Normally, 10 to 12 year old kids say they want to be policemen, astronauts or firefighters. I, on the contrary, said that I wanted to be the richest man of the world.    

I would assure that my innocent vision, among many things, was motivated by the episodes of Duck Tales, an animated TV series that I enjoyed a lot. It was about the adventures of three little ducks that were possible thanks to the fortune or their uncle Scrooge McDuck.   

That’s how I grew up: thinking that money would always make me happy. Naturally, what could happen -if we add to that my “organized compulsive” personality- was that since a very young age I visualized myself as a great executive and focused my life to achieve that goal.  

I abandoned my hobbies because I thought that “I couldn’t live from that” and resulted concentrating on obtaining good grades because I was told that’s how one can achieve what one wants.   I had my life soooo planned that before my 15th birthday my goals were already having a family and being a father. Searching for the love of my life was necessary.     

I even thought on getting married at 23 years old (not earlier or later than that), like my dad. I wanted my kids to enjoy a young father just as I have done with mine.   It makes me laugh now that I think about it. How could I have planned my life this way at such a young age? “I matured faster than the others” I said to myself convinced of my decisions of living as the adult that I wasn’t.   

I was in function of the future, losing somehow track of the present. At twelve I wanted to be 15 to finish school quickly; at 15 I wanted to be 18 to be allowed to party; and at 18 I wanted to be 23 to start working and earning some money.   

It wasn’t how I thought so

 My determination to have a “successful” career resulted showing me that the life I was perusing in reality was not what I wanted and didn’t fulfil me.    

I know it sounds confusing but practically the more I wanted to become that high executive, the more I realised that it wasn’t for me.    

Jobs that make you sick    

After studying in Colombia, London, Switzerland and South Korea It was time to start the life that I have planned. I got an internship in marketing with the worldwide leading tobacco multinational. It was a very interesting job with many challenges but with lot of stress.  

I knew I liked marketing but I didn’t want to end up like my boss: working every day until late at night, with constant rush and stressed out for small things.    

With two completely different personalities my boss and I didn’t get on well. I couldn’t cope with the pressure and the speed that it was required.   

With money but with no time and energy   

I finished my internship and started working with an alcoholic drinks distributor… If before I didn’t have time, no it was worse! I managed all the promotion activities in the region including alliances with restaurants and bars, as well as in concerts.  

I got the job because I wanted to work in that party environment and to have the chance of meeting “important people”. However, I rapidly found out that it signified resigning to my personal and social life. 

I stopped going out with friends and attending reunions with my family because I had to work most of the days until 2am. I was like a zombie: with money but without the time to spend it.  

I was fed up with my boss and the way things were managed in the company. “You do what I tell you to do because that’s why I pay you” was the last thing he told me before I publicly quieted.    

With time but without motivation 

 Then I was granted a scholarship to study in Denmark. There I found an internship with the most admirable and one of the best places to work in the country.   Everything was different: I worked from 9am to maximum 4pm. I had a very relaxed boss and the company offered many benefits.   

 The problem, however, was that the job was boring as f#ck!!!... being in front of a computer without human interaction and with tasks that I didn’t believe in.    

Working in the headquarters of a multinational that makes more than 16 billion USD per year meant for me being one additional little shackle. Power Point presentations and Microsoft Excel were my day to day tasks.   

 Feeling empty

  I have achieved it all: I was living in one of the countries with the best quality of life, I had and admirable job and a future that many saw as promising.   

 Nevertheless I had a huge hole in my heart… I felt I had nothing.   The low motivation resulted in low performance making me feel worthless.    

The feelings were eating me inside. I did not want to tell anyone how I felt, I didn’t even know how I felt and was scared of being judged. So I proceeded to do what a desperate man of this century would do: Ask Google.    “I feel empty” I typed.   

I started reading a bunch of articles that recommended different things including: setting new goals and writing.    That’s what I did.    

• What am I good at? 
• What do I like to do?  
• What do I want to learn?  
• How do I want to be remembered?  
• How can I make the world a better place?    

I asked to myself and answered in a little notebook.      

When unhappiness leads to change

   

Writing, writing, writing, a retrospection exercise that helped me realise things were better than I thought.  

 I might not be good at sitting down in an office or receiving orders but I do have developed some personal skills and a particular holistic understanding of systems that have helped me to travel the world.    

I have got 4 different scholarships to travel abroad and I started financing my own trips since I was 18, which by the time of my realisation meant visits to more than 20 countries.   

Perhaps it was time to stop being way too focused on myself and start sharing what I knew.  

Reading and writing had somehow saved my ass, so I started doing it regularly and began to like it.    

Besides the new things that I was doing (playing the guitar and windsurf), I decided to open a blog.   In it I would initially share all the knowledge that I had about studying and living abroad but then something happened…   

A guy that I met at the windsurfing class told me about Work Away, a platform where one can find volunteering jobs around the world. Magic!   I wanted to travel, learn and contribute and I had just found the way.   

I opened an account and in two weeks I already had my first volunteering position in Tuscany.    

What I have learnt from an unconventional lifestyle: 10 months of travelling around the world  

 More than 10 months have passed since the day I sold and gave away most of my belongings in Denmark to travel the world as a volunteer.    

7 countries, 6 volunteering positions and a whole new vision.     

Although before leaving I knew I didn’t want to pursue that office career anymore, during the trip I’ve realised that the real problem was wasn’t the places I was working for, but what I was expecting to get and what I was willing to do.

As many of my age, I grew up with wrong expectations about the real working environment. I thought I deserved better.  

One thing was to visualise myself leading people, having a successful career and “high impact” responsibilities”, but other very different was to imagine the effort and challenges that I would find on the way:   The stress, the long working hours, working for someone else, the dressing code, the politics, the procedures and the bureaucracy.    

My demotivation in each of the jobs I had was the result of wanting the reward and not the sacrifice… but the life doesn’t work that way.    

A life without problems is a life without meaning

   

Opening a blog and travelling as a volunteer showed me that the meaning of a “perfect life” isn’t a life without problems but the one with the right kind of problems.   

I found myself in pretty uncomfortable situations…   

It resulted that not all workaways experiences are the same, not always you get a private room in the woods surrounded by likeminded people. Sometimes you gotta share a room with 2, 3, 6 or even 10 other people and deal with bugs or cockroaches on the bed.  

Sometimes you get wine and live music, others you are trying to cook at -5 with no AC. Sometimes you’re working 3 hours per day dealing with guests others you work 5 changing sheets and cleaning toilets.  Sometimes you’re teaching languages in a school and others you’re sat down at a desk.   

But I’ve chosen to deal with that kind of stuff because on the other hand it provides me with the time to do the things that I enjoy like reading, writing and connecting with people.    

I am having the time to learn more about myself and to provide value from what I know and enjoy the most. Not only through the volunteering but also through my website, where I advise people on how to get academic scholarships to travel abroad. Besides that, I write about my experience travelling as a volunteer and all the learnings on the way.   

 What’s coming now?

 

 I have joined the Steemit community to share the translated version of my best posts (originally written in Spanish) and create some new great content.   

Right now I am volunteering at a Non-Profit café in Danang, Vietnam. Here I help Vietnamese people to improve their English skills by having conversations with them.   

Few more days before I move to South Korea where I expect to settle down for a while.    

Volunteering first but eventually a job will be needed. Teaching, hospitality or whatever where I can have some human interaction and the time to continue growing as a person:    Creating, learning and sharing the best of me.   

Thanks for reading. I’ll keep you updated!   

David