From a young age, I was taught diligently by my parents that one of the best things we could ever do with our time was to spend it volunteering in our communities. I was a Girl Scout for many years, and actually completed my Gold Award as a graduating high school senior. Even in my first years of Girl Scouts, our group, under the leadership of both my mom and stepmom, was committed almost exclusively to learning and volunteering. While other troops preferred to spend time making crafts and going camping, we limited those activities and did much more to help our community instead.
This mindset -- give to others before yourself -- was something I grew up knowing. I loved volunteering and chose to do even more of it in high school, assisting in classrooms after the school day and helping out as a coach for Special Olympics. However, it wasn't until I started college and took a few service learning courses that I realized there are two ways to think of your experience as a volunteer in any setting.
While most volunteers have great intentions, not all of them know about the best way to think about their volunteer experience. Oftentimes, the volunteer mindset becomes a "savior" mindset. "I'm doing this to help people who need me. I have to save them. I have to pity them."
This is the completely wrong way to go about a completely great experience. In reality, no matter where you happen to be volunteering, it's best to think about the volunteer process as a mutual learning experience. Not only may you be able to help someone or teach something, but you should be open and expecting to learn from the people you interact with in any volunteer setting.
Whether you're volunteering at a soup kitchen, first grade classroom, adult ESL center, after-school program, affordable housing group, animal shelter, special needs employment center, or any other type of wonderful opportunity like these, it is important to remember that you're no better or worse a person than anyone you may encounter. Whether or not you consciously think this way, it's possible that on some level you may consider yourself "above" someone, just because you're the volunteer and they're the one needing the product or service or assistance. But think of it this way: in another part of your life, or if something in your life changed drastically, couldn't you just as easily be the person needing the assistance rather than the person providing it?
It is an amazing thing to give your time to make the lives of others better. However, it is even more amazing to do this, but to also realize that the people you meet can make your life better, too! This way, at the end of the day, you leave a volunteering experience not just thinking, I made a difference, but perhaps also thinking, I learned something or gained something or realized something new about life.
Be conscious of it if you find yourself judging or looking down on someone who's struggling with some aspect of his/her life and was courageous enough to seek or ask for help. Instead, remember this: We are all people with strengths and weaknesses, who encounter hardships and victories, and who sometimes need some guidance from the people around us.
The conversations you have and the people you meet can teach you more than you expect, as long as you're willing to build the connections of mutual respect that lead to lasting impact. If you're doing it for the right reasons and with the right mindset, volunteer work is something that can change your life and the life of someone else all at once.
