Why Doing Things For Nothing Tells You A Lot

I'm not a totally useless volunteer. Here's me pulling a wheelbarrow through the woods (albeit because I knew it had tea making facilities in it and I was gasping for one)

I recently became a volunteer for a community interest charity that promotes the idea that spending time in green spaces and nature is good for our mental health, with particular focus on those living in urban cities. This fits in so perfectly with my life ethos and the stars were so aligned when finding this job that I wished it was the same for my love life.

So far, I've missed all team calls (I do have a job that I'm paid to do in my defence), chased Bill Oddie down the street, tried to have a vague air of knowledge when talking to people at the RHS show about cultivating weeds for medicinal purposes, spent time with Croydon youths trying to pass off as a 20-something and occasionally posted something on social media. They're so lucky to have me.




Being a volunteer or spending unpaid time to do something for others because you passionately believe in it, is something I think everyone should think about. This is not a pedestal to talk about how great I am for doing this (have you not read from above how useless I am) but a chance for you to think about what you believe in.

We are all good people (or maybe I know good people, maybe you know social heathens). People who give to charity, people who participate in fundraising, people who share a petition online or an article about an injustice in the world and people do this every day and quietly without making a massive song and dance about it. We do these things because we subconsciously associate ourselves to this issue OR actually we proactively want to be known for advocating for / against something. But what would you do above and beyond the normal, to spend time to help someone or something outside of family, friends and work?

More importantly, do you understand the root cause of why you feel so passionately about something? For me, I have felt the indescribably (<- is that a word?) psychological benefit of being in nature, therefore this charity supports an idea very close to me.

Of course, I want peace and health in the world and everyone to love and give hugs...only if the recipient is partial to a hugging (otherwise you're just giving them their worst nightmare) but specifically we feel deeply about some issues more than others. That doesn't make us good or bad, it just defines us to who we are.

I saw all sorts of jobs for all sorts of organisations. I saw one job as a campaigner against human trafficking. I mean, that's a terrible injustice in the world. Of course we should stop that and I should apply for that job immediately. But I chose this other organisation instead. Do I feel bad that I'm not contributing my time to help stop people suffering in the worst possible way? I suppose I could do but I decided it was better for me to start off with something less...volatile, while I find my feet in the volunteering world. Just have a think about the next step you make, what direction would it be in and why? 

And...because this is my blog, my rules, a shameless plug for Wild in the city. Go check it out. They do awesome stuff and occasionally there's some banging Facebook posts by an unnamed volunteer.

Do you volunteer? If so, what for and why? If not, what would you be interested in doing?