Volunteering

As I mentioned before I'm at a children's hospital for senior service and right now I'm home sick. This is the first time I've chosen to stay home sick since I had the stomach flu freshman year. And do you know what the worst part is- I don't want to stay home. Some of my favorite kids are going home today and I don't even get to say goodbye.

Wow. I just totally twisted the purpose of volunteering. I made it about me- what I wanted. I want to say goodbye to these kids. I should be excited out of my mind they're going home(which I am) but I should also be happy that I stayed home and didn't get them sick.

It can be really easy to make volunteering about you- about how you feel. "I feel good when I help someone." "I love to feel like I'm making a difference." "I feel like volunteering has taught me a lot and opened doors."

Yes! These are good things- good feelings. And its fine and normal and healthy to have good feelings and to like good feelings and be motivated by good feelings. Let's face it- these may be some of the best good feelings out there to be motivated by.

BUT I have to keep in mind that volunteering is about putting others first, attempting to fix problems in our communities, and making an impact. THESE things are more important than feelings.

Global Giving

I know I sound like a broken record, but support us on Global Giving! It makes a great holiday gift!

Hmph…

Is there ever a day when you really don’t feel like doing anything? Maybe you just took a giant test and you feel like your brain is oozing right out of your ears. Maybe you just had a really tough practice and for some reason TV sounds more soothing than sleep. How about that feeling when you’re sprawled on the coach and you just stare at a bag of chips because you’re so hungry, but moving the extra inch is just a completely inconsiderable feat?

Sadly, yes. I’ve been there and I hope if you’re reading this you’ve been too. I’m not wishing any discomfort on you, believe me but how dumb would I sound if you read this and were like, “Um, no. You are the only person that’s ever desired to underachieve in the history of the world?”

But that feeling never lasts. You snap to at six pm on a Thursday wondering where in the heck three hours of your life went and how you’ll spend the next six.

Sometimes that feeling is a good thing in my opinion. It means you’ve applied yourself so much that you’re completely drained. Who finishes a race with enough breath to chit chat about the medal he or she just won? Look at accomplished athletes and at the end of a race they’re completely spent.

But others… I’ll be honest. Other times, I’m just lazy. But I’ve found laziness has never helped me accomplish anything. I’m not saying relaxation is bad. In fact, I believe relaxation is sometimes necessary, but laziness is one of those things we all sometimes crave, but should try to avoid.

Welcome to the best place to be non-lazy and in my opinion, the best possible goal. Let’s make this world an awesome place.

Lemonade for Lives

When I was younger, I spent a good amount of my time in the summer sitting behind milk boxes waiting in my neighbors’ yard at the top of our cul-de-sac. It was St. Louis weather- which typically translates to about 110 heat index. We sat with watered down lemonade (the ice had long since melted) and waited not so patiently for a car to drive by. And typically that’s exactly what they did- drive right on by. Our lemonade stand had a higher purpose than buying the much envied bouncy balls that sat right out of reach at our dollar bill store. Usually, any money we made went into the hands of our local humane society. We sold our lemonade for about a nickel and usually sold about ten glasses to our patrons, the neighbors, our parents, and the mailman. The day ended most often with us, hot, sweaty and giddy and sticky from all the glasses of lemonade we snuck along the way. We would proudly present approximately fifty hard-earned cents to our mother (a major humane society volunteer) which seemed fairly substantial after nine hours of work.

Looking back at that simplistic desire to help reminds me of what truly matters in volunteering. I don’t care how little of a difference you feel like you’re making. Sometimes you spend hours fund raising and walk away with 500 dollars, 50 dollars, or fifty cents. No matter what you made a drop in the bucket, and sometimes it takes a whole lot of drops to make a difference.

If I saw a couple of ten year old kids braving the weather to make a couple bucks for charity, nothing would make me tell them to give it up and try something else. No, I think I’d pull over and buy a glass of their watery lemonade then drive away smiling, optimistic about where this world is going.