When people volunteer, they think that the only people who will benefit from this experience are the people that they are ‘helping’. However, this is not true. There is just something about giving your time towards a voluntary cause that will make you a better person in both your personal and professional lives. Whether you're volunteering at your local shelter, towards a community project or other cause, you won't go back home to the dam. Not only are you benefiting the beneficiaries of the volunteer experience but you are also benefiting yourself as you will grow in so many ways once you start volunteering. Let's delve into how volunteering will make you better as a person.
Enhances Social Skills
During your volunteer experience, you are faced with the need to communicate with the people around you over and over again. You will only be one of many other individuals in the experience, and this broadens your social horizons as, with time, you will become more comfortable than you initially were in social settings. When you, therefore, volunteer, the continuous interactions that you will have with different people will help you to improve your social skills. So, if you struggle with social environments, volunteering is a good way to enhance your social skills.
Increases Empathy
When you are consumed by your own life and live in your social bubble, it is difficult for you to relate to other people. This will give you the illusion that only your feelings and thoughts matter. In turn, you may end up not being able to relate to others and lacking empathy towards other people, ultimately making you a detached individual. However, when you volunteer, it's like you get outside this bubble and can now see beyond your own needs and wants, paving the way to understanding other people and getting their perspective on things. By therefore becoming a volunteer, you will open your heart to other people's experiences and become a more empathetic human being.
Gives You A Sense of Fulfilment
When you help other people towards a selfless cause, you will feel more fulfilled in your own life. An example is how, when you bake a cake and see it rising from dough to a beautiful, tasty cake, you will feel like you have achieved something, and this will help you to become more fulfilled. In the same context, when you contribute towards changing someone’s life, allowing them to thrive and accomplish their dreams, you will feel more fulfilled than you do right now.
Allows You To Network
Life is about making connections that you may need in the future. Therefore, the people who network more, are likely to succeed more in life. All the people that are volunteering and that you are volunteering for are potential networks. So, when you volunteer, you get the opportunity to interact with all of them and potentially become acquainted with them. So, not only will you get the opportunity to be a member of society when you volunteer but you will also get to make new social connections.
Better Mental Health
Life is full of ups and downs that tend to affect our mental health. The most likely case is that you are stressed more often than not, due to the hurdles that life comes with. Volunteering is a good way to, however, get rid of this stress as you can focus on more than just your life while you are doing it. When you see the smiles of the children at the shelter, chatting away while at a project with other volunteers, or just engaging with anyone, you will be able to destress when you volunteer, making room for a better state of your mental health.
Enhanced Skills
Volunteering is an opportunity for you to learn new life skills. Therefore, when you volunteer, your pool of skills will be enhanced, fostering both professional and personal growth. If you volunteer on a cooking, building or painting endeavour, you are gaining these skills for yourself as well, which will prove beneficial to you. Therefore, by volunteering, you will be able to gain new technical and even soft skills, helping you to become a better person.
Improves Resilience
When you volunteer, you will constantly be challenged to do tasks that you may have thought that you would never complete. However, because you took the initiative to do those tasks and because they also affect the people around you, you can't just give up. You are, therefore, faced with the opportunity to become a more resilient human being. Moreso, when you volunteer, you get exposed to other people’s life stories and what they have been through. Seeing how hard life has dealt with these people, yet they have never given up, will, in turn, motivate you to also be resilient in your own life, helping you to become a better person.
Fosters A Sense Of Belonging
Once you start volunteering, you become part of something bigger than yourself. You won't be an individual anymore but part of a community. This sense of belonging is, therefore, comforting and somewhat makes you feel heard and supported in times when things are hard for you. Through volunteering, you will make friends and meet new people, taking away the loneliness that you may have felt inside. Therefore, if you struggle with feelings of loneliness and isolation, consider volunteering as this will help you better yourself as a person in this regard.