My dearest Ely,
It was pretty much one year ago...
One year ago, I hiked up the pastures of Carinthia when that one small recurring question popped into my mind. A question that I have found myself asking time and time again :
What is actually my purpose on this earth?
I still remember our conversations from back in the days. We used to sit on the wooden floors of our old flats and spend our time philosophizing about life and what it held for us.
Ever so often we touched upon the lighter subjects in life, like who that cute person was in the club the other day, or how annoying that professor was in class earlier this week, or how difficult yesterday's exam was…
But essentially, already back then, we were looking for answers about the meaning of life.
One year ago, I was looking for answers yet again.
Already three years ago,I went through a massive change of circumstance. I had decided to move to Millstatt, a small town of 3.436 people (now 3.437 including me) located in the southern region of Carinthia. Ever since, I have been working as the Hotel Manager of the Villa Verdin, a small yet hugely popular hotel at the similarly called Millstatt Lake.
You know better than others that I was literally born and bred in the cities of Europe, so this was not at all the obvious choice. However, life in the countryside had surprisingly grown on me. From the get go I enjoyed my work an infinite amount. And I really learned to love and appreciate the small town life, the natural wonders surrounding it and especially the kind-hearted people brightening up my days.
But as the years passed by, I couldn't shake the feeling, that something was still missing.
A rather odd feeling I ought to tell you, considering the fact that I had made a very conscious decision to turn my back on Vienna and the whole start-up scene.
With those rather mixed and highly confusing emotions, I decided to go for a small hike on one of my rare days off during the fall to get some headspace. And as I was walking, and the lake slowly started to emerge in the distance, spreading before my eyes, it dawned on me. How full my life already was - in the best way. I felt the joy, the satisfaction and also the confidence that I did belong here. And that maybe, maybe I wasn't too far off from leading a life of purpose.
The next question that crossed my mind at 2.101m above sea level was:
“So what exactly is it that you love about your work?”
As a Hotel Manager, it is my daily business to make sure the guests are well taken care of. Over the summer we have several hundreds of guests that come to us, looking for some respite from their daily dread. Whether it is to have a small vacation, or just to spend a relaxed evening on our terrace with good food, good drinks and even better company.
And even though I love to interact with our guests, who have in part become close friends themselves, eventually I find myself drained of energy. As I was walking on the mountain crest, I suddenly realized that this was never the case, when it came to taking care of my team.
You see, one of the particularities about the Villa is that our service staff almost exclusively consists of summer interns between the age of 16 and 20. Most of them are students from Tourism Schools and have to complete summer internships. Others are regular young adults or university students who want to work over the summer.
Every year I find myself forming and experiencing a completely new team of young adults. Most managers would moan in exasperation and frustration. I realized that for me, this was by far the most challenging but also the most rewarding part of my work.
Every summer I get to know a new batch of young people, who, without exaggerating, completely blow me away with their enthusiasm, optimism and desire to tackle life in all of its forms and with all of its possibilities. Two words came to my mind instantly as I reflected about these young people.
“ Smart & Kind ”
Two character traits that made me instantly think of you Ely.
Similarly to us at that age, they are not quite sure yet what to actually do with themselves. No wonder considering the fact that they have not yet had as much experience as someone, who has worked 10 years in the field. So at times they feel and act insecure.
What unites them all in my eyes however,
is endless potential.
Endless potential paired with an insatiable curiosity and a natural eagerness to evolve and change for the better, if someone offers them the opportunity to do so.
It became clear to me that this is what I was meant to do.
I want to help those young adults to explore their potential and make the best out of it. I want to contribute to their personal development. I want them to become the self-confident, smart and kind people they are meant to be.
I am convinced that this is how we can bring about social change during a time where the world has largely decided to declare this generation to be lost and overly self-centered. Truly this is not the experience that I have made over the last three years.
We all try to find our place in this world. You, me, her and him…
At one point, this world, at least it seems to me, stopped to take this young generation seriously. Maybe because they grew up in the digital age, maybe also because, especially here in Austria, many of them grew up in relative great comfort and prosperity.
When I think about my youth however, I don't recall being taken more seriously either.
Kids are put into school with the idea that they need to be formed into socially acceptable adults. But what if, what if, they do not need to be formed but instead need to be challenged and encouraged to change.
I want to do exactly that,
I want to challenge them,
inspire them
and make a difference in their lives.
I want to give young people a platform, nay, a playground to explore themselves, to develop themselves and to find themselves. That is when they can truly become creative. In an environment of like-minded people they too will become active.
I am convinced that here at the Millstätter Lake, far from school, friends and family, I can create a unique setting, where we can get the best out of young people.
A setting, where we show them their full potential, where we show them that they are not alone, and where we show them that they too can change things up for the better.
A setting where young people find the courage to challenge their own conception of the world, and as a consequence spend the rest of their lives challenging the status quo.
When I think about it Ely, I want them to be a little bit more like you. With your joy for life, your love for your environment, the world and the people living in it. With your courage to lead a life, that doesn't follow any rules and that doesn't succumb to the need to conform.
For me these are the smart & kind leaders of tomorrow. That is ELY Academy.
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