Be Brave & Change
Wer rastet der rostet or translated into English »Who rests will rust!«. I always thought this quote is related to sport and should tell us that exercising is important to avoid health issues in the future. However, now I know that there is so much more behind that proverb as you would think at first.
Who rests will rust! Someone, who never challenges hisself, never exceed his limits and never put effort in something, will always stay the same. In other words, be brave and make changes – this is important for developing yourself.
My name is Ronja and I am from Austria. In Autumn 2022, I decided to do some of the biggest changes in my life and applied for a volunteering year in the Mladinski Center Zagorje ob Savi, Slovenia. To be honest, first, I took it way too easy. And, yes, Austria is not so far away from Slovenia. And, yes, the culture and the landscape is also very similar. However, I would lie, if I would say that I never have struggeled during my previous time here. Still, I can say that doing a year abroud have been one of the best desicions in my life.
Things that require the most courage are the ones from which we benefit the most!
I already learned and developed myself a lot, in the four months I have spent in Slovenia, yet. Since, I am just 20 years old and graduated from high school last year, I never got the chance to experience the life outside of school. In Slovenia, I learned what it means to be able to make every decision by your own and which freedom, but also difficullties it offeres. I experienced how it is to live by my own, without my parents. And I also got to know the different ways of communication.
So, to conclude, this year is full of unexpected surprises and challenges, which help me to grow and develop myself.
A year ago, I never thought, I would be able to go to a holiday-trip with people I barely know to a country, which doesn’t even belong to EU. However, in two days I will go to Bosnia with some other volunteers I just spended one week with, yet.
Furthermore, some weeks ago, I was afraid to go to my neighbours and introduce myself. What, if they don’t speak English. What, would they think about me, at least I am a stranger. Nevertheless, before I celebrated my birthday by doing a party in the flat, I informed my neighbors about possible loud noises in advance. I was scared that they wouldn’t be happy about that information. However, what happened didn’t meet my expectations at all. Some came and wished me a happy Birthday. One, even baked a cake for me.
So, what do we learn from this?
Be brave and take risks! Leave your comfort zone and give yourself the opportunity to change, develope and making new friends.
Projekti prostovoljstva v okviru Evropske solidarnostne enote mladim nudijo priložnosti za prostovoljsko delo. Odgovarjati morajo na pomembne potrebe družbe, prispevati h krepitvi skupnosti in ob tem prostovoljcem omogočati, da pridobivajo uporabne izkušnje, veščine in kompetence za svoj osebni, izobraževalni, socialni, državljanski in profesionalni razvoj, s čimer se izboljšuje njihova zaposljivost.
Več o programu Evropske solidarnostne enote (slo. ESE, ang. ESC, bivši EVS) si lahko preberete na povezavi: http://www.movit.si/ese/projekti-prostovoljstva/
