Yesterday, the boys and I helped clean up after a haunted house that was held at school the night before. They were less than thrilled that I had signed us up for this project – so much so that you’ve never seen two active boys move so slowly to get into the car to go somewhere. Yet, interestingly, (and as I expected) once we were done, they realized that it wasn’t that bad and had we not shown up, it would have taken the rest of the volunteers much longer to complete the job.
The same thing happens on Thanksgiving when we volunteer to serve food to the homeless. Every year I hear the same thing, “How long are we going to be there?” “Are we going to miss the football game?” Yet, once we are done and in the car going to the family dinner, I hear how fantastic the experience was. They talk about specific people or children they served and they realize that their efforts are counted.
My daughter did her 8th grade speech on paying it forward. The apple doesn’t fall from the tree! She talked about the obvious: paying-it-forward and volunteering boosts self-esteem and self-confidence and, although it is about helping others, it really does help you as well.
We all are so busy that it is difficult to imagine finding time to volunteer. But, just a few hours a month makes a positive impact. Or, as we like to do in our house, you can pay-it-forward on a daily basis when you are out there in the world. For example, each day I make a point of doing something for someone – often a stranger. Usually, it’s buying coffee or food at a drive up for the person behind me. Other times, I will take someone’s grocery cart in to the store so they don’t have to run it back in. One of my favorites is to find out what the local food shelf is short for that week/day and then when I am at the grocery store (which is almost every day lately!) I will buy exactly what they need and then simply drop it off.
It doesn’t take much time and eventually “helping” will become a habit (one of my good habits as opposed to all of my not-so-good habits!). So, I encourage you to keep your eyes open (especially with your kids, so they learn too) and you will see all sorts of things you can do for other people. Hopefully, it will become habit-forming for you, for your kids and for those you help!
Have a great start to your week!
theyearof50 