What is it about volunteer jobs that can make us so excited?
Kait works full-time as a shift supervisor for a homeless shelter program designed to help women and their children get back on their feet. Her clients are learning basic life skills, taking classes to earn their GED, learning parenting techniques, and dealing with the consequences of less than ideal living conditions. Her job is fulfilling, but can be stressful.
Her volunteer opportunity gives her the chance to work with teens in her church. As an added bonus, her husband agreed to join her in this quest. Before she was even offered the unpaid job, she was mentally planning fun, monthly youth gatherings. She eagerly looks forward to the energy of working with kids. As she told me, This age is so much fun and I get to be silly with them. I can't wait!
Her comment got me thinking.
If we aren't excited about volunteering, maybe we are not volunteering to do the right thing. I have volunteered, or in some cases been volunteered, to do something I was not entirely comfortable with. Usually, the task was not terrible. But, I was not excited about the opportunity, either.
A few years ago, I volunteered to make and distribute Christmas fruit baskets to elderly shut-in's around the Denver area. Assembling the baskets was okay. The people we worked with were upbeat and fun. I liked the challenge of seeing how quickly we could put together hundreds of baskets.
Delivering them was a mixed bag.
My heart was beating wildly as I rang the first doorbell and I secretly hoped no one would be home so I could just leave the basket and run. But, when someone did answer (and they always did) I discovered that, for the most part, I enjoyed talking to the men and women on my delivery route. They had no family and were SO EXCITED to see me, talk to me and share their memories with me.
I also volunteered my husband to help. He thought assembling the baskets was great. He had a task to complete and saw the instant reward of a job well done. The volunteering could have happily ended there for him. But, I had signed us up to also deliver fruit baskets. He was less than thrilled. I couldn't understand why. He was the one who constantly pushed me to "try new things" and he always seemed to enjoy meeting new people. After some discussion, we agreed he would drive and I would knock on doors.
Except for one basket.
I was going into an apartment complex to deliver several baskets and there was one that needed to go to a home just a few houses away. I talked him into delivering that one. After we met back up, I realized why he didn't want to do that part of the job. He is a big guy and can be intimidating. He did not want to frighten a single elderly woman - and did not want to be accused of stepping over an invisible line when there were no other witnesses.
I get it now.
I work in a pretty routine job doing pretty routine things. I pull up reports. I send emails. I audit for compliance. I send out reminders. I make sure the rules are being followed. I sit at a desk all day working on a computer. While it is a good job, it is not the most creative job in the world.
Now, when I volunteer, I try to pick activities that bring me some kind of joy, and not pick opportunities because I feel obligated to help. Like my daughter, I found a few volunteer activities that feel relaxing and not a chore.
Once a month I make sandwiches for the homeless. I like the routine, the people, and the immediate sense of accomplishment. And, if I am being perfectly honest, I like that it is at my church, a place where I feel very comfortable. I have not helped deliver the food and am not sure I will. I am told it is rewarding, so I might try it once. You never know what might happen.
I volunteer on a few committees and groups that organize social and team building activities. We try to build community. I enjoy researching and organizing for these groups, but don't necessarily want to be the leader at the meetings. Public speaking - bring it on. Leading a discussion - not so much.
To be a happy volunteer we need to both enjoy the activity and want to challenge ourselves to do more.
We do have to stretch ourselves. Volunteering out of our comfort zone can teach us something about ourselves we were waiting to learn. It may help us to discover a hidden talent we did not know existed. Or it might help others discover their hidden talent because you chose to be a leader.
A while ago, as an experiment, I started to create slide shows to be projected on a screen prior to our church services. I had no idea if I would be any good at it or how it would be received. But, I wanted to try. I discovered I enjoy finding pictures to use, creating a storyboard, adding copy and putting it all together so there is a rhythm to my visual display. It gives me a chance to be creative, something I don't get much of in my work life. I want to learn to be a better at producing slides...maybe learn to do videos.
This seems to be a good sign that I have found a place to spread my volunteer wings.
As for the future, who knows. I am looking forward to trying retirement again. And maybe, with a little more insight, I will be able to use some of my tapped and untapped skills to discover volunteer activities that leave me happy and fulfilled.
What more can I ask for?
