The first two weeks seems a good time to make the first summary of what I have learned during volunteering. Is my volunteering a dream come true? Not exactly. Was it surprised me? A lot. In a good way? We will see…
I would say, till now, my typical day in the organization looks very stably. And it is not this kind of work which I love the most. My job appeared totally different before I came to Lisbon within ESC. Usually, I worked on projects. It means I had many deadlines, different kinds of work to do, and it required knowledge from various fields of mine. For you, it can look like unstable work and non-settled working time. And it was. It was also related to a lot of stress, but… I really like it! Maybe not stress, but I feel really well in a job where sometimes there is no time to care about myself, but other times there is very calm, and everything is going slowly. In that case, stress wasn’t so great a sacrifice for me. Especially I really liked that job, and I appreciate I had that opportunity.
The job in the organization where I came in within ESC looks quite different. It starts at the same time every day. Also, at the same time, I have a lunch break. Tasks? There are similar to each other. Excited? Not really. Do I regret my decision to do volunteering within ESC? Not exactly.
I learned a lot but mostly in the area of beliefs. I realize that my work will not always look like in my dreams. Even if I will try to get a great job. I am aware that I will work with people who have diverse personalities. It means there is not always easy to collaborate with each other. Then communication can be a little bit difficult. Fluent existing in the current world requires some skills which I don’t love to learn. But I know it can make my life easier to suit to existing standards of living in the world which I want to be part of.
Volunteering tested my beliefs. Will it be good for me? I don’t know yet.
