Over the past four years or so, I've found myself devoting more time to other people, and have found immense happiness in it. You don't have to lend a kidney to make someone's life better; a little work goes a long way. Volunteering can be much more fulfilling than you would initially expect. When you take the time to find the right organization, and the right people, volunteering can be an incredible experience.
Sure, you can scroll through Instagram and see all these people on flashy service trips around the world, building houses and fighting epidemics. Yeah, I'd give anything to be able to do something like that. But, paying thousands of dollars to fly around the world and do minimal service (depends on the program you choose) for two weeks is not the only way you can volunteer.
The beauty of selfless service is that people will always need help. And I've come to learn that people need help with so many different things, and there will always be problems to solve. Because of this, you can find volunteer work that you can become truly passionate about. Not into wheeling people through hospitals? There are so many different ways you can inflict change right within your community. Whether it be mentoring a child, teaching people how to cook, walking dogs, re-shelving library books, your time is valuable, and it is your choice of whether you want to continue to sit in your bed, watching Grey's Anatomy, or apply at your local hospital, and see if it lives up to your Dr. Grey standards.
Volunteering is a great way to experience new things, and even decide on a career path. It only takes a few days of volunteering at an after school program to realize that you would never want to be a teacher, or even a summer to learn that you are passionate about wildlife conservation.
And as you figure a few things out, you begin to build relationships with people that you would have never expected to be so important. Seeing the same faces every week, or month, or even year can be that reminder to you that there are other people out there who want to do good for the same reasons. That's refreshing to know that there are people with specific interests, just like you.
And above all, there is nothing better than the feeling that your deeds helped someone or something. Even small deeds can help improve the world around us.
