The Importance Of Volunteering

Volunteering is a hallmark in society today. People all over the world are volunteering, sacrificing their time in order to help others. In our culture, volunteering is presented as a duty, a responsibility good people carry out. What many do not realize is volunteering does not singly impact those being helped, it also provides tremendous benefits to volunteers themselves. Volunteering is a significant service method that impacts the volunteer in ways beyond what are expected by many people in today’s culture. Although the importance of volunteering is highly distinguished in society, few people are aware that it promotes emotional well-being, improves behavior, and provides cognitive changes.

In today’s society, emotional health comes first

These behavioral changes introduce an entire category of the outward impacts of volunteering. From positive behavior and actions, to a drive to help others in any way possible, the impact of volunteering on behavior is remarkably dramatic. These changes were reinforced in a study carried out by Edith Cowan University in 2016, where it became apparent that experiences that occurred while volunteering changed behavior amongst volunteers. This study aimed to go beyond the scope of previous research by analyzing two separate events; a golf tournament and a fashion show. It became obvious volunteering promoted confidence about giving back to the community as each event was examined. For many, the concept of volunteering had resonance; many were passionate about volunteering for an event they were excited about. Also, a number of volunteers believed that by being involved in the events they were helping others and being valuable and worthy, as well as giving something back to their community (Lamb 71). After volunteering, many had an increased feeling of confidence and worth, which led to excited and confident behavior. Additionally, when volunteers believed they were helping others, they were keen to volunteer more often, as they felt they were doing good for others. Due to this increased excitement and confidence in helping others, volunteering leads to improved

Through volunteering, many people experience positive changes in the way they perceive the world. Changes such as decreased self-centeredness, increased awareness of impacts of actions, altered perspective about minor personal problems, a sense of purpose involving life goals, enchanted tolerance and empathy, and changes in meaning of giving occurred in those who volunteered (Elias 7). Particularly, increased compassion and selflessness are exhibited in volunteers, specifically regarding how they view themselves, which leads to an improvement in how they treat others. This drastic escalation into the empathetic and altruistic mindset that volunteers experience is due to the impacts serving others has on them. Volunteering not only benefits the object being helped, it also provides immense improvements to one’s mental health. Additionally, improvements due to service to others even leads to a drive to volunteer more; therefore, cognitive changes that occur due to volunteering leads to helping others. The increased compassion and selflessness volunteers feel gives them a drive to serve; thereby leading to a spread of other-oriented, passionate giving to others. Due to volunteering, volunteers had an increased amount of confidence and were more eager to help others in any way they could. This compassion leads to a drive to volunteer more often, to serve as many people as possible. This domino affect impacts many people