Getting out of my comfort zone

 

Hello everyone! I am Núria, the new volunteer of  Filantrópia Charity Shop and this is my first blog post. It is a pleasure for me to be part of this project because I am learning a lot of new things and living amazing experiences that I have never had before.

On one hand, I want to tell you how I decided to come here. I finished my studies in Law and Business Management Administration in September and I was lost about what I could do during the next year. Instead of studying a Master or starting to work in my city, Lleida, I was willing to spend a year living abroad, meeting and learning from other cultures or other ways to live… so I was looking for many projects that brought me the opportunity to do what I am doing now. Eventually, I found the European Solidarity Corps (ESC) with a lot of projects in environmental issues, recycling, working with youngsters or elderly people… Therefore, I applied for Filantrópia Charity Shop, and twenty days later, I was here.

Another point worth considering is I consider myself as a brave person, active, ready for new challenges… but when you are getting out of your comfort zone you make yourself smaller and you start to have doubts about what you should do in your future. Nowadays, what is “normal” after finishing University (at least in Spain) is studying a Master to specialize in some field or starting to work in what is considered by people as a “serious” job. In my opinion, sometimes it is difficult to do what you really want instead of what you should do. Anyway, I am here (luckily).

On the other hand, I am getting used to this new challenge of learning every day something new. Moreover, what I like the most in this project is the possibility to give a second, third or fourth life to clothes, objects, shoes… avoiding consumerism. Here I realized that we don’t need to buy everything new because we can reuse it.

Furthermore, we are carrying out different activities like workshops which are an amazing idea to get to know the customers or our work team. What’s more, we are creating dog toys or scrunchies from used t-shirts, ties… so we are recycling and being creative at the same time! That’s great! I am really excited to keep going on this adventure because time is running out.

Taking everything into consideration, I feel very lucky to be part of this project because of the people that are around me. For me, the city where you are living is important (Budapest, what can I say? Awesome), the project is also important because I am going to spend eleven months, in a project that I believe in, that I think is good for the society, for the environment, etc. However, the most important thing as I have said before are the people who you are living, working with, or meeting… They spend their time with you, and I appreciate that. I am feeling like at home.