My time in the Peace Corps had a profound influence on my social skills/life. While I would not have said I was necessarily lonely, I was certainly rather anti-

My time in the Peace Corps had a profound influence on my social skills/life. While I would not have said I was necessarily lonely, I was certainly rather anti-social and had a lot of trouble expressing myself to people. Aside from the people I met and relationships I made with other volunteers during my service, I learned through necessity how to be a much more outgoing and social person. I imagine this had a lot to do with where I served (culturally, people were much more community oriented than here in the U.S.) but even the first few months spending time training with the other volunteers in country was hugely influential. Peace Corps is pretty unique compared to more typical volunteer opportunities, but I suspect one could get a similar effect from sustained volunteering with a particular org/group.