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April 11, 2014

I Launched an NGO at Age 20. ~ Amanda Froelich

NGO image Yoga

“Dream, dream!” a sensation urged on—and so I did.

Here again, I sit in the crowded Cafe Delicias in Perez Feledon, Costa Rica, waiting for my ride, and sipping freshly-pressed carrot juice. “Click, click, click,” the keys of my tablet’s keyboard frantically work to keep up with my fingers. I’m writing another article for alternative media site, True Activist, and am filled with an exhilarating air of enthusiasm to be able to share such heightening information and reach the world through the internet.

This is my life: I’m 20 years old, head raw and vegan chef at Farm of Life in the luscious tropics, freelance writer for a variety of alternative publications, and Holistic Nutritionist for a plethora of people seeking to get healthy. I have it made, right?

Except not.

There’s still something—that nagging, urgent feeling to create more that has me refining, planning, adding to, and erasing notes on a piece of paper to my side. A piece of paper attached to a notebook filled with plans of a NGO (non-governmental organization) that I’ve dreamed of creating for the last four or five years. It began as a long-time vision I once imagined while in the solace of the woods in South Dakota—but as with everything in life, it has unbelievably become an actual possibility much sooner than planned.

And it’s here in this coffee shop—with the blaring tunes of an obnoxious car screaming advertisement for a sale down the street—that I’m flooded with a wave of inspiration. A feeling that cannot be translated into words, but if it could would be something like, “Fuck it. If I’m going to live, I need to go all out. I need to express and do what I came here to do…before it’s too late.”

Some of you may scoff at this. “You’re 20, how could it be too late?” Well, my reply to that is: If not me, who? If not now, when? Fueled by spiritual ambition and a passion to give back to humanitarian efforts in a creative way, this has been the theme of my life. And it’s what has shaped me as an individual.

I mean, look around! There is no lack of need for assistance in every shade of occupation—mine just happens to be holistic health and mindful living.

We can no longer ignore that as human beings (or more accurately, spiritual beings having a human experience), that we are limited by age, intelligence, beauty, passion, resources, or connections. We have incredible communicative abilities with the entire world, unbelievable technologies to dramatically transform the way all people live their lives, and unique passion and aspirations to fuel the type of lives we’d like to live and create for future generations.

And with this “knowing,” I affirmatively closed my laptop and began to write. The sun beat down outside the crowded street, the owner handed me another carrot juice—but this entire time my mind’s eye was only on the present and possibility for the future. “Dream, dream!” a sensation urged on—and so I did.

We have the limitless opportunity to create whatever we can conceive, and partnered with confidence that stems from spiritual practice and positive thinking, it can all be made manifest. Before the week was over, I had created project: Nourishing Roots, and it’s a gateway travel, research, and humanitarian project aimed to give back in a way like no other. It will literally lay foundation for the future NGO, Bloom for Life, an organization that intends to work with rural and urban locations to teach sustainable living, holistic healing, and spiritual connectedness to help others flourish.

Poetic it may be, inspirational perhaps—but it will not be made manifest without the loving support of like-minded individuals that believe such positive change in the world is possible. As a writer for alternative media, I know first-hand that there’s a lot of incredible transformations and groups coming together to work for a particular cause.

Often the excitement of what is formed is not shared by mainstream media, however, but like all things—this will change.

I decided that day to stop living below what I know I am capable of creating. And while it is somewhat frightening to lose a sense of security and stability in life—it’s a place I think we all need to be at someday to truly invite in our potential.

We are a new type of people—a generation becoming aware of what needs to change, and we are intelligent enough to know how to do it. What could be more beautiful than that? What could possibly be more exciting than acting on your passion, working towards common goals in a way that benefits all, and transforming your life to inspire others to follow their bliss? Universal laws support us all, and it’s a strong belief of mine that there is enough abundance for all.

Now we have to act.

In my opinion, nothing could be more important than answering this type of calling—which is within all of us. And I hope you agree. Feel inspired to follow through with whatever venture calls to you, because there is no one who can do it like you. And that, my friends, is extremely exciting, and an incredibly positive outlook for the future.

If my cause excites you, please support my campaign by visiting the website I’ve devoted to explaining this next-step project.

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Apprentice Editor: Ola Weber / Editor: Renée Picard

Photo: Author’s own

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Amanda Froelich