Tag: Volunteerism

Weekly Check-In

On By beinggoodeIn WeeklyLeave a comment

So I’ve taken a nice recovery week and am feeling a lot better. So many good things on the horizon.

Traditional Volunteerism

  • 6 Hours Crisis Text Line. My normal 4 hour shift plus 2 hours as make up for last week (I might be able to get another 2 in this weekend).
  • Happy #NationalVolunteerWeek ! I hope you’re celebrating the volunteers in your life and celebrating that you get to volunteer. I know I am very thankful to be a volunteer for some great organizations.

Charitable Giving

  • $0

Personal Kindnesses

  • A large part of my job is customer service so I’m supposed to be nice all the time but it’s not always easy. There are times when people come up to you with stress, anxiety, anger, and in just a general tizzy. That can make it hard but it’s also an opportunity to change someone’s day. This week I was able to face a tizzy with some calm and the person walked away feeling better. Difficult but wonderful.

Self Care

  • Last weekend I went to the LATimes Festival of Books. I go every year and even though I was exhausted and it was raining (LA rain so sprinkling) I went. It was important at the end of last week to do something that was just for me. I got to visit my favorite food truck and just think about books and writing for a little bit.

Please share in the comments how you’re doing this week!

Q2: Volunteering

On By beinggoodeIn Thoughts, volunteerLeave a comment

I’ve spent the first three months of this year looking at self-care. Why it’s important and strategies for how to do it. For me friends, exercise, and naps/tv are very important and I’ll always struggle to not feel guilty about taking care of myself. The difference between selfish and self-care can be hard to see but it exists. It’s been wonderful to explore but now it’s time to turn to volunteer. Why do I do it, how can I do it better, and what kinds of things can I do?

 

This week is National Volunteer Week. Great timing to kick this off (I wish I could say I had planned it that way).

I’ve been volunteering nearly all my life. I started selling Nutcrackers at intermission at the Ballet and stuffing and labeling hundreds and hundreds of letters and invitations to local non-profit events.

Last year I hit 202 volunteer hours which is a little more than a half hour a day on average. This number shocked me at the end of the year. I knew I put a lot of time in but I never went out of my way to log hours. I didn’t volunteer for anything to get credit or to hit some arbitrary number. But the hours added up anyway.

I’ve been volunteering so long and I think I do it without much thought. The next three months are going to change that.

 

I hope you’ll share your volunteer stories with me.

 

Weekly Check-In

On By beinggoodeIn Self Care, WeeklyLeave a comment

It’s a hectic time for me at work and I’m trying to keep my head above water. Another week and things should calm down.

Traditional Volunteerism

  • 4 Hours of Crisis Text Line

Charitable Giving

  • $25 The Nature Conservancy. Plus $25 that my company will match. Plus Delta is matching some. I bought a plane ticket and Delta had a link to calculate and donate for a carbon offset. I was very excited by this and although my flight would only cost $9 for carbon offsetting, I upped it to $25 so that my company would match. Air Travel is so awful for the environment but travel is something I love so much. It was nice to ease my conscience a bit.

Personal Kindnesses

  • I’ve tried to regonize my co-workers when they do a good job (always). This week I went out of my way to do it and complimented two different co-workers.

Self Care

  • I searched YouTube and found a full ballet barre (tradional not those trendy new workout classes). I loved getting a little bit of ballet magic back. I should have been a ballerina.

Please share in the comments how you’re doing this week!

Weekly Check-In

On By beinggoodeIn WeeklyLeave a comment

Traditional Volunteerism

  • 4 Hours of Crisis Text Line
  • I finished a shawl and a baby blanket to donate. I get credit for about 5 hours total but the two items tother probably took me 15-20 hours to knit over a few weeks.

Charitable Giving

  • I had a craving and went to McDonald’s. I threw a handful of change into the Ronald McDonald House bin in the Drive-Thru. Such a great cause.

Personal Kindnesses

  • Again I’m going to point out a personal kindness I received. Yesterday I received two compliments on my appearance. I was told I was glowing and that I was beautiful without makeup. It’s so nice to hear. Just reminds me that when you see something, say something. Compliments should be abundant.

Self Care

  • I had a shin splint and have recently recovered so I’m back to running (which my dog is over the moon about). Back to exercising and getting stronger.
  • I know this is the future and not what I’ve done this week but it’s my birthday this weekend. So I’m planning on taking the whole weekend to only do things I enjoy and forget about all the stress! I’ll report back on how that goes.

Please share in the comments how you’re doing this week!

Voluntourism

On By beinggoodeIn Self Care, ThoughtsLeave a comment

This is my first real foray into Voluntourism (Volunteer tourisum). I’m trying to pull together a trip to Orlando in May to volunteer for the Invictus games. I’ve never volunteered on vacation or made a special trip to volunteer but this event in one of my favorite destinations drew me in. It also seems like I could have a similarly amazing volunteer experience as I did for the 2015 Special Olympic World Games. http://invictusgames2016.org

 

I’m still trying to get the pieces to fall into place. Because I’m from a greater distance and don’t know anyone it’s been hard getting an answer on how to sign up to volunteer and if I even can. There are tickets I can buy to the events so I could just go and enjoy. And it’s all coming up quickly and I need to buy the plane ticket… hotel reservations are already made because I can cancel those. It’s a lot of moving parts.

 

I suppose that’s why people typically join pre-planned tours to volunteer in other places. I’m not the kind of person who likes to be a part of a tour group when I travel whether it’s volunteer or pleasure. And with anything you give your time or money to you want to make sure the money/time is really making a difference. That’s often difficult to decipher.

 

Since this quarter I’m focusing on Self Care I also have to ask myself how it fits in. I love travel and vacations. I think they are an absolute necessity to recharge and bring a joy refresh into my life. So it will be interesting to see what happens when I trade in my time to relax and refresh into something else. Although I do enjoy volunteering it takes energy and effort that is different from a normal vacation. It’s more planned – I’ll have to be somewhere at a certain time. It’s putting myself second to the people I’m helping. And I’m spending a good chunk of money on the trip. I’ll report back as the planning moves forward.

 

What do you think about Voluntourism? Have you ever taken a trip in order to give back? Is it just a new way to profit off of the kindhearted? Is it the perfect way to see the world?

 

http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2014/07/31/336600290/as-volunteerism-explodes-in-popularity-whos-it-helping-most

Weekly Check-In

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Study, Study, Study is the name of the game for a while.

 

Traditional Volunteerism

  • 4 Hours of Crisis Text Line

 

Charitable Giving

  • Zero

 

Personal Kindnesses

  • They say most of the fun is planning your vacation… so I’ve been helping my friend with tips on planning her vacation because she’s going to a location I know a bit about. It’s a win win because it feels like I’m going on vacation and I can have a little vicarious fun in the planning.

 

Self Care

  • Lots of Yoga and Pilates this week.
  • Still trying to accept that I’m in need of a lot of self-care right now. It’s hard to stop fighting it.

 

Please share in the comments how you’re doing this week!

Weekly Check-In

On By beinggoodeIn WeeklyLeave a comment

I got an influx of good news this week. Makes me feel good to see some hard work starting to pay off.

Traditional Volunteerism

  • 4 Hours of Crisis Text Line
    • I’m officially a Level 3 Counselor!! That means I’ve helped over 100 people! It feels so good to do this every week and see the numbers add up.

Charitable Giving

  • Zero

Personal Kindnesses

  • This week I made sure to ask one of my co-workers who is not my favorite about her weekend. Sometimes exchanging a few pleasantries can really make a difference for everyone.

Self Care

  • I have been making sure to get in my exercise. Sweat out the stress!

Please share in the comments how you’re doing this week!

Weekly Check-In

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Feeling a little run down trying to juggle everything. But nose to the grindstone I can do anything. Gotta keep hustling.

Traditional Volunteerism

  • 4 Hours of Crisis Text Line (we were busy this week and it’s the first week of my new shift which is an hour later).
  • I tried to donate Platelets but was turned away because they bruised my arm donating blood.

Charitable Giving

  • Zero

Personal Kindnesses

  • I went to the DMV this morning to renew my license. There are signs at every desk saying you can’t abuse or yell at the workers. It’s sad to think how angry people get. I went out of my way to smile and thank everyone I interacted with. I didn’t really want to be there but yelling at DMV workers really wouldn’t have helped anyone.

Self Care

  • Superbowl time means it’s time to get some junk food. I went out for wings earlier this week. Pretty tasty.

Please share in the comments how you’re doing this week!

Weekly Check-In

On By beinggoodeIn Self Care, WeeklyLeave a comment

I can’t believe it’s the end of January. This week flew by with all the working. I’m really tired but feeling good that I can work this hard and be this tough. I also got to test out the American Red Cross Blood donor app. It’s pretty cool and great for tracking info and setting up future appointments. Now if I could only get them to stop calling me all the time.

Traditional Volunteerism

  • 4 Hours of Crisis Text Line (we were busy this week and it’s the first week of my new shift which is an hour later).
  • 1+ Hours donating Blood (sticking to my new years resolution)

Charitable Giving

  • Zero

Personal Kindnesses

  • Even as I’m on an extended job search I really make sure to be supportive of others who are starting new jobs or interviewing. Someone came up to my desk looking for a certain room and mentioned they were interviewing. I made sure to congratulate them and wish them luck. There is enough success to go around and someone else’s success should be celebrated like your own.

Self Care

  • I managed to get a run and a couple of workouts in this week.
  • When I have a rare free night I spend at home snuggling with my dog. She’s a sweetie and doesn’t like that I’m away from home longer hours.
  • A friend reminded me to find time for myself too. I feel like the blood donation really was for me. It was sticking to my resolution, something I really want to do. Plus I saved up to 3 lives!

Please share in the comments how you’re doing this week!

Weekly Check-In

On By beinggoodeIn WeeklyLeave a comment

I hope everyone had a nice holiday. I was going to post this yesterday but my Aussie Shepherd Emerson was curled up on my feet and that is my Achilles heel. She’s so soft and fluffy and sweet and my feet get so warm. It’s the best kind of procrastination.

  • Traditional Volunteerism
    • 4 Hours of Crisis Text Line

 

  • Charitable Giving
    • $25 – I decided to participate in The Compassion Collective (which includes a writer I love – Cheryl Strayed) raising over $1 for Syrian Refugees. All with donations of $25 or less. I started with $5 and realized that my company would match if I gave $25 so I gave $20 more. I think this might have messed up my company match having it split up (only by a couple of minutes) so we’ll see. It is a lot of money for me right now but it was worth it to be a part of something really special.

 

  • Personal Kindnesses
    • It’s Christmas time and there have been gifts. Nothing extravagant as my budget for gifts this year was nonexistent but I managed to get something off to my Niece and I got a couple of nice surprises including some free goodies from work. I think when you don’t have piles of gifts it’s easier to notice the kindness behind the gifts, you can really appreciate the giving and receiving.
    • Also I’m close with my brother and growing closer with my Sister-in-Law and the special little moments of her stealing the phone from my brother on Christmas day to talk to me and texting each other about food was a sweet gift.

 

  • Self Care
    • I’m really taking advantage of my extra free time and focusing on making things. Knitting and sewing and baking. All things I very much enjoy.

 

Please share in the comments how you’re doing this week!