volunteering

I was talking to my client today who is a regular client and is also a client who has cancer so I see her when I give volunteer massages. She just got re-diagnosed with a brain tumor.

She asked me today why I like giving cancer massages.

Which really, is the question, "Why do people like to volunteer?"

Part of it is that my mom has had cancer twice and I feel guilty that I didn't do enough while she was going through it. This is my way of giving back to cancer sufferers now.

Part of it is that it is what I can do. I can't donate large amounts of money to fund cancer research. I mean, I can barely even pay my bills. But this is something that I CAN do. Not something that everyone can do. But something that I can do.

Part of it is just wanting to create more positive energy in the world. Call me a hippie. Whatever. I think that the more positive acts that occur, the better the world becomes for all of us.

I tried to explain that when I see people who are dealing with such negative things, such things that are so much bigger than what I am dealing with, that my petty little problems seem like nothing. I like to give cancer massages because it gives me perspective.


You often hear about people who "get more than they give" when it comes to volunteering. Why is that? I believe it is true but I can't exactly explain it.

I don't volunteer so that other people will think I am a good person (then why am I writing about it on my blog?!?) I do it because it is a positive thing that gives me hope about the world. I do it because I like to see people happy and I like to see their lives improving.

We all want to live in a world where people are so nice and go out of their way to help others... but how often do WE go out of our way to help others? Be the change.

We need to step it up. What if people (and I mean EVERYONE) volunteered three hours of their time every week? What an amazing difference could we make?!?

We, as a people, can do so much more than we are currently doing. Let's step it up.