Well it definitely changed my guts ;) I used to be afraid of so many things, and still am! But it got me in the mindset of addressing fear rationally, and treat

Well it definitely changed my guts ;) I used to be afraid of so many things, and still am! But it got me in the mindset of addressing fear rationally, and treating it as a challenge. (I later picked up downhill longboarding.) Also: taught me to trust people, to be gracious of gifts and opportunities coming my way, many ways of being creatively resourceful under constraints... It was also one hell of a physical challenge: hours thumbing in the hot weather, kilometres walked because the spot was bad, etc. I've pushed my limits way harder than I was ready for, got ill twice - I'm still pushing myself a bit too much sometimes, but I'm more mindful about it. I think the most important part was experiencing other cultures - sorry if it sounds cliché! I feel travel is much more "mainstream" these days. I grew up in some city somewhere in central Poland, far from a highway, far from an airport. I was the only person from my "previous life" circles who dared do this kind of stuff, so I've seen and done things that nobody I knew could even tell tales of. And it paid off (literally), because shortly after, I scored my first job at an international company, where I felt right at home.