Free Narrative Essays - Transcendentalism

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Transcendentalism

A whole month of being nice. From the start, I didn't think it was even humanly possible. Although I always try my hardest to be pleasant, I'm sarcastically witty by nature. This project, no matter how inspirational and uplifting it could be, would decidedly be no walk in the park. Nevertheless, I decided to persevere. Even if I ended up being a complete Transcendental failure, maybe I'd still learn something along the way.

On the first day, I went for about twenty minutes before cracking a joke at my best friend. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary for me, but I actually stopped and thought about the possible consequences of my actions. Breakthrough! I went for another twenty minutes, most likely, before making some sort of snide comment, though. Oops.

In the month of Transcendentalism, I kept a journal. I made a "Transcendentalism fact sheet" and thumbtacked it to my wall. I may not have tried my hardest every day, but I made an honest attempt. Overall, in a whole month, I may not have been completely successful in becoming Transcendental. Depending on whom you ask, I may not have even made much progress in becoming even remotely Transcendental. In my opinion, though, I think it worked.

"Why?" you ask. Because, in the course of this project, I learned a lot about myself, my friends, and the way actions affect everyone around me. Through this project, I realized the importance of accepting other people for who they are, of letting go of anger, of trusting your own decisions, and of taking the initiative to change your life. In fact, there was only one tenet of Transcendentalism - defying "predestination" by leading fate instead of being led by it - that I had a hard time believing, I think I gained a better understanding of why that thought is so important in life.

I doubt that I was any more than fifty percent successful in becoming truly Transcendental, but a change for the positive is an improvement from before. I've recognized the importance in the little blessings in life. Having a loving family, a roof over my head, and living in an overall supportive environment are things that I would not necessarily have taken the time to appreciate and be thankful for before.

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