Taking opportunities

What I repeat extremely often (perhaps way too often, I'm afraid) is that an exchange program is a unique opportunity to gain a whole bunch of skills that teach not only how to live, but also how to live successfully. I admit it, I have no comparison with other nations, but I believe that Americans are one of the most wonderful people to be encountered by foreigners. The way I see it, they have developed a surprisingly powerful and effective mentality of faith, support, positive thinking, and even a hint of specific courage.

In this post I'd like to focus on catching opportunities, which is something I have learned long before I have departed for the exchange program. After all, the program itself was an opportunity which I was given, while a lot of people out there haven't been.

I cannot say there was anything about my life from before the exchange I would ever regret, maybe except for one thing - at times it felt a bit boring. I used to thoughtlessly go through life, not really knowing yet what I would like to do in the future. To say that I wanted to 'change my life' would be way too much; I just thought that an exchange program may give me a chance to simply see and experience something outside the little world I'd always stuck to.

Opportunities surround us, but we do not always see them, we don't always appreciate them. Noticing opportunities comes from a faith that everything that happens in our lives, whether from our own initiative or regardless of it, is a tiny part of a bigger whole; it comes from a belief that everything makes, or might unexpectedly make, a bigger sense. This is something I call the dots, thanks to Steve Jobs' speech from 2005 in which he says that 'believing that the dots will somehow connect in your future will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path.' I encourage you to look it up if you 's like to take a shot of some inspirational words.

One of the simplest opportunities, yet one of the hardest for those who are shy, is talking to people. When I was travelling over to the United States, on the last flight that lasted only half an hour, an airline captain sat right next to me. I would like to become a pilot someday, so when the guy took the seat right by my side, I immediately knew that it is not a coincidence. After fifteen or so minutes of searching for some traces of bravery I eventually talked to the captain. I told him who I'd like to become, as well as where and what for I am going right now. We exchanged our experiences on the airline realities in Europe and the U.S., and at the end of flight I was invited to visit the flight deck. That's something of a great value for an aspiring pilot. 

In my first days in the United States, the idea of catching opportunities was strong within me as it's never been before. It was not only about talking to people, it didn't always have to do with my high-flying aspirations. No, a lot of times it was about going to a grocery store with my host parents, or helping out with feeding livestock, or picking up the mail, or watching American TV, or playing with my host family's cats. See, every new experience we gain widens our intellectual horizons. For me, raised in a big city, tasting the farm life turned out helpful in understanding how it is to live in a country. How about groceries, mail or TV? It's just interesting to see what's similar and what's different with the most ordinary elements of everyday life couple thousand miles away from home. And however simple and obvious they might seem, such experiences might become handy one day in the future. 

I stuck to the strategy. Whenever my host family or my American friends planned on going out or doing something more or less exciting, I would always volunteer to participate. I believed that both playing golf for the first time in my life, visiting nearby towns, or painting house furniture, are experiences that are worth collecting, for the joy of collecting itself as well as for my self-development. 

So, catch the opportunities you are given! You never know what might turn out beneficial in the days, months, or years yet to come!