Time On Your Hands? Here’s How You Can Make Impact.

In the past when people have mentioned volunteering it always makes me think of building schools or digging wells in Africa.  For some reason I have always put it in the category of “something to do in your gap year” or “something that gets you into the right university”.  And now my opinion has changed.

Thinking About Taking A Break From Work?

If you’re planning on taking a break from work, you are in between jobs, you’ve just finished university, your kids have just left home, or if you’re feeling fearful, flat and uninspired, a stint of volunteering in a totally different culture could help you to discover your life’s blank canvass and so much more.

I’ve always been a fan of travel.  Twenty-five years ago, my first adventure on my own, involved a 2-month stint in France one summer, working as an Au Pair.  It seemed like such a fantastic idea until I found myself alone on a ferry from Dover to Calais, waving goodbye to my father.  It was only then I realised that I was already terrified, homesick, and limited, like a startled rabbit.  In fact, it was only pride that drove me forwards rather than getting on the first return ferry home.  I’m so glad I didn’t.

The Spark of Passion

That journey ignited a passion for travel exposure I hadn’t even realised existed until that point.  It became the first of many trips I took by myself.  The next summer I spent six weeks improving my Spanish in Tenerife.  During the next 10 years, I found myself on a mission to expose myself to as many cultures as possible and saving pennies from my salary to discover more and more of the world during my flashes of holiday time. 

Before long, I’d been fortunate enough to travel to the USA, Poland, Canary Islands, Tunisia, Egypt, Dubai, Jordan, Spain, Thailand, the Dominican Republic, Italy & Mexico. I was addicted and when I discovered Asia I knew my addiction was incurable!

Cultural Variety

To be honest, if you’d asked me at the time I’m unsure what it was that drove me on to envelop myself in so many cultures and see so many landscapes.  All I knew is that when I travelled alone I felt total freedom.  Freedom to be me, freedom to soak up the environment without any requirement to share my opinion with anyone else.  I was free to enjoy it, in any way I wanted to.

Anyone who has travelled by themselves understands this feeling and will have a whole host of amazing stories to share.  My journey led me to retrain and set up a global training company, taking people to beautiful places across the globe to work with them to find the missing piece of their jigsaw puzzle.  Now, I live in Sri Lanka with my husband, 12 rescue dogs and my own (slightly chaotic) equivalent of Gerald Durrell’s “My Family And Other Animals”, something I never imagined possible all those years ago.

Travelling With A Purpose

What I do know is that any kind of travel (and when I say travel, I mean really exploring rather than staying inside an all-inclusive hotel) will expand your outlook and give you a fresh perspective on life. 

So, just imagine the possibilities if you’re travelling for the purpose of sharing your skills, your knowledge and your experience to co-create with people from a totally different culture. One of my amazing clients offers you the opportunity to do exactly that – and it won’t cost you an arm and a leg.  She leads programmes teaching you how you can make impact, with the knowledge and skills you already have.

If you’re interested in doing something completely different; stretching beyond your comfort zone, using your skills and connecting with people with a totally different perspective, then please check out www.skilledimpact.com – it could be the highlight of your 2017!