This project when first proposed to me was very frustrating. I wasn’t sure what I would do as my project. To be completely honest, I didn’t even know where to start. I have never had a project like this, so I haven’t ever had to think deeply about the overall purpose of it. Initially I wanted to do some sort of fundraising project. I had wanted to do a bunch of mini projects like bake sales and car washes to see how much money I could accumulate. I had planned to donate to the animal shelter that I got my dogs from. But, after discussing the idea with my mom it seemed too out of reach for me. After re evaluating I have come up with a new idea, but I’m not completely sure about it yet. I know I want to help other people in some way, so my thought was that I could volunteer/ visit at a geriatric center. I want to do this because I will have fun doing it and I will be able to help out those without much of a family. I could spend time with them and help them with what they need whether that be me reading a book to them or simply painting their nails. I am not sure if this is the best idea for my purpose project, but I do know that it would help me grow as a person and I would be making an impact on other people’s lives.
https://www.med.unc.edu/aging/patients/what-is-geriatric-medicine/
This week I mostly spent my time trying to figure out my actual goals that I wanted to accomplish when going to visit. I decided I still want to focus my goals around the deeper meanings of stories. I want to use their each individual stories to build off their regrets and mistakes to make my life better. I want to be able to live with little regret and hearing about other people’s might make my own personal experience better. I really need to figure out where I will be going. If I don’t go to a geriatric home, I think a nursing home would be good too. When I go to spend time with them, I don’t want to rush into questions, I want to get to know them and then ease into questions. I have a nursing home close to my house so I could reach out to them and explain what I am doing. This should be my new step in moving forward, but I also want to rethink my ultimate goal and see if I can think of any better ideas. If not, I will go back to my original idea and move forward with that. Also, I need to make an ultimate list of the questions I will try to ask. I have an idea of things I want to ask, but I want it to lead to something that I can build off of. I want to find a purpose of asking the questions.
I have made a lot of progress since last week. I have finally accumulated a list of things I would like to discuss with the people I meet with. The things I have thought of are
- What are life experiences that have stuck out to you
- What is something else you wish you had accomplished in your younger years
- What are your biggest regrets
- What is your biggest piece for someone younger than you
And so on. Compiling these answers from the people I meet could cause an important change in my lifestyle. I am most interested in seeing how this will all affect me. I initially wanted to focus this on to the different stories people had, but now that I have thought a little bit deeper about it, I think it would more tie into carpe diem. It would be nice to work with other people on this, but working independently also allows for more self reflection and self growth. My mom has been helping me expand on this project and make it better. She has also been helping me try to figure out what geriatric center or nursing home I will be going to in order to do this.
I have completely changed my main objective. At the beginning, I wanted to focus my purpose project around stories and how they make us who we are. I wanted to compile stranger’s life stories to find a purpose. But now, I have a whole new idea which I think is much more meaningful, but still along the same ideas as the last one. I want to focus in on how to life the most meaningful life. In other words I want to be able to find a way to live the rest of my life with little to no regrets.
Recognizing the critics from last blog post, I have come up with a more thorough explanation of my project. Unexpected things happen sometimes, and due to that, I had to switch my project because the old one wasn’t working out for me. It wasn’t working with my schedule and things going on in my personal life were getting in the way of my ability to complete my previous project. Instead of waiting until the last possible minute and creating a depthless project, I decided the smarter move was to just switch around my project so that it would cooperate with things going on in my personal life. In my opinion, the new version of my project is better developed and will have a better outcome. I will be reaching out to people of all ages rather than just elderly people. It will capture more viewpoints and will result in a more thought out end project. Also, if I decide to interview people that aren’t complete strangers to me I will get more personal answers from them. Overall, I think that my new take on this project will be better in the end.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110301111503.htm
If my purpose project were to be completed right now, I don’t think I would be 100% satisfied with my goal. I am proud of my progress, along with what I have accomplished and the interviews that I have collected, but I haven’t completed my end product yet. Looking at how my project has grown and evolved since the beginning in january, I am happy with what it has led to. It has become more and more personalized which allows me to feel passionate about my project. I am also glad that I shifted from just elderly, to now all ages. I think it will reach more people and be more effective overall which is what I have been hoping for. I haven’t been completely sure about what I want my end product to me but I think I have finally decided on a website that is almost like an online handbook. This way, I will be able to share it with more and more people and anyone can access it. I personally believe this is the best way to compile all of the information while still being able to make it interesting for everyone. Depending on the website creator I use, I can see how many people have viewed my project which will be pretty cool to see
https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychpedia/regret
Grace's Mind Garden 