Out of your comfort zone, you realize who you really are

Hello to all of you who are reading this letter, first of all.

My experience as a volunteer stems from a particular aspiration: to give the best of myself to the community. Not only out of a sense that the world can be a better place where we are all integrated, with a better quality of life, addressing global and local challenges with a closer approach, but also to create a feeling of togetherness among the people we cohabit.

What often happens - at least what happened to me - is that one day you decide that your time is not just for money in your account but for you and your community. In a globalised world, your community is no longer just, what surrounds you in your neighbourhood or city but what happens globally. In addition, on a closer scale, what happens within the European Union is relevant to everything else.

You have to look for opportunities; they do not just appear out of nowhere. Thanks to the European body of solidarity, you can find the opportunities that are available to you. In my case, the search was not very long (relatively speaking, as I was on a three-month search), but it demanded dedication and seriousness in the process.

Luckily, for me, I found a project that matched what I was looking for to be able to do journalistic work in community projects. I also wanted to get out of my "habitat" and see other parts of the world, experience other cultures and get to know new realities. In doing so, I want to appreciate my culture and my way of being in a perspective that is less pigeonholed in what I have always lived. To sum it up, to see with different eyes the reality of Spain and of the community in which I live.

Since Mreža udruga Zagor I have had that opportunity because I have been able to get out of my comfort zone and my daily horizon by having the opportunity to live in Zabok. In the first days, everything was wonderful, strange and scary at the same time. This mixture of emotions is normal; they will be explained to you in the on-arrival training if you decide to join this adventure.

My search for volunteering was closely linked to the project and it was something I could relate to my working life. In my previous jobs, I have done radio, podcasts, online and print publications as well as office work. The volunteering project I am involved in encompasses all of these. Still, the adaptation is not so easy. It would be best if you always had time. To adapt to the organisation, the timetable, the way of working, the workload, the organisation chart or the social relations.

Volunteering is not only a way of getting out of your comfort zone, but also a way of acquiring patience and empathy with yourself and others.

In addition to the work and organisation, you have to adapt to living in a new location. By Spanish standards, Zabok is an average - in some places maybe even a big - village. In Croatia, it is a city and this has many positive aspects such as the fact that you have access to a multitude of services because you are in a city and have a direct connection to Zagreb. At the same time, it has its complications, because although it is a city, there are only 8,000 inhabitants, which limits the leisure options.

Even so, it is a very quiet place where people are very welcoming and have a very peaceful life and where you have plenty of options for trips and activities. Everyone - and you too if you decide to join the volunteer programme - will have moments of maximum integration and minimums. All complications are solved with time.

During the experience, you will experience all kinds of moments in which you will have to be prepared for everything. There will be situations that you will be able to solve on your own, and others you will not. That has happened to all of us, but you will have the people in your organisation, your mentor and your sending organisation. There is a support group around you, do not close in on yourself.

Leaving your country is an enriching experience. In these months, I have had the opportunity to get to know Croatia and other surrounding countries. It has also allowed me to meet people from other parts of the world, talk to them, and compare lifestyles and open perspectives and horizons.

Taking the step towards volunteering is a decision that requires meditation, but once you are sure - that moment will come eventually, with its difficulties, but it will come - you will see that it has been a decision that will change you. In my case, it has done so in many ways: I have tried new foods, I have seen other places, and other realities that have made me see my land from a different perspective, I have had to take risks with some things and they have helped me a lot with others. All this is a very superficial view of the experience, but people’s experience fills them in different ways.

What is clear to me is that I am not the same person who left Spain before starting the adventure and I will not be the same as when the adventure ends. During the process, you will tend to idealize the positive things that you experience or that happen to you and then be very hard on the negative.  With time you learn - or at least in my case - I have learned to be more balanced in my experience. Some things don't fit my lifestyle and others that do. However, this kind of dissonance has helped me to better understand the context of other cultures. It has also helped me to embrace the positive things in my culture better and criticize the negative aspects.

If you are thinking of joining the volunteer life, join. You will not regret it, but as the Croatians says: "Polako".

Adrian Cobo Garcia

Updated on Jueves, 07/11/2024