Volunteering your time and your skills toward a cause you support without expecting any form of compensation is very noble. While others choose to make themselves rich and indulge in anything that money can buy, your energy goes toward improving your community or a vulnerable group of people.
Many places and organizations offer opportunities open to anyone who wants to volunteer. Some decide to take care of abandoned animals in a shelter. Others care for the environment by planting trees or picking up trash in parks and beaches. Volunteering may also come in the form of gathering signatures to persuade government officials to act on a specific issue.
For religious individuals, volunteering may involve signing up for youth groups. A church movement making disciples might invite members to learn and spread the word of God as well as join initiatives that help the community.
No matter what type of volunteering you choose to partake in, here are the benefits that you would get from it.
Volunteering Can Help You Meet New Friends
Volunteering brings like-minded people together. That means, by volunteering, you will meet individuals who support the same social causes like you.
It naturally creates friendship. The time you spend together and the activities you do together helps you forge a strong bond. Eventually, you will find yourself hanging out with the people you volunteer with regularly.
Volunteering Provides You with Opportunities to Socialize
However, even if you do not end up becoming friends with your colleagues, volunteering allows you to interact with another human outside of your household.
Socializing is important to your mental health. It reduces feelings of depression and improves overall well-being.
Previous studies have also linked socializing to a better immune response, protecting you from infections and illnesses.
Volunteering Teaches You Valuable Skills
Volunteering exposes you to new experiences that build you up and ready you for the future. When you volunteer, often, you have to use some skills you already have to complete the tasks assigned to you and help those who are in need. You may also have to learn new skills that will be useful outside of the program.
For example, as a volunteer, you may be asked to speak to strangers and discuss relevant social issues. If you have been a volunteer for a long time, you may be tasked to train and guide newcomers.
Volunteering can also help you advance your career. Many employers look at applicants more favorably if they spend their free time volunteering.
In most cases, volunteering can be used in your professional experience. When you apply for a job, include it in your resume but do not just indicate “volunteer;” put the role you played in the volunteering program to show an employer what you are capable of.
If you find that you are no longer happy with your career, volunteering might open new doors for you — ones that may invigorate your energy and make you feel more fulfilled.
When you volunteer, you do not expect to get something out of it aside from the sense that you are helping make the world a better place. However, it does not hurt that you also come out of it a better person.
If you are considering becoming a volunteer, this article, hopefully, has convinced you to sign up finally.
