4 Reasons Why Volunteering Will Help You as A Person

Have you helped someone cross the road before, or raised money for charity? The feeling of doing something for someone else is a much-loved one, isn’t it? It makes us feel good about ourselves, but for the right kind of reasons.  

There are some pretty positive impacts that come as a result of helping people, and this is why volunteering can be such a key part to a bigger picture of happier people who – when combined – are all leading better lives in some capacity or another.
Here’s a small list of ways that helping others can also help you.

1. Doing good things makes you feel good

We just touched on it, and it might seem like something that stands out a mile, but even the smallest gestures of kindness and compassion can go a long, long way in today’s world. Being able to put a smile on someone’s face, whether you’re in your home town, or on one of our international volunteering programmes offers you a truly remarkable sense of worth and shares positive energy. 

Having that warm feeling inside gives you that ‘feel good’ factor; it’s really infectious and is a part of helping others that you can gladly embrace. Whatever you do, if you’re somehow enriching life for others, then it’s a feeling worth hanging on to.

2. It Reduces feelings of anxiety and depression

It may not be one of the reasons you decide to help others, and you probably didn’t know it, but volunteering has the ability to assist you in getting a more controlled state of mind? It gives you the chance to build strong, like-minded and potentially lifelong relationships, while also helping you to get a real understanding of what a healthy support system is meant to feel like. It’s things such as those we’ve just mentioned that can have a massively beneficial impact on reducing both stress levels and feelings of anxiety. 

If you’re feeling unwell mentally, it’s normal to become isolated and be more insular, but when you volunteer and you’re helping others as part of a progressive project, it can be a big aid toward overcoming personal challenges. Simply knowing that the volunteering you are doing and the help you are bringing for others can help to bring you back into living a more fulfilled and joyous life.

3. One good turn deserves another

It doesn’t matter if you’re a believer in beliefs like karma or not. Just by providing something valuable to someone, such as your time, effort and dedication, the charity and all the people associated with it will value you and see your worth.  

You never know how these types of kind acts can lead you into a new opportunity in the future. Personal goals, career prospects, relationships and more can pop up as if by magic when you show that you are a caring, compassionate and devoted person. 

4. Effectively expand your relationships

We mentioned how you can build relationships with people in a previous point, but we’re going to expand. If you ask almost any volunteer who has ever taken the time to make the most of this kind of experience, they will tell you that meeting others in super unexpected circumstances is a sure-fire way to begin a relationship with some of the most important people in their life. Having the chance to meet people is natural for humans, we're innately social and are ‘built’ to be around each other. 

Volunteering is a wonderful way to reach out to others who your help the most and you can show the best side to yourself while doing so. You can also find the most inspiring people as part of this amazing journey which can often end up taking you never expected.  

Think of it this way; there are over 7 billion people sharing the planet with you, and there’s a wealth of culture and bonds to be formed with unique minds when you allow yourself to be part of it. 

Learning from other volunteers and from the people you have gone out to help through your charity work opens up a world of ever-lasting friendship, learning, development and so much more.  

If any of these positive impacts on life sound like something you would be interested in investing in for you, why not take a look at one of our volunteer programmes, today?