There is a tremendous field of opportunity, experience, travel and community out there, and it's accessed through volunteering. Have you ever wanted to try a different field but never knew how or was afraid you didn't qualify? How about meeting new people you otherwise would never come across in a normal day? Maybe you want experience doing something new or you want to see new sites? Volunteering is one of the most effective ways to add an aspect to your life beyond work, school and home. Plus, there is the added benefit that you are helping someone else out who needs it too.
Most people think volunteering means working on boring programs were it's torture to spend the time, but you do it for community service hours or something similar. In reality, volunteering runs the gamut from helping out at soup lines to archaeology, believe it or not. There are so many organizations and so much help needed, volunteering probably outnumbers the available paid jobs needing help.
However, volunteering also gets bad rap for some reason. I don't know why, maybe it's because people just don't want to give up their time. And really, that's all it is. Most volunteering will actually help people get to providing help, as in covering travel costs and paying for food if needed too. Many just flat out provide lunch and dinner if working that late too. It's all in the details, but no one bothers to ask. The just look at volunteering and think, oh, that's what old people do to avoid being bored in retirement.
Unfortunately, there is a truth to that last statement, partially. Because retirees do have more time, they tend to make up a sizable number of volunteers, both wanting to stay useful as well as engaged. The fact is, getting old sucks. All your friends start dying off, you lose connections to community, and you start feeling really lonely. So, many volunteer just to stay social and re-connect again with more people, believe it or not. But, volunteering is very much open to everyone else too.
The fact is, volunteering can even be a bit of fun too. Yesterday, I just spent the day helping with a basic but valuable archaeological activity known as site monitoring. To help protect sites from vandalism, damage, and updating status reports for agencies charged with their protect, site monitors regularly visit known locations with cultural heritage and history and then fill out reports on what they see and confirm.
In my case, my volunteer organization protects rock art, essentially petroglyphs made hundred or thousands of years earlier. It's simple, easy work, and you get out in the wilderness to see things off the beaten path you might not otherwise get a chance to see under normal conditions. (In fact, if you want to volunteer for archaeology in the U.S. check out Passport in Time, a volunteer program with the U.S. Forest Service.)
So before you spend the next week sitting in front of the TV, or at a cafe doing nothing but regurgitating the latest gossip, think about volunteering, or at least take a spare weekend and try it. You might be amazed what's possible and how it can change your life.
