A four month holiday in Singapore competing in a wakeboarding competition for the first time? Or four months in Birmingham, U.K. volunteering as a live-in carer for an elderly lady with Cerebral Palsy?
When faced with this dilemma during my University holidays, I almost couldn't believe I was having to decide between the two. I would've absolutely loved to have travelled to Singapore for the wakeboarding competition opportunity offered by a wakeboarding instructor at the time and still regret not having taken the opportunity, yet at the same time, I definitely don't regret having experienced and battled the mentally challenging experience I had after choosing the voluntary experience - it was perhaps the fact that I knew it would be a huge self-development opportunity that I did it.
Key challenges & learnings:
1) The communication is in the response you get - I learnt to communicate using alternative and augmentation communication (AAC) devices. As a Cerebral Palsy patient with complete mental functioning capacity, she was able to communicate using the extreme slight movement in her head to point a light beam at letters on a board to spell out her sentences and push buttons to work her cassette player to listen to e-books. It was entirely through her eye movement and noises that I would know whether messages had been communicated accurately.
Are you aware of what you are communicating to others around you in planning your travels, during your travels, and in your return, not just through your language? What do their responses tell you about what you've actually communicated and was that in fact what you intended?
2) You have all the resources you need - Whilst I don't desire physical personal care again, I battled with the fear, anxiety and negative emotions associated with it each day knowing that what I valued was not only the skills I was developing, the new experience I was gaining but the self-control and fulfilment I was gaining from overcoming each day, not giving up and fulfilling my role to help another in need. Think of Andy Dufresne from The Shawshank Redemption - our fears, challenges, anxieties and uncertainties can be conquered by us - we hold the power to control how we experience our lives. That is what I offer to support you with through with my coaching and consulting.
3) Everyone has a different model of the world - Through the placement, I was able to meet other volunteers from different countries and learnt a lot about culture and traditions, for example, whilst I shared the love of asian food and country exploration with my Korean friend, I had attitudes differing from my German friend, differing traditions from my English hosts e.g. of making summer pudding and having Sunday roasts, and experience the entirely new from my American friend, whose independent life skills such as cooking was newfound knowledge, cultural knowledge of asia was limited, and who chose a quick exit and abandoned of the mentally challenging placement.
Do you experience the world in the same way as others do? Have you ever stepped into the shoes of another or chosen to expand you own world to experience more?
When faced with this dilemma during my University holidays, I almost couldn't believe I was having to decide between the two. I would've absolutely loved to have travelled to Singapore for the wakeboarding competition opportunity offered by a wakeboarding instructor at the time and still regret not having taken the opportunity, yet at the same time, I definitely don't regret having experienced and battled the mentally challenging experience I had after choosing the voluntary experience - it was perhaps the fact that I knew it would be a huge self-development opportunity that I did it.
Key challenges & learnings:
1) The communication is in the response you get - I learnt to communicate using alternative and augmentation communication (AAC) devices. As a Cerebral Palsy patient with complete mental functioning capacity, she was able to communicate using the extreme slight movement in her head to point a light beam at letters on a board to spell out her sentences and push buttons to work her cassette player to listen to e-books. It was entirely through her eye movement and noises that I would know whether messages had been communicated accurately.
Are you aware of what you are communicating to others around you in planning your travels, during your travels, and in your return, not just through your language? What do their responses tell you about what you've actually communicated and was that in fact what you intended?
2) You have all the resources you need - Whilst I don't desire physical personal care again, I battled with the fear, anxiety and negative emotions associated with it each day knowing that what I valued was not only the skills I was developing, the new experience I was gaining but the self-control and fulfilment I was gaining from overcoming each day, not giving up and fulfilling my role to help another in need. Think of Andy Dufresne from The Shawshank Redemption - our fears, challenges, anxieties and uncertainties can be conquered by us - we hold the power to control how we experience our lives. That is what I offer to support you with through with my coaching and consulting.
3) Everyone has a different model of the world - Through the placement, I was able to meet other volunteers from different countries and learnt a lot about culture and traditions, for example, whilst I shared the love of asian food and country exploration with my Korean friend, I had attitudes differing from my German friend, differing traditions from my English hosts e.g. of making summer pudding and having Sunday roasts, and experience the entirely new from my American friend, whose independent life skills such as cooking was newfound knowledge, cultural knowledge of asia was limited, and who chose a quick exit and abandoned of the mentally challenging placement.
Do you experience the world in the same way as others do? Have you ever stepped into the shoes of another or chosen to expand you own world to experience more?
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