Embracing a Holistic Approach to Life and Career Development

Reflection on engagement

My time at the university has been eye opening to say the least. I can confidently say that I am not the same person who walked initially walked into the institution. I have learn and developed in many different areas both academically and personally, with university dissertation help significantly contributing to this growth. After listening to the guests who spoke to us extensively about their achievements and contributions, I had a chance to reflect on my personal life and career objectives. In particular, I realised that as a person I need to do more than just focus on my academics and future career. I recognized a common thread in the lives of all the guests that spoke to us about contributions. Apart from having successful careers, they all at one point in their life engaged in other activities that fulfilled their lives. While one of them had engaged in climate change activism, another competed in a marathon and completed in less than four hours.

From their presentations, I learnt that I should focus on my career and aim to be the best. I should also take time to engage in other activities that aligns with my personal values and goals. I have thought about this and I believe my passion is in community empowerment and I have plans to undertake this as way of personal development and giving back to the society. This is the manner in which I would want to effect change in the society and make the world a better place. The change I would want to see in my community is that there be social justice. That each person in the community should be able to access social services despite their social status, race, colour or age. The other students also suggested a range of initiatives including mitigating climate change, political activism, youth empowerment, health awareness campaigns and many others. Out of all these suggestions, climate change was the most popular theme.

It is presumable that climate change is popular because there is scientific evidence supporting the effects of environmental degradation. Further, climate change is a phenomena that affects both the rich and the poor alike hence it is felt worldwide. This and extensive media coverage has made it a pertinent issue in almost each and every person’s life. To turn all the suggested ideas into reality we need to have a plan start doing them even if it is on a small scale. Once the initiatives have begun, they can be reviewed over time and it will be easier to get partners and partners

Impact of my actions

I have participated in various activities in the last few weeks of learning. Out of the several activities I engaged in, I developed a special liking for the one involving a simulation game. In the activity, I was supposed to play a simulation game with others about international relations. Further, I was to attempt to reach an agreement with other participants regarding certain conflicting issues. I had the responsibility of representing my country in the United Nations of Zeta for purposes of negotiations on serious issues affecting the world today. In my role I championed for the interests of my country at the negotiation table with a view of getting the best deal. I raised issues that I did believe were pertinent both to my country and Planet Zeta. Basically, I considered my country’s interests and that of the world at large.

I found the activity quite interesting because I was able to express myself before other students and champion for a cause that I believed in. although I was not adequately prepared for the role, I was able to utilise my general knowledge to perfect the role I was assigned. Further, the activity looked almost real, like we were actually addressing world problems which brought a feeling of fulfilment. I believe the activity we engaged in had an impact on the people around me since we were discussing issues from different perspectives and it was possible to change someone’s

opinion on an issue. It was possible for one to change their view on an issue like climate change after a heated discussion and understanding of another’s perspective or even realise that they have had a flawed view of a certain issue. After the activity, I realised I could change my perception of certain matters after we had a lengthy discourse with my colleagues. For instance I realised that the issue of nuclear weapons warrants more attention than it is granted currently.

After this activity and discussion, I became more aware of my surroundings and community. I am now more interested in what goes on around me and in my community, especially if it has the potential to affect my life. In my resolve to take an active role in my community I have decided to focus of social justice and climate change issues. Therefore, I have rehearsed various plans that I could implement in my community including environmental conservation initiatives where I can mobilise likeminded people to undertake cleaning of our local neighbourhoods regularly. Additionally, I have thought about looking into enrolling albeit part time, as a social services provider with my target being child care services.

Final Review

I have truly gained from taking this module. At first, I though the module was less interesting and perhaps unnecessary but as we progressed with learning I came to recognize its importance to my career and personal life. The first few weeks were very enjoyable because topic on Global Perspective required us to be versatile and be able to evaluate different perspectives. I was able to interact and know my classmates from different programmes, cultures and backgrounds. This tested my ability to tolerate and appreciate different cultures, backgrounds and personalities.

I was also able to develop and ability to think critically about different global issues from different perspectives. For instance, climate change is a very sensitive issue that affects the world but there are different perceptions about it regarding the causes, responsibility and mitigation strategies. This module helped me realise there is not just one way to look at a phenomena and just because I have a particular view, it is not the only right or wrong one. In my discussions, I was able to appreciate different perspectives without judging the holder of those views but trying to understand their point of view before rebutting or wanting to correct them.

More importantly, I leant that we do not have to agree to most things because there are similarities and differences in perspectives of things around the world. I have thus made a sense of the world as beautiful place that should be protected though various initiatives. I believe that my role in this modern world goes beyond my career to entail fighting for an equal world that is just and sustainable. The module had different learning styles including visual, aural, verbal and social.

At the end of this module I found that I preferred the visual and social learning styles that I engaged in during this semester. In particular, the presentations by the guest speakers were quite clear and I found it easy to understand and remember the contents of those presentations. Besides that, I loved the lead events and discussion groups. I was able to interact with students form different programmes and learn new things from fellow students which was very insightful for me. I realized that learning from fellow students was very effective for me. Be that as it may, the lecture materials were also helpful in one way or the other but not as effective as the ones discussed above.

Ultimately, I have improved on my communication skills from the group discussions I was involved. I am now more confident and articulate, a skill which is very important in my discipline. It is important to have a global perspectives in a business environment since I will be dealing with people from different parts of the world and I believe this module has prepared me for that. However, I do recognize that I need to improve on my analysis skills so that I am able to critically look at situations and provide appropriate solutions. Henceforth, I have resolved to make better use of the university library resources for research and learning to better my understanding of my upcoming modules. Overall, I think I have performed well in this module but I still need to put in more effort into research and personal development to reach where I can consider myself complete and all round.

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