Feeling Effective
I am going through a personal revelation about how to best keep myself in that "effective zone" where I know that things are being accomplished and that I am optimizing my time. I have started to notice that it is critically important for me to have a clear separation between my work life and personal life. I knew this going in to things here, and then I began to make a few sacrifices here and there, eating into my personal space until I had lost any real sense of life without work, without AIESEC. I know now how unhealthy that is, as it leads me to resent parts of my work, and at times the people I work with - which is by no means adding to my work efficiency and effectiveness.
The International Presidents Meeting gave me a lot to think about - what is AIESEC at its core, what does it mean for me, and why do I continue to give it my energy, my dedication, at times my sacrifices. I began to search for that deep meaning and purpose that I had once discovered in my AIESEC experiences. To be most honest, these experiences were ones in which I felt most alive. What I am realizing though, is that it was not the AIESEC mantra and models and dances, etc., that really elevated me to those levels. It was everything that I was putting into my life-living: the energy, the dedication to self-exploration, the insistence that I was doing something important for someone - if no one else but myself.
It is true that AIESEC is doing amazing things in this world. But it is not meaningful in and of itself. It is the people that are living in it that provide it with its meaning.
Perhaps I feel this way because I have lived what I consider to be the quintessential element of the AIESEC experience - the exchange. It was not until I completed this element that I was willing to devote my time to supporting the entire organization.
My words here are not meant to discredit anything that AIESEC or AIESECers have done. In fact, I laud the continuing efforts of AIESECers worldwide - and I can think of very few things more valuable for young people to be pursuing at this stage in life. However, I challenge all AIESECers to really evaluate the meaning and importance of what it is that we are doing. Why do we all continually, relentlessly pour our hearts and souls into this organization? I think it is more than just the concept of impact. And I think there is more to being an AIESECer than just simply being a member of this organization.
Finally, bringing this all back to the title of this post - I cannot feel effective and purposeful with only AIESEC in my life. I need my life balance and I need to realize that AIESEC is not life in and of itself - it is an enabler for some quintessential parts of life to be lived. I need the other parts in my life, and I always will.
The International Presidents Meeting gave me a lot to think about - what is AIESEC at its core, what does it mean for me, and why do I continue to give it my energy, my dedication, at times my sacrifices. I began to search for that deep meaning and purpose that I had once discovered in my AIESEC experiences. To be most honest, these experiences were ones in which I felt most alive. What I am realizing though, is that it was not the AIESEC mantra and models and dances, etc., that really elevated me to those levels. It was everything that I was putting into my life-living: the energy, the dedication to self-exploration, the insistence that I was doing something important for someone - if no one else but myself.
It is true that AIESEC is doing amazing things in this world. But it is not meaningful in and of itself. It is the people that are living in it that provide it with its meaning.
Perhaps I feel this way because I have lived what I consider to be the quintessential element of the AIESEC experience - the exchange. It was not until I completed this element that I was willing to devote my time to supporting the entire organization.
My words here are not meant to discredit anything that AIESEC or AIESECers have done. In fact, I laud the continuing efforts of AIESECers worldwide - and I can think of very few things more valuable for young people to be pursuing at this stage in life. However, I challenge all AIESECers to really evaluate the meaning and importance of what it is that we are doing. Why do we all continually, relentlessly pour our hearts and souls into this organization? I think it is more than just the concept of impact. And I think there is more to being an AIESECer than just simply being a member of this organization.
Finally, bringing this all back to the title of this post - I cannot feel effective and purposeful with only AIESEC in my life. I need my life balance and I need to realize that AIESEC is not life in and of itself - it is an enabler for some quintessential parts of life to be lived. I need the other parts in my life, and I always will.
Labels: AIESEC, Reflections
posted by snirapnotreknipnnyldrahcir at
6:49 AM
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