Rick Rovers

Nationality: Dutch
Living in: Amsterdam, Holland
Programmes: ELP 2011, ALP 2012

Last October I participated in the ALP in Italy. For three reasons. 
Firstly because I held and still hold warm and good memories to the ILP. Beautiful people, wonderful insights and completely refueled and energized were the main gifts of ten days in St. Braivels Castle. And, not to forget, a head full of songs which are unexplainable to anyone who didn’t attend. Secondly, because I just started a new job and wanted to make sure that I wasn’t slowing down in my ambitions now I reached this point. And thirdly, because I wanted to know what more there was to learn.

Again, the whole experience was great. Great to see old friends, and to meet new ... and then there was the food! Delizioso! When I returned from the ALP, two insights or reconfirmations stood out in particular. One is that self-awareness is a great guide in achieving what you want in life. The second tool that WYSE brought me is the set of different methods to see the bright side of things, for example to count the days that you do work up to your ambitions instead of focusing on a day that you might not. This really helps me to enjoy the things I do more and to keep myself inspired and positive.

After Italy I increased my voluntary work, mainly by becoming a local board member of my political party, Democrats ‘66. D66 is a party which is inspired by both liberalism and socialism. I am mainly occupied with the preparations of the coming elections in 2014 on municipality level. Next to that our board tries hard to get as many people as possible to become politically active and to support the ideas we have for our city. For me, this work is a way to contribute to the city and my local community and to learn more about politics and the city. And a great way to meet new people that are active in the voluntary field too. I really enjoy it. I hope you are all doing well. All the best!