Everyone seems to be so busy these days. But being too busy means that you miss out on a lot of things – things that actually enrich your life and improve both physical and mental health.
Volunteering is one such activity. Unfortunately many people are too busy watching TV, playing computer games, overeating in coffee shops, and tweeting pointless comments about the minutiae of their lives to do anything that is actually productive in a genuinely meaningful way. .
But volunteering actually brings more benefits to the volunteer than the person who needs help. The latter will hopefully get the help they want anyway, but you, the potential volunteer, will benefit in ways you would not imagine.
To volunteer is an altruistic act, and altruism is a much studied character trait of humans. This is because there seems to be no apparent gain in being altruistic, but that is only if you live solely in a materialistic world. By moving out of that limited bubble of the self and expanding into the realm of other people, your health, personal happiness and satisfaction levels will improve enormously. All for walking a short time in the shoes of another.
Volunteering has been shown to decrease depression levels as well as feelings of loneliness, anxiety and worthlessness. Volunteers tend to register higher levels of self respect in psychological testing.
Studies also show that people who volunteer regularly tend to live longer due to the increased social interactions associated with volunteering. This is also augmented by the abovementioned feelings of greater happiness and life satisfaction.
Volunteering also helps to put your own life problems in perspective, thus lowering your own stress levels. And as volunteers perform so many different tasks for so many different reasons, there often arises situations where a volunteer has to think laterally to solve a logistical problem that the person they care for presents with. This makes for increased thinking agility and again, a sense of achievement and purpose.
So rather than watch that movie for the umpteenth time, take time out to give of yourself. You’ll be the chief beneficiary of your new pastime.