Volunteer Brigade

Have you ever volunteered for something and then regretted it profusely? Yep. I have.

I think a person volunteers for a project or an organization for a couple reasons. First, there are the touted selfless ones - you are bettering your community, giving to those less fortunate or helping those who have a hard time helping themselves, being a part of something bigger than yourself, learning a sense of team spirit and partnership, stepping outside your own boundaries, doing something just for the satisfaction of a job well done.

However, I think there are some SELFISH reasons we volunteer. And, while I may come across as pessimistic by saying this, I think it is largely true. Here are reasons you may selfishly volunteer - you want to meet people or "network", you want to look good in the eyes of others, you want to pad your resume a bit, you want to break into a different job field, you want to keep your current skills sharp in a certain area.

Overall, I suppose, volunteering for any reason is never a bad thing because some project needs to get accomplished and by volunteering, you help accomplish it. Nonetheless, I think it is the projects for which we selfishly apply ourselves that we easily burn out.

I'm guessing this is what happened to me.

Even though volunteering can be good no matter what, the problem with doing so for selfish reasons is that the altruistic spirit you need isn't there to keep you going through the hours, nights, weekends, etc, of the project. When it's selfish, as the going gets tough, the weak just want to stay home. When you are doing it for your own gain, not for the benefit of the project it's a lot easier to back out once you've gotten what you came for or when you can see you aren't getting the results you wanted. Then, no one wins. You've now irritated yourself with this self-imposed "obligation" (that's a great word in and of itself isn't it?), if you do participate chances are it's done so with guilt not with zeal, and finally, the project is always on the teetering verge of incompletion (or worse yet, failure) because your heart isn't in it.

It'll get you every time. I think one of the biggest lessons I've learned in this is I fair much better volunteering for things that are short-lived. A one day event, etc. Long-term volunteer situations and I aren't not meant to be together.

Perhaps that means I'm too selfish.