My Journey With Health And Fitness – Why I Volunteer

My apologies to those of you who have been checking my blog the last few days. Friday my husband and I went up to the trailer to spend a couple nights and get some work done. Unfortunately we did not really accomplish any of the items we had on our to-do list but at least we got to spend some time together. I had opted not to take my laptop and really did not feel like writing my blog on my iPad. I will say though, despite there being issue with the work we went there to do, we did have a nice couple nights together.

This time of year is probably the busiest for me when it comes to volunteering. Year round each week I phone isolated seniors and lead a seniors’ walking group (this has now really become a support group and it is awesome). Of course 5 days a week I also walk a dog for a senior who has mobility issues. Every other week I also facilitate a caregivers’ support group. In total I estimate I spend at least 8 hours every week (10.5 hours on caregiver week) and it has all just become part of my normal routine.

But that ramped up even more because it is tax time. While I do taxes for clients through my business, one afternoon a week for the months of March and April I do taxes for low income seniors through the Community Volunteer Income Tax Clinics. Some weeks especially, at the beginning and end of the program, can be quite busy with me putting in up to 4.5 hours while weeks such as this week are less onerous with this week only being 2 hours. To add to all of that this week I also completed a round of grant application reviews for one of my organizations which in total probably took me about 12 hours. Yes, it is definitely a busy time of year.

But why do I do this? I have often noted on this blog that when I started on this journey I realized it was not just about my physical fitness but also about my mental health. I find for me personally volunteering just makes me feel good. My walking group for example, we have been doing that for more than a year now and we have become good friends. A couple of the walkers have been having issues lately and so the rest of us stepped up to support them. Last week in the caregivers’ group one of the participants had me in tears (that may seem counterintuitive to feeling good but it is not). At the end of the session the participant had to come give me a hug and thank me for making her feel better. And as for the tax clinic, well at least one client each week has to profusely thank me and let me know how important getting this done for free was for them. Just those little acknowledgements make me feel good.

I realize that all this volunteering is as important to me as my training is. I plan to keep doing it for as long as I can find organizations that have something for me to do. Really, it keeps me mentally healthy.