What's the most precious resource on earth, that everyone has, and no one can ever get anymore of?
Stumped? The answer is time.
And that's why when you give it to a cause that yo
u believe in through volunteering, your mind, body, and everyone you touched during that spent time, can be changed forever.
Although volunteering is perhaps the most selfless things you can do, it can also prove to be a valuable tool for personal development. While it's easy to see how the time you're spending is positively impacting the people you're helping, what's easily lost is the impact it's having on you.
Here are 4 ostensible personal benefits of volunteering that you may have never even considered.
Growth
Volunteering with a program or project over a long period of time affords a volunteer the opportunity to witness and see change in real-time. Whether working a child with a learning disability or helping the less fortunate to a hot meal, throughout the time you spend with these people, change and growth becomes evident. Bearing witness to that metamorphosis first hand almost forces the volunteer to think and look introspectively and consider their own growth and development from a different perspective.
Enrichment
Simply put, there is nothing more enriching in life than helping someone else. Just a few hours of volunteering can not only enrich your own life in the moment, but it can also alter completely the way the individual you helped sees and interacts with their world.
Learning
Often time when volunteering you're confronted with the opportuntiy to learn new skills or engage in activities you're not accustomed to participating in. Having these opportunities to grow and learn are invaluable in staying curious and developing outselves as we age.
Community
There is perhaps no better activity one can engage in that affords them the opportunity to meet other like-minded people. And when like-minded people come together for a common purpose, friendships are formed. By giving just a few hours per week to a charitable cause you believe in, lifetime friendships can be forged.
