Roshan Pun; Exploring Self through Volunteering (Story of Transformation 29)

“Everyone asks me the same question these days”, growls Abhishek.
“What are you going to do in these three months?”

This is the question he is being forwarded since he recently completed his Secondary Education Examination (SEE).

Actually, it’s not just Abhishek who is being bothered with this question. All of his classmates are going through the same mode. As, I worked with them as their mentor as a’ Teach For Nepal’ fellow for some years, they were eager to know what I would suggest them on this regard.

Roshan Pun

But, I guess, I confused them more when I suggested them to explore themselves utilizing this time. I asked them if they actually know better about themselves and want to garnish their skills to reach the place of their dreams.

Here other questions arise.

“Do you actually want to be at that place where you are dreaming right now?”

“What kind of person are you?”

“What do you enjoy doing?” and several other introspective questions.

The answer is definitely difficult.

However, it’s important to get answered. Exploring our own self helps us to figure out who we are and what we really want out of our life. And I understand answering these questions is really vague for teen agers like them who are just stepping into the word outside of their school for the first time when even people like us, who have most probably contributed some years in our dream jobs are actually struggling.

I also understand introspection isn’t easy and mayn’t always work. So, we must get our hands dirty to explore our clear selves. Volunteering on different events could be one of those paths.

When I talk about volunteering, Roshan Pun, one of my mentees, comes in my mind. Pun is the high school graduate and has been working as a volunteer for different events since 2015.

Roshan in one of the sessions of MMCQ

Recently selected as a fellow of ‘NexGen Youth’, he also has been volunteering for the event called “Monday Morning Coffee Queries” (MMCQ), an event tailored for entrepreneurs, students and startups for last nine months.

One has to have a very strong motive and a huge dedication to work as a volunteer for such a long time.  Roshan explains, “I always had the feeling that my school curriculum couldn’t provide me the skills that I need in the labor market. I slacked on leadership skills. I also couldn’t express well. And my high school education also was focused only on the ground of knowledge, which would be of no use if I don’t have necessary skills to utilize them”.

Pun, first started his journey of volunteering from USEF Education Fair. “It was my first experience of managing something. I panicked at first, but gradually, I geared up. That slowly helped me to express myself even in the mass, which I had always feared of,” recalls Roshan. Since then, he has been actively volunteering for different events and he is happy to explore his avenues through them.

Roshan further shares, “Volunteering has brought lots of changes in me both, professionally and personally. I have a plan to start my own business in future and these events are helping me to find a good friend circle interested on the same. While on the other hand, I had always feared sharing my thoughts because of my introvert nature and I can feel myself transforming on this regard as well, though slow.”

Volunteering is not going to be easy but yes it’s definitely going to be worth it. Dedicating our time and effort as a volunteer seems like a hectic job but it can be done as youngster like Roshan are exploring themselves through it.  It’s a wonderful way to explore our self on the one hand while on the other it also helps in learning necessary life skills. Managing our time with that of the event’s time is really important when you are into volunteering and this is how I guess we also learn the time management skills indirectly, one of the important skills in any field we go.

Most of us tend to follow the crowd and do those stuffs that we aren’t particularly interested at and find us get lost somewhere. On this case, if we give ourselves sometime to ruminate and then find out what skills we actually want to polish on, we will definitely find other people or events that would be helpful for us and volunteering for them and with them would definitely be the first step to reach our goal. We just need the right attitude to join this process of self- exploration then where skills and knowledge will surely follow our path.