I'm a different person
9 things I learned after the World Merit Fellowship Program in United Kingdom
A group of 24 young people from the whole world was selected to be part of a one year training, including two weeks in UK and other two in US, with the objective of working on global ‘wicked’ problems. Here you can find brief description of my experience in UK. Generally I can say it was amazing to meet people from New Zealand, The Philippines, Zambia, Zimbabwe, India, Pakistan, Lithuania, United Kingdom, Bangladesh, The Netherlands, Italy, Ukraine, United States and South Africa, all together they made my days full of stories, love, trust, hugs, culture, ideas and jokes.
So I quickly made a list of 9 things I learned after this intense experience. Before the program started we didn't know so much about it. It was the very first time it happened so we participated on the pilot project. Personally I only understood the whole idea in the end.
1 | The destination can be just an excuse for the path chosen.
I couldn´t agree more with the saying that the path is more important than the destination we choose. Actually I am tired to see we spend a lot of our time obsessed about the results but we forget about the importance of the whole experience. By the end of WMFP, I can confirm I have enjoyed every single part of my experience.
And the funny thing about this is that the profile of my peer group is exactly like that (a little bit different from the rest of the world I guess). They are more Affection: it is all about connection between people in the process. Affect Propensity take special of other' well-being and how they are reacting to what is being said. They emphasise trust and try to provide a environment of warmth and caring during the process.
But more than that. In our 4 hours long hike to the top of the mountain, I had a chance to talk to almost every participant and I can say this made make us more connected. So, in the end, it was not about arriving to the top but how we could enjoy ourselves during the path chosen.
2 | People can change everything — for better.
Sometimes things don´t go as we expected and we get a bit disappointed. But people is what makes the difference. This is why it´s so important to talk to people so we realize the importance of spreading our ideas and find out we had the same impressions of most of the things. I felt I was not alone. More than that: we were feeling so open and excited that we could ‘contaminate’ each other.
3 | We are never 100% ready
Although I love to take risks and I get excited with that I also love to rehearse.
But (un)fortunately there are things it is hard to rehearse and one of them is exploring and changing things. And I can say that even we from World Merit are not 100% ready but the difference is that we want to make things happen. “I am aware. I care. I can do this.”
4 | Be open for the different — really
If I can say something about the whole group is: we are very different. And no, it is not easy to deal if it every time. But when you have a open attitude, everything get different and, before I go to WMFP, it was already clear for me.
The differences between us got even more visible after see the results of our personal test. But it also highlighted how equal we are: most of us are Movers. This type of profile is an action mode, it is the behaviour you exhibit most commonly when interacting with others. Movers are often the first to suggest a direction or to introduce a new idea. Movers start the action.
5 | We are never too young to be greater.
In the World Merit Day we found out more about Felix Finkbeiner. When he was just 9 years old, he started being interested in global warming. The winter of 2006–2007 was unusually warm and his teacher suspected that it could have something to do with it so she asked him to do a research about that on the internet.
“When I read how much CO2 we emit into the air […] and what CO2 and other greenhouse gases do to the atmosphere, it made me really upset.” — Felix
Inspired by that and by Wangari Maathi from Kenya, he started an initiative with other children, which after 6 years has already had more than 13 billion trees planted in the world. He is a boy whom had nice adults who supported his dreams. Do I need to say anything else?
Stop talking. Start planting.
6 | We can’t live with no hope.
"We could live some days with no food or no water. But we can’t live with no hope." This was a interesting quote by Katie Piper in the World Merit Day and it could be felt day after day during the program. But in this picture we can see one of the biggest moments about this idea. Chris Arnold is one of the biggest responsible for developing World Merit and it was just beautiful to feel how much he is trying to put himself on that. World Merit couldn't arrive until here without his hope.
7 | We can’t be out of our comfort zone all the time
After many many many speakers saying all over the world that people need to be out of your comfort zone I am kind of proud of myself to realise that is not exactly like that.
All of us were in the WMFP to be out of our confort zone because we already know all the benefits of it. But after some times working together I realise we can't be in this position all the time: we need to be in our comfort zone to produce more efficiently and be yourself, using the best side of you.
8 | Life is 10% of what happens with you and 90% of how you react.
Again, this is a quote from Katie Pipe in the World Merit Day. She has an impressive story. She’s a young woman who has rebuilt her life after surviving a brutal attack in March 2008 at the age of 24, in which she was raped and had sulphuric acid thrown in her face. She spent two months in the Burns Unit at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital where she was placed in an induced coma in intensive care. Her speech was pretty quick but still inspiring.
Those quote makes me remind what I got from The Art of Happiness, by Dalai Lama. It was only after reading this book I truly realise and accept we make our own happiness. We are totally responsible for that because after all we choose what we put as a condition to be happy.
9 | Affection is the greatest gift you can give someone (and yourself).
Do you remember that expression "Time is money"? If you work a lot and if you feel you don't have so much time for yourself, you probably have already used this expression before. But I am not talking about the value of money. Actually, I am talking about time. In our day-by-day we are worried about what we want to achieve: we are under pressure of ourselves to make our best always spending the less time and energy possible. But most of the time, as I have already said, it seems we spent a lot of our time obsessed about the results that forget about the importance of the whole process. And the process is all about people: me and you.
Last year I had the opportunity to be part of the Oasis Training and there is one thing that I remember very well: the outcome should be spectacular — but nothing is more important than people. After all, to whom we do what we do?
Is there anything better nowadays than get an unexpected phone call just to find out how is life?
So after an intense 2 weeks experience in the WMFP, I could notice in the last day how important was the connection between all the participants. In just 2 weeks some people know me more than others who I know for years. And also I did understand that we could often celebrate our relationships. After all, hugs are drugs. And it seems like everyone in the WMFP know that. ;)
I would like to thank all people who made it happen. More than just let me be part this experience, they are investing their time and money to make a better world though putting everything together with an audacious worldwide training.
So big thanks to Chris, Simon, Rachel, Marlou, Mel, Emily, Searl, Matt, Zita, Eni, Vicky, Ron, Elana, Toni, Claire and all the rest of the team.
Find out more / worldmerit.org /
