What Are the Benefits of Volunteer Work?

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Volunteering might not be something that you immediately think of doing. Perhaps you’re extremely busy, or you prefer to do things that will help you first and foremost. Sometimes, this is a good idea, by the way.

However, once you learn what the many benefits of volunteer work are, you might want to do more to try it out for yourself. Read on for some of the reasons why volunteering is a good idea, whether you have as much time as possible or just an hour or so each week.

It Feels Good

First and foremost, although volunteering is, of course, about helping other people, the truth is that it feels good to do good. If you want to take care of your mental and emotional health, offering your time and services for volunteer work could be the perfect way to go about it. No matter whether you’re helping underprivileged children or picking up litter in the park, the sense of achievement you’ll feel afterwards (and even during) will be well worth the hard work.

Something else to bear in mind is that, even if you don’t have a lot of time, there are other ways to help people that will feel good. Giving money to a charity for veterans or buying from a charity store, for example, will also make you feel great if you can’t volunteer your time.

You’ll Be More Active

If you weren’t volunteering, what would you be doing? Although it’s sometimes good for you to laze on the couch bingeing on Netflix and eating snacks (good mentally, at least), it shouldn’t be something you do every day or all weekend. Save that for when you need a rest and reset, and use your spare time to help others by volunteering otherwise. In this way, you’re helping those other people, but you’re also preventing yourself from being unhealthy or wasting your time.

You can see how volunteering will help you get out of the house, get away from your usual routine (perhaps entirely stepping out of your comfort zone), and do something worthwhile that will make you feel much better than staying indoors doing nothing ever could.

You Can Try New Things

On the subject of getting out of your comfort zone, did you know that volunteering will give you the chance to try new things? If you’re decorating a community building, you might pick up some skills you didn’t have before, like painting walls or hanging doors. If you’re working in a soup kitchen, you might learn how to cook, or how to cook in bulk, which can be very useful in your own life. You might just find that talking to people gives you an insight into different lives, and they might inspire you to do more with yours.

Trying new things is good for you, and it’s important to do so whenever you can. If you can combine this with volunteering, that’s even better, as you’ll be helping yourself, as well as those you are directly impacting.