Volunteering refers to giving your time and energy to a cause to empower and promote change be it socially or economically. This is mostly unpaid but comes with a lot of fulfillment and satisfaction since you can put a smile on someone’s face and give back to the community. One can volunteer locally or internationally and this will depend on available volunteer vacancies and individual availability. Here are some benefits of volunteering:
Meeting new people
During your volunteer time, you are bound to meet new people from different backgrounds with whom you can network with and establish life long bonds. It’s not a surprise that most volunteers land jobs from connections built at that time. The best thing is that you meet people with similar values to yours and you also get to socialize and have fun filled activities.
Enhances your skills and knowledge
In your time as a volunteer you perfect your learned and acquired skills such as problem solving, time management, communication and leadership which come in handy in the corporate world. Sometimes you learn skills if you volunteer outside your community such as art work and knitting as you share your expertise with the community too.
Learn different cultures
Every community has its way of life and volunteering is one of the best ways to learn about a people’s culture and perspective of life. For example, you will be more empathetic to people’s situations if you first hand experience a challenge faced by the community since you understand how it affects them. In the process you can learn a new language too and teach the community about your culture.
Boosts self esteem
As a volunteer, you get to interact with people from all ages, people from different management levels and this improves your communication skills and personal growth in totality. You will be happier and psychologically fulfilled from volunteer work which radiates towards other people you interact with.
Gives you a sense of purpose
It can be before or after a volunteer period that most individuals get to identify deeply with a cause which gives them a purpose to live. With this motivation, some volunteers end up starting not for profit organizations to tackle social problems such as female genital mutilation, drugs and substance abuse. It is important to encourage seniors to volunteer as they have years of experience and they will be less bored.
Lowers mortality rate
When you volunteer, you engage both your mind and body. Volunteering helps you meet people hence lowers chances of depression which is catalyzed by loneliness and isolation. You are also less likely to suffer from blood pressure, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases due to physical activity and a strong mental well being.
Other benefits one can reap from volunteering include traveling to different countries or cities and access to resources which makes their work easier. It is important to carefully choose a volunteer activity that you are passionate about and a favorable location to you so that you can give it your all. Remember to always have fun as you volunteer.
