Doing good for others is good for you – and the fact that you’ll benefit from it personally doesn’t make it count any less.
Here’s a compiled list of the benefits to YOU from volunteering to help others — it probably covers a lot of your own New Year’s “resolutions”. Over and over, research has clearly demonstrated these wide-ranging benefits when you volunteer.
More of the good stuff:
- Greater happiness
- Improved self-esteem
- Increased social connections/friendships
- Heightened sense of life purpose
- Enhanced psychological resilience
- Greater sense of control in one’s life
- Feeling that you have more spare time, not less
- Activation of the brain’s “motivation” center
- Release of endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers
Less of the bad stuff:
- Breaking out of the cycle of complaining/worrying
- Decreased feelings of loneliness/isolation
- Less physical pain
- Fewer symptoms and feelings of depression
- Decreased stress and anxiety
How to find opportunities to volunteer? Easy as A-B-C:
A) LinkedIn’s For Good program
B) Catchafire.org
C) VolunteerMatch.org