Volunteer for Your Good Health
My ministry is helping others.
From being an available mother, wife & part-time physician, to the community volunteer positions I hold, my life revolves around helping folks.
How about you?
I'm about to lay out the why's and how's of volunteerism in my own life and why it's good for your all-around health. I will also discuss healthy boundaries (particularly for women like myself) because a life bound to others is slavery, not service!
Beginnings
I'd like to say my days of volunteering started early. They did not. I was not that kid that put in hours of community service in high school to rack up goody-goody points for my college application. I thought those people were, well, disingenuous. Instead, my exposure to helping others started at home with my grandparents that lived across the street. I loved helping my grandparents and they loved me helping! From carrying groceries to the house, to raking leaves, heaving heavy plants in and out of the basement or just spending time, I learned to give starting with those closest to me. Those are times I cherish and never even knew they were laying the groundwork for a life of service. All I knew was that I loved my grandparents and I loved helping them.
Fast forward to college. Sorry, I wasn't that kid going on mission trips or reading to kindergarteners. Wish I could say that's what I was doing, but I wasn't. Instead, I was involved. I was a squad leader in band, I was on the editorial board of the campus newspaper, I was a member of a music fraternity and was often wrangled by my friends to help in random ways around the music department. I was available and involved, two parts of the secret sauce for a future life of service, but all I knew was that I liked being in leadership and service to others.
When I got to medical school, we started the year revitalizing an entire block of the inner city as a service project. I got poison ivy, but felt a sense of accomplishment. Later, someone suggested we read to impoverished school kids down the street, so I did. Once, but I liked it. My medical school committed us to a community project called "Score One for Health" and we went to into schools and did health screenings all year. I got valuable experience and found a few kids with scoliosis. It was a win-win. By the time I was a third year, I had gone on a mission trip to the remote highlands of Panama. What a thrill! My fourth year, I spent a whole month learning the ropes of crisis pregnancy at Choices Medical Clinic, headed by my mentor, Scott Stringfield, M.D. He taught me about the benefit of the influence and involvement of physicians in community organizations. How our professionalism, our compassion and our presence brings credibility and validity to the places we serve, wherever that may be. I've never forgotten what he taught me and ever since I've tasted the joys and trials of being a trained volunteer, I've never looked back.
Today, you'll find me serving in several ways in my community:
I am a mentor to a teen with Big Brothers Big Sisters
I lead a STEM group through my local 4-H chapter
I teach Sunday School to adult women in my church
Like many of you, I've served through the church in various children's ministries like VBS, Children's Church and nursery. I don't know how many background checks and applications, trainings, etc. I've subjected myself to over the years, but by God I've got a clean record and each group has taught me something new and different!
What compels me to give of my time when I could be at the office making more money, you might ask? What do I expect to get out of spreading myself around helping in what seem like incongruous ways? My answer: it's my ministry. Service is my purpose. Effecting positive change in the world around me is a God-given responsibility and gift. To not serve is to not live.
Do you have something in your life that propels you like that? Anything that if you don't fulfill the compulsion to do it, you feel dead? Have you ever found your life's purpose?
This is the time of the year that I see that post-holiday lull. Everybody's depressed in January. Call it the "post-holiday let-down," "seasonal affective disorder," whatever. What I see deep in these stories are lives half-lived. There's hurt, yes, but regret is there right along with a vague awareness of time that's lived for nothing. I'm all about NOT living with regret. I'm all about living ON PURPOSE. If you are struggling right now in the throws of post-holiday blahs, ask yourself the following questions: What am I here for? What is my purpose?
Did you know that depression is one of the biggest killers in developed countries today? I'm not talking about just suicide as the cause of death, I'm talking about the heaviness & hopelessness that weighs down a life that is depressed. It is both the root and exacerbating factor in many chronic illnesses. In fact, it doubles your risk of death following major health events like a heart attack or stroke. People who lose hope simply give up living.
But hopelessness, lack of purpose and depression don't have to drive your life into the ground!
Take the opportunity given to you today and consider the questions again: What am I here for? What is my purpose?
In my monologue, I presented to you that engagement with those closest to me (who needed me) was the start of a life of service and purpose. Practice in your own home charity and mercy, giving and grace. From it will spring the desire to bless others with reciprocity as an added benefit! Secondly, be available and involved. Sometimes you're chosen for service, other times you're just in the right place at the right time. Whatever the circumstance, be willing. Third, take advantage of opportunities given to you. I bet there are places and people to serve that will present themselves to you if you position yourself to hear and respond. Putting yourself out there is scary at first, but the rewards are thrilling beyond measure.
If you are a professional, or were a professional, you are in an awesome position to effect change in your community through volunteering. Whatever your passion, heart or interest, there are non-profits out there that can use your expertise. Pro bono work is like giving on steroids, because you know what your contribution is really worth. Giving of yourself is not the same as throwing money at a cause; it's truly giving of your time and talents to something you deem of immense value.
A word on boundaries
The folks can and will eat you up if you don't enter into service with some healthy rules of engagement. What that means is there's no limit to the amount of work you could do as a volunteer, so set your boundaries up early. I've experienced this phenomenon first hand. Non-profits are usually short-handed and when they see an energetic newbie, you are instantly vulnerable to being overwhelmed with requests to do more. Why do you think only 10% of your church does all of the work? If it looks like it's the same folks serving over and over, you're correct. Don't be that guy. If you want to kill the good vibes of service, burn out doing it. It will ruin you, so be proactive against doing too much. Discuss with your family how much time you have to give. Your volunteering shouldn't be a detriment to your life or current responsibilities. Your family comes first.
Secondly, re-evaluate at intervals. Are you accomplishing what you went in to do? It's possible to serve and serve ineffectively. Don't just spin your wheels and just be present. Make your time count. Purpose, remember?
Lastly, know when to quit. There are ministries and organizations that I've left for various reasons, but the main thing was that my time there was done. I'd accomplished what God wanted me to do and it was time to move on. In all cases, I left knowing my service put that organization in a better place than where I'd found it. There's no shame or regret in admitting you're time and energy are no longer needed ________. Usually, volunteers don't know when to let it go. Don't be that guy. Do your good work, then be willing to get out of the way when your time is over. God will open doors where He's closed another so there's no need to fear.
Maybe this little discourse on volunteering will plant seeds of hope into your heart. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.
When we give to and love others, life really counts. Make your life count every day!
Blessings,
Dr. Lydia