During the past two class sessions, I have really started to fully understand what wicked problems really are. They are specific to certain areas and require creative solutions to be made. I’ve become more vocal of my thoughts and ideas in our breakouts rooms as well and look forward to class discussions from now on. I also have enjoyed the readings we are given beforehand. They make me think in such a different way than I am used to, and it’s interesting to see everyones’ opinions on such topics. I’ve tried my best to allow myself to understand everyone’s outlooks on the diverse topics we talk about. Another one of the things I’ve tried to work on is the five minutes of assigned meditation or quiet time. I have never spent time alone like that before, as I was always busy with softball or school and my job. It’s nice now knowing that I am capable of having “down time” even in such a short period. I’ve really been focusing on praying for others that I know are sick or missing out on college because of the pandemic. The second thing I’ve been working on in my time of peace is telling myself daily reminders to be a good person and to love myself. It’s something I tend to struggle with, and having this time the past couple of days has helped me feel more confident in my own being. I hope to find time to continue this because it really has helped me when I didn’t expect it to. At first I was very skeptical about meditating in class. I was more worried about getting class over with and going to the plans I made afterward. But I have started to like the peace of mind and relaxation it’s given me. I can focus better and my anxiety and rushed feeling goes away after. On another topic, I’ve also liked our discussions over globalization. I was put in the “No” discussion group and after reading both articles on Tuesday, I had opinions for both sides. However, my breakout room and I have come to the conclusion that globalization is not sustainable in our society. Too many factors lie within rehabilitating what we have destroyed already. To consider our world “ sustainable” again we would have to mass produce windmills at every second for twenty-five years. Ultimately this would lead to more damage as we release more harmful gases into our atmosphere. It’s crazy to realize how much harm we do to our ecosystems without knowing it. What we think is helpful to one thing is harmful to the other. It’s a vicious cycle that we cannot escape unless we drastically change our culture and beliefs. Although, it’s not as easy as it may seem. In the previous weeks pre discussion reading, we talked about the demise of the Easter Islanders. Such an advanced society fell to starvation and cannibalism because they were not fully aware of the harm their beliefs and culture had to their environment. If they had not become too involved in competition and paid closer attention to the changes of their environment ,they could still be a thriving community for all we know.