“Whatever the mind can conceive, it can achieve!”. That is the phrase I saw on a friend’s wall on Facebook after posting that he was going to Peru with AIESEC that summer to volunteer. That moment it clicked me. This phrase touched me so much that it would take time after that to realize how it would define my life.  

I asked a common friend to learn more about his volunteering and his beliefs on the matter posted. I learned that after volunteering in AIESEC for some years, he wanted to go on an exchange in Peru, but he didn’t have the money. He tried many ways to acquire it but it was hard, given the fact that we were in Greece and due to the financial crisis,  jobs were hard to be found. However, he believed that if you truly believe in something and if you are positive about it, it can happen. After sometime, he tried crowdfunding through Facebook, a concept rarely seen in Greece. By sharing his vision, he managed to raise the amount and live an unforgettable experience that summer.

That same summer I went to Egypt after passing through a semester full of failures and difficulties. Keeping that story in mind, yet not understanding its full meaning, my days went on passing by with me going to the NGO and working. I met wonderful people who were accomplishing many things in their lives and admired them, never fully understanding why though.

One day I asked my roommate who had traveled the world and survived through many adventures, how has he been always so successful? The answer was “I just believe in myself man. I look at the future and smile”. It made a connection then with the phrase I saw from the Peru guy. The feeling these gave to me was clear. Positivity. Through every hardship, through every obstacle or uncertainty these people kept being positive about the outcome and succeed. This was like a punch in the nose for me. I started practicing positivity in my everyday life and once achieved to induct it, everything started changing. My mood was better, my results were higher and my brain was working clearer. Positivity can reduce anxiety levels and boost your psychology, make you feel better about life and more productive. It gives you clarity over your everyday actions and helps your brain work faster and increase your confidence. That confidence leads to achieving more things, trying new options and improving your potential. It helps you grow as an individual and deal with the problems faced much better.

Nowadays I never let anything set my positivity back and constantly try to nurture it in myself and others. I imagine what if everyone saw the world in a positive aspect? How would the world be? How would everyone face their problems? These are qualities the Leaders of tomorrow must have to be able to deal with problems and solve them, to be able to move forward and grow, first themselves and then the society around them. And I am not talking about Leaders in high places, but about every young person now that can be the Leader of his life and his community in the future, in any aspect of life.

If you want to understand and find positivity and its importance, meet people around the world, face challenges and interact with other cultures through an experience like mine. Visit aiesec.org and explore the opportunities lying ahead of you!