Giving something to others out of genuine generosity can be extremely fulfilling. In particular, volunteering will not only make you grow as a person, but it will also help you evolve, change, and re-discover your own value after you go through a personal crisis.
The act of volunteering will give you many benefits. Seeing how you can improve someone else’s life with your efforts will make you consider your own worth as a person and it will make you see that you can make other people happy.
Community work, in particular, can give you a sense of fellowship and pride as you enrich your own neighborhood, town, or city, and provide you with a great opportunity for social interaction.
A volunteering project can have a positive impact on you, your loved ones, and your community. If you find the right work for it will help you reduce stress, combat stress, find friends, learn new professional skills, reach out to different communities, advance in your career, and even learn new languages and cultures.
Most experts also recommend volunteering as a way to overcome an attachment trauma, the deep feeling of pain that comes after losing someone either because of a breakup, a divorce, or the death of a loved one.
As you offer vital help to people in need and invest your time in worthwhile causes, you will also stay mentally stimulated and gain a sense of purpose for your life.
A research published by the Corporation for National and Community Service (an institution of the federal government) found out that people who volunteer at least 100 hours a year (which equals 2 hours a week) live longer and have better physical and mental health than those who don’t.
Many studies have demonstrated that acts of kindness rewards happiness. Researchers at the London School of Economics reviewed the relationship between happiness and volunteering in a group of American adults and found groundbreaking results.
According to a study in Social Science and Medicine, people who volunteer monthly have 7% better possibilities of been happier than people who have never volunteered, and those who volunteer two times per week have 12% better odds of living a very happy life. Furthermore, 16% of the weekly volunteers said they felt “very happy.”
There are four main reasons why volunteering will make you feel happier and healthier: it connects you to others; it gives you peace of mind; it advances tour career, and it gives you a sense of fulfillment and purpose.
As you connect to a community and your coworkers and make a difference in the lives of people you will also establish new friends and contacts.
In fact, volunteering is a great way to meet new people especially if you are new to an area or often feel lonely. It will also help you develop social skills if you happen to have a hard time around people.
It will give you peace of mind because it combats the effects of anger, depression, anxiety, and stress.
A social contact can have a profound effect on your psychological well-being and can help you increase your self-confidence as well of your physical health.
It will advance your career because it gives you an opportunity to use important skills outside of the workplace and make small differences for communities and people in need.
A volunteering venture will always increase the value of your resume, particularly if it involves teamwork, communication, project planning, task management, problem-solving, and organization.
And lastly, volunteering brings fulfillment and fun to your life. It is an easy way to explore passions and interests and it is a good way to find meaningful escapes to your day-to.day routine.
There are numerous volunteer projects available. The right one for you should fit your professional skills, should help you work on yourself and should be in tune with your values and beliefs.
Before committing to a cause you should decide a couple of things first:
Once you answer these questions you can check volunteer opportunities in your city or town.
Common ones happen in community theaters, monuments, museums, libraries, senior centers, local animal shelters, wildlife centers, rescue organizations, national parks, religious places, and service organizations like iSpiice and Rotary Clubs.