Sounds cliche but these 7 weeks has truly been a life altering experience, it's weird but I genuinely entered and left the country as a noticeably different person. Being basically off the grid and surrounded by nature gave me abundant opportunities for introspection.

Not gonna lie, before going I was plagued with a constant bombardment of worries and concerns. These were personal doubts about the viability and potential benefit from undertaking this project, further compounded by some disapproval and disappointment from home that I wasn't pursuing a more conventionally safe path that can further contribute to my area of studies and future career. This is especially so with friends and peers continuing with internships and receiving job offers during the same period. However what I've come to terms with is the fact that taking different paths can still move you forward. People around you might advise or comment, but ultimately along with personal discretion, it does pay to stand firm in your own convictions. It's okay to diverge and follow your interests because you'll never know their outcomes, every situation usually only ever adds to your life in some way or form. 

Furthermore, a key realisation I took away was to ask oneself this one daily question - What is one thing I've done today that has made me better than yesterday? This simple question alone helps to frame everyday tasks and keep things in perspective. Often we get wrapped up in the things we should've done, regrettably forgetting the copious amount of good we have already accomplished. This can be attributed to numerous factors like their repetitive nature causing us to minimise them or the theft of comparison to others. IDK maybe it sounds silly, but it definitely did provide me some sense of reassurance that my choices are still positively impacting my personal growth and for that I'm grateful. 

Independently volunteering somewhere so remote also forced a ton of self-development in resilience and adaptability. The field house that was my main accommodation was far from luxurious, it was safe and definitely had a lot of character, but only housed the essentials. The meals were always local village food which was a nice surprise, thank god for my un-picky palate.  While there was wifi during the good days, we were often left disconnected given its rural nature. It was a big culture shock, but also a very welcome change of pace. It unintentionally created a great environment to have genuine conversations and connections without the distraction of social media and the internet. 

Another goal I set out for myself before embarking was to be very intentional in my actions and outlook, for them to all be opportunities to firmly step out of my comfort zone. For example: 
- Being more social. Initiating conversations (when I usually don't), being the driving force in getting to know others better, talking to strangers during my solo travels (met really cool locals and foreigners this way). 
- Minimising the fear of rejection. Being more forward with requests and questions produced numerous unique experiences I wouldn't otherwise have had. 
- Being bolder. Undertaking activities and decisions I would normally be more hesitant about like learning scuba diving in the open ocean, jumping off a 10ft waterfall, doing a 3am pitch-black sunrise hike, making 5 transfers for a 9hour journey on the local un-googleable transport network... 

At the beginning of this post I've mentioned that I left Sri Lanka a different person, but the focus shouldn't had been so much about being different. Rather it was maybe more about giving myself the chance to better understand who I want to be as a person, and then trying ways to be just that. Hopefully this post didn't end up being a gargled mumbo jumbo thought dump, but just in case here's a bunch of photos to distract from that fact.