Some might say that having a job that fulfils you is something of a luxury.

For many, work is about survival. On the whole, we work in order to pay the rent, put food on the table, pay the bills and simply arrive at the end of the month.

This is not something to be taken lightly. We cannot start making grand claims to have an exciting, fulfilling job that completes us as people, when the reality is that basic material need fulfilment is not something at all easy.

But we also have to accept on some level that a lot of people “fall into” lines of work that aren’t anywhere in line with their personlities, strengths, or emotional make up. Yet it is easy to get used to a comfortable life-style. To the money, the security.

Yet, with the crisis, that security has now gone. Nothing is sacred. And many people are, despite the very uncomfortable fear and insecurity, have the opportunity to look at what they can do, and if - as we now know - nothing is safe, then what is worth taking risks for.

Maybe this is the conception of our generation. The apathy, the commercialism, the consumer comforts. All gone! We’re ready for a fresh awakening. A chance to really question what we value, and what it is, at the deepest pitted root, that we need to make us feel happy.

What does this mean for home exchange? Well, it’s another symptom of the frost that comes, yet that bring us to a more alert state of consciousness.

It’s something for us to think about. How the change in consciousness, the new awareness that the security we always thought we would have has gone, and how we are taking things out of the matrix, and into our own hands.

How often before have we “fallen into” a package trip that some group of travel agents has loosely hooked together that’s meant to interest us and the whole of the rest of the population at the same time? Just because they sell it, doesn’t make it good.

Home exchanges bring home the real values of holidays. They’re not about package tours, impersonal hotels, and what money can buy you. They’re about giving yourself an experience that fulfils you and gives you the opporunity to challenge youself and try new things.