Volunteering in your gap year is probably the best adventure you could ever embark on. It’s simply the opportunity to change your reality and do something different, that probably you will never do otherwise. This experience takes you away from exams and University applications and puts you in a random place in the world, somewhere where you can make a difference and find ultimate purpose.
Before we talk about the benefits of a volunteer gap year and why it will change your life, let me ask you 3 questions:
- Do you want your gap year to be the best story of your life?
- Do you want to find true purpose and passion for your future?
- Do you want to travel the world and have lots of fun?
If your answer is Yes to the questions above and you also want to make a difference to someone’s life, then a volunteer gap year is the best decision you will ever make.
How Volunteering In Your Gap Year Will Change Your Life
The purpose of a gap year is to give you a break from studies and a year to focus on you, your dreams and lust for adventure. During this time you can teach English in Asia or work on community development projects in Africa. You can go anywhere you want and do anything you want. Isn’t that alone the best part of it all?
However, a gap year volunteering program will not only give you a great time, but will also help you for the future. Here are 5 ways a volunteer gap year will change your life:
- Help you discover your purpose and passion and guide you on the best career path for the future
- Make your CV rock! With the transferable skills from a volunteer gap year you will have plenty to talk about in any interview
- Give you the opportunity to make friends from around the world (lots of free travel opportunities for the future)
- Show you the world (what a better time in your life than now to explore and learn about new cultures?)
- Make you a better person (not only because you will make a difference is someone else’s life, but because you will step out of your comfort zone and make a difference in your own life)
Instead of telling you more about the benefits that volunteering in your gap year will bring to your life, I want to tell you the stories of 3 amazing girls that were in your shoes not long ago, when they decided to go on a gap year. See how their lives have changed:
Elaine M.
As part of her gap year, Elaine went to Tanzania where she helped to build a hybrid renewable energy system, working on wind and sunlight, to provide power for the local school in Kemgesi, Tanzania. See below a photo of Elaine with the students from the local school.
Here is what Elaine told us about her volunteer gap year, and how it changed her life:
“Volunteering abroad made me appreciate what I have, for example the vast range of opportunities that are available to me (particularly as a native English speaker living in England). I gained an increase in motivation to work harder and make the most of my relatively fortunate position so that I can in turn help those less fortunate. I now feel like I have a much deeper purpose in life that helps to keep me going when I feel tired, fed up or frustrated.”