C.

Lee
UWRT 1104
Dr. Jizi
10/4/17
Future Authoring Essay

I am going to write about my life and how I can live it for me and not for anyone else

through the use of the Well-Being Theory.

I didnt realize how important it was to feel gratitude, satisfaction, hope, inspiration,

happiness, love etc., until two years ago. For five years, my depression had created a wall that

wouldnt let any positive emotion in. As I struggled through my depression, I told myself that I

didnt need positive emotion and that I would be fine without it. Thinking about it now, I realize

that I was very wrong. Without positive emotion, a human cannot properly function. I know that

from personal experience and I now know how I can feel good everyday. Now, I feel many positive

emotions everyday. Its overwhelming yet its wonderful. I cannot include everything here so I

will talk about the top three positive emotions I feel and how I can continue to feel them. The first

is hope. I was in a life or death situation for a while. I didnt feel the need to live anymore so I had

made a plan to kill myself. I was admitted to the UNC Psych Ward because of it. I didnt carry out

my plan but I was at a point where my actions could have become impulsive and that in itself was

dangerous. I am in a better place in my life now and my state of living is my hope. I feel hope

when I look down at myself and see my body parts move. I feel it when I breathe. I feel it when I

eat food and talk to other people because I didnt think I would get to this point in my life. Hope

is real. Before, I secretly hoped to stay alive (even though it may not have seemed that way). Now

that I have done that, I realize anything is possible and if I have hope anything can happen.

The second emotion is love. This was very much non-existent for me for about five years.

I didnt feel it and I didnt really give it either. I thought my parents didnt love me. I thought my
friends hated me. I thought my brothers didnt care. I thought my teachers didnt care. I thought

that nobody would care if I a disappeared. Very clearly, as you can see, love just wasnt working

in my favor at the time. Although none of above was actually true, because I felt it, I believed it.

Now I feel that everyone loves me and I believe it. I am able to feel this (and will continue to feel

it) because of my Honesty, Authenticity, and Genuineness character strength. I am honest about

the way I feel and that gives people an opportunity to be honest with me. You have to be honest Commented [DJ1]: Avoid switching to second person,
you. Stay in first person.
with love. My family and I are honest about it and because of that honesty I know that they love

me with everything that they have. This applies to my friends and hopefully to my future

significant other. Honesty keeps the love alive. The third emotion is satisfaction. I feel most

satisfied in my life when I help people. I can feel it in my soul. I have only just realized this feeling

of satisfaction but because I know this now, I can continue to help people in the future so I can

feel this positive emotion. One of my character strengths is Kindness and Generosity. This is

very exciting for me because this strength fits perfectly with this emotion. All I have to do in my

life is be kind and generous and I will feel like I have won the lottery. And because it is not hard

for me to feel kindness and generosity, I know that I will be living a very fulfilling life.

So far in my life, I have felt flow four times. I have felt flow when I played tennis in high

school and when I went to three One Direction concerts. I feel flow when I play tennis because I Commented [DJ2]: Three! I took my daughter to one,
and it was amazing!
know I am good at it, I know how to play strategically, and because I refuse to lose. I dont play

at the moment because I am not on a team and I dont have anyone to play with but I am positive

that I feel flow when I play this sport. This flow is most likely what helped me to lead my high Commented [DJ3]: You should ask the UNCC coach if
you can hit with the team. Find her/his name and send
an email. You should add that you were part of the
school team to winning the State Championships last year. I will continue to play because I like it State Championship team last year.

and its fun. I can now consider this a hobby because I will not be playing competitively. I feel

relief that I have something I can turn to during stress that will give me happiness. I also mentioned
that I felt flow when I was at my One Direction concerts. This was a period in my life when I

needed them to feel happiness and love. I was fully engaged at their concerts, no doubt. I blocked

everyone out and my concentration was on them only. I had twisted my ankle (360 degrees) before

one of the concerts. I was so in my flow that I forgot about my ankle and ran across the general

admissions lawn to get front row. My flow was so great that my adrenaline kicked in. If One

Direction decides to have a reunion tour then, yes, I will feel this flow again. But this is only a

temporary flow so I do need to figure something else out.

I feel very engaged when I am helping people. I use and will continue to use my value of

dependability to feel this engagement. I dont let people down at all. Because I dont want to let

you down, I become fully engaged with the task until it is complete. I absorb myself in the task

because I know the outcome is going to be satisfying. I know that I will feel flow once I secure a

job at the United Nations. I am feeling engaged now because I am working towards securing a job

there. I want this so bad, that I feel engagement by just thinking about the United Nations. I will

one-hundred percent have flow in my future and I will continue to work for it until I feel it. Commented [DJ4]: Write about your plan to work at
the UN. Give the details of what you would like that
work to look like.
I have many wonderful people in my life. I didnt realize it before but I do. At the moment,

all my relationships are positive. I have people who I can talk if I am having an issue. I have people Commented [DJ5]: ?

I can talk to when I am happy. I have people that love me and that support me. My relationship

with my parents has greatly improved. I can talk to both of them about my issues and problems. I

dont feel the need to try and solve everything on my own anymore. Of course, I will continue to

improve the relationship with my parents because there is room for that. I have cut all the negative

friendships out of my life. I have made new friends at church and its wonderful. I hope to find a

significant other in the future and I hope that my relationships with my co-workers will be positive

and happy. One of my top five character strengths is Social Intelligence. I have a radar that acts
as a filter. I know what I should and shouldnt say in certain situations. I have radar that tells me

the distance I should maintain when talking to people (the distance will change depending on the

situation). This radar will tell me what to do with my body language. I know how to handle myself

in public because of my social intelligence. I know exactly what to say in a given situation that

will help either enhance the situation or alleviate it. I know that with this character strength I will

continue to maintain strong and healthy relationships with everyone around me. I can build trust

within my relationships through my values of dependability and understanding. I already explained

dependability: I dont let people down. I never have and I never will. My value of understanding

is simple: I dont judge. No matter how insane the situation may get, I will not judge. Instead, I

will try to create an understanding of the situation. Through this understanding, I can create trust

and love with the relationships that I have. Commented [DJ6]: How will social intelligence play a
role in your career, work at the UN?
I value self-control because I am a very controlled and patient person. I have my three

younger brothers to thank for that. I know that I can use this value to keep my relationships strong

and healthy because I wont explode. I can also use this value when I have kids of my own. Instead

of yelling at my future children, I can sit down and talk with them and help them through their

problems which will strengthen their mental state. I can use my patience to listen to others and

understand their thought process and beliefs which will, no doubt, make the world a better place.

When I was talking about satisfaction, I mentioned that I felt the most satisfied when I help

people. I didnt talk much about it and kept that section short because this is where I wanted to go

into detail about it. I have found my purpose in life. My purpose as a human being is to help people.

Truthfully, I am so glad I found this out now because I dont have to worry about finding it

anymore. I am constantly thinking about others needs over mine. I put other people before me in

my everyday life. I have been in situations where helping others came at a disadvantage for me,
but I didnt regret helping them. I feel so great even if its just pressing a button in the elevator for

somebody. Whether I am helping people out in big ways or small ways, I know that this something

I am meant to do with the rest of my life. After realizing that this was my purpose, I decided that

I wanted to pursue a career that aims at helping others. I settled on the United Nations. When I

was thirteen, I had this desire to work for the United Nations but it dissolved and disappeared for

a while. The desire came back a couple of months ago and I am now planning strategic moves to

help me reach my goal. Commented [DJ7]: Write out your strategy here. What
is your major? What steps are you going to take to get
to your ideal job? The more detail you can include the
I have a long time before my life comes to an end. There are many things that I would like better.

to accomplish in that time. I would say most of my goals are reasonable and will keep me happy

and satisfied. My first goal is to join the United Nations as I have previously mentioned. I am

hoping that I will find a position in the Department of Human Rights and aid in creating laws that

will better the lives of people around the world. One of my top character strengths is Fairness,

Justice, and Equality. I have established that I can use this strength to help make decisions and

laws out of fairness and equality. I can help bring justice to those who are suffering unfairly and

give everyone the equality they deserve. Another one of my character strengths is Citizenship,

Teamwork, and Loyalty. I also believe that this strength can help me with making important

decisions and laws. My loyalty to helping people will positively influence others into helping as

well. My citizenship and teamwork skills can be used to bring people together to agree upon laws

and policies that are needed. I know that I can do great things with these two strengths. Before I

enter the United Nations, my goal is to get accepted into Harvard Law School. I was aiming for

Duke but I decided to aim higher (go big or go home). One last thing that I would like to accomplish
Commented [DJ8]: This makes my heart hurt because
before I die is to love and accept myself. I had an issue with being Asian. I thought it was the end people of all races and nationalities are beautiful. I
dont know where you went to high school, but that
for me because I was Asian. I hated my jet black hair and my small brown eyes. It took me a while might have played a role in how you felt about your
ethnicity.
but I am now satisfied with my ethnicity. I love my silky, black hair and my beautiful, chocolate

brown eyes. However, there is more work to be done. I underestimate myself a lot and I dont

really like the way my body looks. I have flab on my stomach, thighs that touch and wide

shoulders. I try not care too much about it, but I do. I see all these pretty, petite girls walking

around and my self-confidence drops below zero. I know I am beautiful. I havent accepted it fully,

but I know I am beautiful. That being said, I am still working on accepting myself and loving the

jiggle on my tummy. Hopefully, I can be completely happy with my body. I would also like to Commented [DJ9]: Often the way we feel about and
perceive our bodies has to do with how healthy we feel.
I will suggest that you check out the Whole Foods Plant
confidently believe in myself. I have amazing capabilities. I am capable of a lot more than I think. Based revolution that is going on.
I have lost 35 lbs and I have not had to starve myself to
My brain always tells me otherwise. My brain tells me that I shouldnt do things because I might do it.

http://ucdintegrativemedicine.com/2017/10/plant-
fail. My brain tells me that I am not skillful enough for certain tasks. It tells me that I dont have based-meal-plan-cookbook/

https://www.forksoverknives.com/
enough knowledge to answer a question so I shouldnt. I know that none of this is true, but its a
This way of eating will make you feel amazing. Serena
struggle when your brain is trying to bring you down everyday. I am fighting each day with my and Venus Williams adopted it, and they started
winning again.

mind and so far Ive been doing pretty good. I am going to keep working on this until I am fully

confident to do whatever I want, even if I suck at it. Commented [DJ10]: http://www.positivityratio.com/

Broaden and Build Theory of Positivity was created by

Dr. Barbara Fredrickson. You can improve the way
your mind works.
Christina,
Mindfulness is also another strategy to use. View your
thoughts as clouds and watch them pass by without the
I appreciate your openness and honesty in writing this. There is so much here, and it is all need to believe them.

important. What I would like for you to do, is to now take out the past. You can keep that for

yourself. It is an important part of your growth. What you want to do with this essay is to focus

solely on your future.

I would like for you to write about your plans to work at the UN. Write out how you are

going to get there. What will your undergraduate degree focus upon? What actions will you take
in the next four or five years to increase your chances of getting the job you want. Does UNCC

have a Model UN? I think we might. You might want to look into it.

Then write about your future relationships. Include all of those positive emotions you

already mentioned, but make sure you are writing about the future.

Also, when it comes to how you will be in the future, remember you have to write it as if

everything has turned out as well as it possibly could. Resist the urge to negate those positives

with disclaimers about your past.

I have suffered from depression a lot in my life, and I am living proof that there is a way

out. The work of Barbara Fredrickson, and focusing on the elements of PERMA are good to start

you on your path.