Feel good, volunteer!

So now that you know how this economy will impact not only your community, but you as an individual, you may want to know what it's like to volunteer. Well, let me be honest, before I volunteered I did not have a sunny disposition on the matter. Especially because I felt like I was being forced to volunteer by my professor. I felt that it wasn't true volunteering because I wasn't actually voluntarily participating---it was for a class. I thought that cheapened it and began to think of it as slave labor. Haha, melodramatic, I know. But that's how I felt.

I know it's cliche, but I changed my attitude once I began helping. The first day we sorted canned and boxed food for the food pantry. We organized it by type of food, and so on. When we first arrived, the pantry was messy and disorganized. I don't know how they found anything in there! When we were finished it was clean, organized, and inviting. You knew exactly where everything was. Someone could just walk in and grab all their recipe ingredients no sweat! It's hard to explain the feeling I got when I looked at that organized pantry. I felt like I had actually accomplished something. The workers were so happy and grateful with what we had done. It gave me a sort of high; I felt good about not only the deed I had just accomplished, but I felt good about myself. It definitely gave me a self esteem boost!

Now I understand why it's important to volunteer. Not only are you helping other people, you're also helping yourself. By volunteering you're giving back to the community. You're providing people that have very little with something to help them get from one day to the next. A good meal will give them the strength to carry on through their day, and that strength will eventually help them pick themselves up and gain independence and security. And by volunteering, you will be garnering self-esteem in the process. That feel-good high you'll get from volunteering will carry on to other aspects of your life. You can take that positive energy and channel it into creating success for yourself both financially and mentally.