Newey's blog: Choosing the right path

BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- Newey is the head of Thailand's Youth Venture program, located based in Bangkok, Thailand.

Youth Venture, a global organization and partner of Ashoka, is dedicated to supporting and encouraging Ventures that benefit society, proposed and run by young people across Thailand. The vision behind the program is that everyone can take initiative and address social needs. Young people form the basis for this.

Newey will be continuing her work with the program to further the impact it is having on Bangkok society. Follow her efforts in her blogs and video diaries.

September 18, 2007
Welcome to my life....

Life for me is a path or a journey. I know I'm going somewhere; I'm just not sure where exactly. I remember when I turned 25 I stopped thinking about the future and concentrated on today, since thinking about the future was like waiting for a day that would never actually come.

When we are young we search for what we want to do and who we want to be, we want the "right answer." I thought that if I found the answers I could choose the life I wanted. But I realized there is no one answer and that things are dynamic. I asked myself "Can I be a better person, or should I just accept who I am?"

It's so stressful, to be scared and take risks that may fail. Since then I tell myself "Just do things that feel right and everything else will come!"

I'm just an ordinary person who never believes people who tell me that I'm special. Fear still drives the way I live my life. The biggest challenges are always to fight with my own dark side and to be satisfied with every day. From time to time I look around and think about the other life that I didn't choose.

I almost went to medical school, I was about to start a business and my condo was designed to be an art studio. But I spent most of my hours working on the Youth Venture program that supports young people to start and run social projects. There are four other members in my team. This is the life I have chosen.

People around me question why I did what I did. It's the same question I ask myself every single day. They said I could make more money and even become very successful if I did something else. But I do things I am passionate about -- like helping people help themselves.

This work is my life, the more I work, the more I gain, so I don't see myself as helping others. To me, my work makes my life worth living. It makes me want to rise in the morning, even after just a few hours of sleep. It makes a practical person like me fantasize that the sun also rises for me.

The more I work, the more I understand myself and the world around me. The wider impact I created came with the recognition that makes me extra careful of what I am doing. If things go wrong because I am arrogant, I can create a negative impact as well.

Keeping a journal is a habit I have had since high school. I do it for self-reflection, self-therapy. But never before have I expected an audience. If you are reading this sentence I want to say thank you! I hope that later on I can share with you the story of another life of someone you think you know, or someone you are about to get to know (if you decide to come back and read more).

I was inspired by tons of people and I was told that some get motivated by me. So, we influence each other. Individuals are nothing; our relationship and interaction instead, define and matter. E-mail to a friend