The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself in the service of others.
~Ghandi~
Today's Self Awareness Activity is to recognize what good we can do for others. Charity is defined as "generosity and helpfulness especially toward the needy or suffering" by Merriam Webster. Doing any sort of charity work is, of course, helping others, but it also helps your self. Personally, I like to donate my time to charitable causes, because I have more time than money, but if donating money or goods to charities works better for you, that is a great contribution as well.
For today's entry, I want to relay a story to you about the first time I volunteered for the Special Olympics. It seriously changed my life. I signed up to be an athlete escort for the Gymnastics Event at the Summer Olympics. When I got there, I sat in my car watching the athletes arriving, holding hands and beaming. I started bawling, and called my mom to tell her I didn't think I could do it. She reminded me of the commitment I made, and told me that it would get easier. I went to the registration and they assigned me my team and told me where to go. When I arrived, I met my team of female gymnasts and they just killed me. Each of them were so happy to be there and so supportive of one another. Immediately, we bonded and soon I was holding the girls on my lap, rubbing their feet, cheering them on, and laughing and joking with them. It was amazing to see the skills that these girls and all of the athletes had. But, the most amazing thing was the sportsmanship displayed by all of the athletes. I will never forget during the Opening Ceremony when all of the athletes paraded around the gymnasium in a big circle with their team signs and banners, clapping and waving. There was a young man who was developmentally disabled and he was on sort of a dollie thing inside of a "box". I assume the box was to keep him from moving, as he looked very fragile. He held out his little hand and every single athlete that went by, gave him "high five" as he cheered them on. It was unbelievable. Here, these men and women had been dealt a life of seeming "disability", and yet they were the most "able" and graceful athletes I've ever seen. The day was awesome, and during the medal ceremony, everyone cheered for each other and were genuinely happy for the winners. Don't get me wrong, these little stars were competitive, but they were refreshingly humble as well. When it was time for me to leave, you had to peel me away from my team. It broke my heart. I had to put my sunglasses on to hide my streaming tears, as each of the girls hugged me and told me they "loved me". From then on, I looked at my life as an opportunity. I see that things are not "so bad", and when it seems that way, I think about those athletes and how NOTHING stands in their way of fun, competition, and life. This is what volunteering has done for me.
If you are interested in volunteering, this website helps match you to a program that fits into your location, time commitment, and area of interest. Check it out: http://www.volunteermatch.org/
I've bought things at thrift stores in an effort to save money, find cool vintage items, or unique things for Halloween.