"THISJUSTIN"

Individual Value- Congruence

"Congruence refers to thinking, feeling, and behaving with consistency, genuineness, authenticity, and honesty toward others. Congruent persons are those whose actions are consistent with their most deeply held beliefs and convictions."

 

 

I have always been stressed to not be afraid to be myself and to always stay true to my values and beliefs.  Although this sounds like it's a very simple thing to do, it turned out to be extremely hard, especially in high school.  People always felt like the had to change the way they were to fit into different gropus and gain more friends.  However, coming to Virginia Tech showed me the importance of staying true to myself, and how doing this has allowed for amazing friendships, great memories, and real happiness.  At orientation as a freshman, we learned about all the different pylons: Brotherhood, Honor, Leadership, Sacrifice, Service, Loyalty, Duty, and Ut Prosim.  I think congruence can connect to a lot of these pylons, and there are many experiences that have allowed me to stay consistent with my beliefs and convictions.  The pylon loyalty means an unswerving allegiance to family and friends, to me … your school, and to your community, state, or nation.  This allegiance comes from having strong moral values and courage to be able to accurately portray yourself.  If you are able to stand true to your values, especially when you are being pushed not to, you are able to surround yourself with the people that allign or support these values.  

 

When I was a junior, I took the role of being Vice President of Risk Management for my sorority.  I knew this was going to be an extremely tough position going into it, I never thought that it would turn out to be as challenging as it was.  For my position, I was in charge of the ultimate safety of our chapter.  From social events, emergency procedure plans, holding Judiciary Board hearings, date parties, etc., I had to continuously evaluate and watch over my sisters.  Most of my closest and best friends at Virginia Tech were in Alpha Phi and we are all close as an organization.  This made it extremely difficult at times to be in my position and hold everyone to high standards.  The biggest reason that I was so successful in this position was that I was true to what I believed in and didn't do anything that I was asking girls not to do.  Although this was a difficult position, it was extremely rewarding because I knew that I had the strength and courage to stand up to my values.  Peer pressure in a college environment is extremely tough at times, but I have been able to gain true friends while still being myself.  Experiences over the past four years have taught me to always remember and practice my values, so that I never lose sight of what I stand for.  Overall, time passes way too quickly to be anyhing other than what makes yourself happy and what you stand for.  

 

 

 

"Real beauty is to be true to oneself. That's what makes me feel good." -Laetitia Casta