I was probably 12 or 13 when my whole class was asked by our teacher to choose and then present a topic on our “future occupation”. At such an early age, it was a pretty hard task, however I already knew that I would be happy if my job had something to do with football. I decided to become a sports commentator. During my lesson, I passionately tried to cover a match between my beloved Motor Lublin and possibly the most famous club in Poland, Legia Warsaw. I loved the whole experience!

5 to 6 years later, as a History student, I had to read and write a lot. Interestingly, I didn’t always enjoy it. Looking back, I think that one of the reasons why I found it occasionally boring was the fact that reading and writing was “imposed” on us. I couldn’t choose what I wanted to read and therefore my options were quite limited.

Since coming to Britain, and in particular since I started working in the Community and Voluntary Sector in Hertfordshire, I had to quickly learn how to write reports, evaluate projects and often present a wide range of initiatives, which I was leading or supporting.

I wonder how many of us, during the last 20-24 months, took a bit of time to explore our new talents or re-evaluate our life priorities. For me, the greatest discovery in the last 2 years was that I enjoy writing and that writing or reading can make a positive impact on us, our lives and our communities. I would actually argue that both can also help to transform lives.

In the last year or so, I came across a lot of people, who, by writing, inspire others to stop, reflect on our lives, our daily routines and who very often, in spite of their own struggles, never gave up trying to create “bridges of dialogue and understanding”. I was truly inspired by a story of a still relatively young boy from Northern Ireland, Dara McAnulty. He has autism, he had a difficult school experience. However he found that writing helps him to express himself. His book, Diary of a Young Naturalist, is already a bestseller. In one of his interviews, Dara talks about “layers of activism”. Each type of activism can play a part in improving the way in which we perceive and understand the world.