About Being Self-Absorbed and Volunteering!

How many times have you heard about someone volunteering and hoped you had the time to do so as well?

Personally, I have seen numerous TV shows, heard many of my friends sharing their great experience and personal fulfillment by helping others.

Yet, I lean back to my comfortable couch late at night after a hectic day at work and after completing job # 2 at home i.e. family, and I say to myself, when exactly will I find time to volunteer. I find so many reasons why not to….I have to commit, it’s far away and so on. It is exactly like all the reasons why I have not picked up any kind of sport until now.

Apparently, we love to volunteer, altogether only in US, 64.5 million Americans volunteered nearly 7.9 billion hours last year. The estimated value of this volunteer service is nearly $175 billion, based on the Independent Sector’s estimate of the average value of a volunteer hour.

So yes, many of us volunteer, yet others don’t – YET.

There are many reasons why people volunteer, from recognition and self-achievement through personal growth and exploration of other cultures.

Most people that volunteer do it through organizations, religious, corporate, educational and so on. All these are great ways to volunteer but most are subject to set programs and times.

I will take as an example someone like me, a mother of 4 kids, independent. I want to volunteer, but I can’t commit myself to a specific day and time. There is just always something to do.

Living in this time and age, everything or almost everything is just one click away. I can sit on my couch, order groceries, a vacation, sign up my kids for after school activities, reserve a flight and even order my coffee to be delivered to my car as I arrive to my café. It’s all so easy. So, why should volunteering not be as easy?

How can I volunteer and be more involved in my community with minimum hassle? For some of you it would sound a very self-absorbed attitude, but this era is what it is.

And setting aside my cynical attitude, even within my self-absorbed, hectic lifestyle, I would be happy to have a way to help – but it should be easy.

According to the Bureau of Labour Statistics in USA, about 40.8 percent of volunteers became involved with their main organization after being asked to volunteer, most often by someone in the organization. About 43.0 percent became involved on their own initiative–that is, they approached the organization.

So many people volunteer whether they are asked to or whether it is their initiative, just imagine for a second, what would happen if volunteering arrived to your phone at a real time of need.
Not to say that if you have time to volunteer weekly you should not do so, but just imagine how many more volunteers will now join the force as the opportunity hits them straight to their phone offering them to assist in the area they are at that moment to someone who needs assistance now – at work, on the beach,

It’s like with online shopping, it has extensively grown but has not replaced in store shopping and probably never will.

People who already volunteer will still do so in their organizations, yet they will have an additional opportunity to help when needed in their real time location.

So be an angel. Join the movement!

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