Namaste Friends,

(Careful, this is a long article, but I hope it is worth it)

We are living in a world with infinite possibilities. This truely came down on me when I finished my highschool. I could not get my head around, how people were capable of so easily choosing the course of their life. I struggled a lot with the decision of what I could possibly study. My mind was full of fear, that I would make the wrong decision and end up with something I do not like at all, stuck with this one bad decision until the end of my life.

This paralyzed me and sent me into a spiral of not being capable to do any decisions. I was jealous of my friends who were studying medicine in their second year. They always knew, (or thought they knew) what they wanted to become. I was floating around and had no idea where to put my focus and energy. By now, I know that there are millions of other people who go through the very same, yet I felt quite alone.

Now, five years later, I look back at this time with a smile, I know that it was somehow necessary to bring me to the point where I am today. But I also know, that if I would have had the same resources I have today, things would have been a lot easier for me. So if you know someone who seems to be floating around at this very moment, feel free to send them this post, maybe it helps.

So there I was, I finally made the decision to study architecture and applied for a university in Austria. I have a lot of architects in my family, I like building stuff and I am creative. It was a logical decision - "Do what you love and make it your job". I was totally wrong with that, but I will come to this later. Out of my todays view, the decision to become an architect was purely egocentric. I wanted to do the stuff that I like, imagined myself with a nice house, a car and the coolness which naturally comes with being an architect.

My problem at this time (of course I did not realize it back then), was that I only did stuff for myself. I went to university to build cool stuff, learned like crazy for the exams, did night-shifts in the atelier. I did all the stuff I like: building stuff, being creative, come up with visions. Yet, I was very far away from being happy or fulfilled. All of this broke down in my second year of the studies, I felt empty, I did not want to continue, I just didnt see any more reason in doing all of this. Back then, I could not really explain what it was, but it was there. The idea of becoming an architect and building the stuff other people like for money, suddenly didnt sound so appealing anymore. So after a lot of sleepless nights and talks with my parents, I decided to quit the studies and come back to Germany.

I moved to Hamburg and tried myself as a carpenter, I always liked working with wood and being the practical type, I really enjoyed the work. Did I feel happy and fulfilled? No.

It was around that time when my dad gave me a book which pointed me in a wonderful direction. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightment -

The german title is only "The Power of Now" which makes it sound a little less esoteric. For me, this book was the first key to my self-reflection. I realized that I was constantly seeking answers in everything but myself, by reading tons of stuff on the internet, googling my "problems". To put it in the words of @docdelux, I outsourced thinking and feeling by searching for answers on google and in my friends.

So I approached the whole thing from another site and posed myself some questions:

1. What do I want to feel like?

Basically I would like to feel happy and fulfilled with what I am doing.

2. When do I feel like this?

I feel this way when I am helping other people than myself. I feel this way when I give. I feel this way when I find solutions to unsolved problems. I feel this way when I make people smile. I feel this way when I do stuff which makes sense in my eyes. I feel this way when I think that I make the world a better place

3. How can I achieve this with my work?

Since I now knew that I would like to give back and do something which has a positive impact, the whole situation shifted and I reflected it from a completly different angle. An angle without the involvement of money.

I kept my eyes open and found the University of Sustainable Development next to Berlin. This is the place where I spent the last two years and over all it has been a very, very pleasurable experience. The place came to me because I looked in a certain direction. To put it in the words of Magnus Walker in one of my favorite TED Talks:

"You know, if you've got the will and the desire and put the motivation and a focus, things tend to happen."

So, I am studying International Forestry, completly unrelated to anything I did before and I liked it. Until a certain degree. Which leads to my next point:

University/Education is only a tool you aquire, in no way does it ultimately define the way you go. You can always start walking in another direction

I could have easily teached myself the stuff which I learned at University. I did not need teachers to teach me stuff, if I am interested in something, I will most likely teach it to myself. I mean, there is the internet, education is free if you know how to use it. But what University did for me, is to connect me with the right people, it supplies you with a lot of opportunities of getting involved. For me, this is the biggest thing that my academical life has done for me. Do not only choose your university but the life which comes with it. Visit the place before you apply, check out the mindset of your soon-to-be-friends :)

So, I found the place where I felt comfortable and I was studying something that made sense for me. But there were more questions:

"How can I have the biggest possible impact?"

This is a huge question and not an easy one. It is one of the questions I tried to solve for myself in the last year.
I am currently working in Nepal in a reforestation project. We are doing great work, helping villages, planting trees, building biogas installations. You can see the effects of the work and you can see how it changed peoples life. Still, compared to all the madness and suffering which is going on, this is a rather small impact. I know, if I go to an area in the need of help, I will most likely have a positive impact and help people. But the question which I constantly faced was the following:

"Could I do better if I put my focus and energy on something else?"

The search for answers for this question led me to Effective Altruism. And yes, I used Google for this, rather than my own thinking.

Effective altruism is about answering one simple question: how can we use our resources to help others the most?
Rather than just doing what feels right, we use evidence and careful analysis to find the very best causes to work on.

Before continuing on this article, please hop over to https://www.effectivealtruism.org/ and have a short read on what it is about.

So there I had my answer, yes there is a way of thinking on how to have the biggest impact. I went through all my ideas and visions, projects and involvements and tried to figure out where to put my energy.

So this is the problem I want to solve:

Plastic Trash

I am part of the precious plastic community and I think it is a great project with a massive potential outcome. Have a look:

I already started to build the machines before I went to Nepal but the project is not completly finished yet. I quit my internship in forestry and started to work for a NGO which is actually building these very machines in Kathmandu. Soon to be seen on Steemit. I am really happy with where all of this took me and I am curious about the future.

So what is the moral of my story? Try stuff out. Doing anything is always better than doing nothing. Failing is always better than doing nothing. Helping other people is most likely to make you happy as well. Think with and for others. Try to forget money.

I am trying to spread word about Steemit in the Precious Plastic Community and I made it my personal task to make Dave Hakkens aware of Steemit. (Yes, Email sent.)

If you want to get involved with precious plastic. Check out the Precious Plastic Worldmap to find like-minded people and build your own machines!

I hope I could shine a light for those who are still floating.

Love&Light,

The first artwork of this post comes from @juliakponsford.
The beautiful Page Dividers of this post come from @kristyglas, you can find them here.
@kristyglas and @juliakponsford are part of the @slothicorn project, publish your artwork under the #creativecommons tag, make it usable for other users and get rewareded for it.

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