out for this value is the picture of me and my brother on the BGSU letters. This photo represents a full-circle moment where it became clear to me that despite all the hardships and heartbreaks I was able to start a new life at BGSU. In this new space, I get to live according to the values and principles that follow my true identity rather than sacrifice my autonomy to conform to a pre-set framework. Since this artifact of autonomy is so vital to my worldview, I listed it last so that, out of everything I have shared with you, this value might be the one that stays with you the longest.
To wrap up my website I’d like to thank you again for respecting the stories I have shared with you. These five artifacts summarize the aspects that are currently very essential to my worldview. While I’m still unsure if my worldview will end up closely aligning with one of the worldviews we have discussed in class or if it will turn out to be slightly more unique, this class has taught me so much regarding differing perspectives. I have learned how to deepen my understanding of my worldview while also respecting other ways people choose to see the world. Through my website, I hope that you were also able to gain this perspective of respect. I hope that you were also able to learn a little bit about me, my story, and my worldview in a way that benefits your own journey to meaning!
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