New year, new choices, new opportunities, new life. That’s what most people hope for on New Year’s Eve, when they make their resolutions for the upcoming year. They resolve to eat better, drink or smoke less, exercise more, get a new job, learn a new skill, spend more time with loved ones, make new friends and cross items off their bucket list. But there’s one resolution that can enhance their lives and change the lives of others: volunteering.
Volunteering is the mother of all resolutions. It reaches and touches the most people and helps you keep your other resolutions.
Whether you have one hour a day, two days a week or one day a month, you can make a difference. You can deliver meal kits, mentor a child, accompany a senior to a doctor’s appointment, help organize and run group activities at a nursing home, and the list goes on. Choose a cause you’re passionate about and that needs your contribution.
Following are just a few reasons to make volunteering your No. 1 resolution this year on New Year’s Eve.
1. Sense of Purpose
Volunteering gives you a sense of purpose and adds meaning to your life. Volunteers play a critical role in helping nonprofit and other charitable organizations reach their goals in numerous areas, such as health, education and financial stability. When you volunteer, you cannot help but be changed by that experience. Almost overnight you gain a sense of purpose and meaning in your life that nothing or no one can take away from you.
2. Meaningful Relationships
Volunteering is an excellent way of meeting people and creating new, meaningful friendships that could last a lifetime. These relationships stem from connections with other volunteers, the staff and the people you help as a volunteer. Volunteering helps you practice key social skills and expand your social network. Since most people volunteer for causes they feel strongly about, you’re likely to meet like-minded individuals through volunteering.
3. Good for You
Doing good is good for you. Volunteering helps you stay physically active, improving your physical and mental health. If you like burning calories and building strength, or if you need to lose weight and lower your blood pressure or glucose levels, there are volunteering jobs that require you to be on your feet, such as working at a thrift store, or work a sweat, such as cleaning a shelter or building a home. You could volunteer on your own by helping one or more of your elderly or disabled neighbors to maintain their yards, racking leaves in the fall, shoveling snow in the winter, pulling weeds in the spring and cutting grass in the summer—a workout for every season!
4. Improved Mental Health
Volunteering can also reduce your stress and improve your mental and emotional health. Research shows that volunteering lowers depression rates through increased social interactions and accomplishments. The time you spend in service to others combats boredom, offers a break from your own troubles, provides a sense of purpose and gives you the satisfaction of knowing that you can make a difference in the world. Volunteering can make you a happier person, and that’s nothing to be depressed about!
5. A Better Community
Volunteers help create and support healthy communities. In many cases, volunteers can make a greater positive contribution to the community than politics and property taxes can. People who volunteer expand their social circles and the social circles of those they help, creating a tighter community where people care about each other and help each other in times of need.
6. New Skills
Volunteering allows you to use your skills for the greater good and teaches you new skills. Someone interested in learning home improvement or building skills can volunteer to help build a home for a family though Habitat for Humanity. If you would like to learn to cook or bake, you could volunteer at a soup kitchen or a homeless shelter. Are you interested in media and marketing? Help a local animal shelter run its marketing, advertising and social media campaigns. From writing to graphic design and planning, there are many skills you can learn through volunteering.
How to Find a Volunteering Gig
Many nonprofit and charitable organizations are making it easier than ever to find volunteering opportunities by posting them on their websites and allowing volunteers to sign up for them online. In addition, there are volunteering agencies or websites that match volunteers with local volunteering jobs.
General Volunteering Matching Websites
U.S. Government-Sponsored Volunteer Programs
Volunteer Opportunities for Professionals and Executives
- Catchafire
- Taproot Foundation
- International Executive Corps
- Financial Services Volunteer Corps
- Executive Service Corps
- SCORE
International Volunteer Opportunities
Source: The Balance Small Business
Get Past the New Year Resolution
Make volunteering a reality this year. Whether you’ve been thinking about volunteering for years or for as long as it has taken you to read this blog post, it’s time to put this wonderful idea into action. All you have to do is take the first step. You won’t regret it.