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Ep. 08 – Emily Heller; Peace Corps, Chasing Dreams, & Belonging
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Ep. 08 – Emily Heller; Peace Corps, Belonging, & Job Hunting
Meet Emily, an environmental scientist whose experience has ranged from working with the Peace Corps in Panama to the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. I met Emily in high school and it has been an honor to do life with her.
In high school, Emily saw a Peace Corps promotional video and knew she had to join. She still had to finish high school and go to college, but, eventually, she dreamed of making it a reality. One summer during College, Emily had an internship in Washington, D.C. and was starting to feel like the Peace Corps was too big of a dream. She discussed her apprehension and fellow intern, who challenged Emily to be brave: “and she said, ‘Just because something’s hard, doesn’t mean you don’t do it.’”
About a year after finishing her degree in environmental science and making an epic pros and cons list, Emily applied for an assignment in the Peace Corps that would allow her to share her love of rain forestry, sustainable agriculture, and the Spanish language. She was placed with a community in Panama and began the long wait for the paperwork to clear.
Emily said, “there were voices of doubt that said don’t even try.” Committing to living abroad for two years can be intimidating and terrifying and while she was knee deep in the application process, a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa was killed during her service, so many people in Emily’s life were concerned for her safety and expressed their concern and doubt that this was not something worth pursuing. Emily felt discouraged, knowing that she needed and wanted to join the Peace Corps for both personal and professional reasons. “I got to the point where it was like, ‘do you do this or do you not do this?’ And I got an offer, I did a pro con list, and at the end of the day, it was, ‘you need to go do this to help people; this is not about you, really.’”
Emily felt discouraged and was questioning if continuing to pursue the Peace Corps was worth it. “I would range from excited at the prospect and then the self doubt at my own worth and fear of anything bad happening.”
Emily did end up spending two years in Panama with the Peace Corps and doesn’t regret a moment of it. Life came full circle when she realized she was helping people and developing the intercultural relationships that had inspired her to join the Peace Corps eight years earlier. “I quickly realized, once I got to my site and saw I that God literally looked at my prayer check list and not only check off everything, but beyond my wildest expectations. I found a second home.”
After a year and a half of paperwork, jumping through hoops, and lots of questions, Emily knew she was in the right place. Recently, Emily went through another long, drawn out season of job hunting and said it hasn’t gotten easier to wait, but she’s learned a lot about God. She says she’s learned that she can trust God with her hopes and dreams and she’s realized “God’s made me more than I give myself credit for.”
- What are you loving right now? Being quiet with God, finding happy fun things on social media, knitting, and spending time with family.
- What’s your favorite meal right now? Yogurt with fruit and granola: a parfait of the day!
- What are you doing to take care of yourself? Running!
- What are you doing to be brave? Applying for jobs and letting go of what might be the “perfect” situation.
NOTE: since chatting with Emily, she’s accepted an exciting full-time job and moved to Washington, D.C. Way to be brave!
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