Want instant happiness? Volunteer in an animal shelter. No financial gains there, but the reward is happiness beyond imagination.
Many are always in search of happiness. People look for it among friends, family, and loved ones. Are you looking for joy or happiness but find it elusive? Have you considered searching for it in places unthinkable?
That animal shelter near you might be your happy place, your happy pill. These shelters accept volunteers to help with walking the dogs, introducing animals to possible adopters, or photographing animals for adoption. If you love animals and care for them, volunteering can bring you instant happiness. If you are wondering how this is possible, read on and find the answers.
You gain new friends
If you feel alone and find it hard to gain friends, why not try to volunteer in an animal shelter. Try to widen your circle of friends. Go beyond your existing safe zone. While you may have colleagues at work with whom you get along with, maybe it is time to branch out. Explore new ways of gaining more friends.
If you love animals, volunteering in shelters presents a less awkward way of getting to know more people with the same interests as you. And it is fun too because you get to do activities that involve caring and looking after animals. And because volunteering is a commitment, it is not a one-time thing. There is a big chance of seeing your new friends regularly at the shelter.
While volunteering in animal shelters, you are among people with the same commitment to assist and care for animals. When you are doing something you love in the company of friends, there is joy in that.
It raises your self-esteem
Engaging in activities focused on helping animals in a shelter gives a sense of achievement. Even the most simple volunteer work like cleaning kennels or sanitizing living areas will boost your sense of accomplishment. You perform tasks that benefit not only the animals but the very people who work in the shelters. Lending a hand without asking for anything in return gives you a sense of fulfillment. Shelter staff will value the help you give because you have taken some load off their shoulders. Not that their unhappy about their work or see it as a burden. Shelter staffs are humans too. They also get tired after a day of work. More than you know it, they do appreciate the help that you do for the animals and the shelter as a whole.
Feeling valued and appreciated raises your self-esteem. So does your happiness level.
Volunteering gives you a break from life’s problems
Everyone has problems, regardless of age or status in life. But the moment you start dwelling on them, it can prevent you from doing your daily activities. It could lead to loneliness too.
Volunteering in animal shelters helps you look in another direction – from yourself to others who need attention. When you set your sights on shelter animals, you forget yourself for a while, including problems and failures. You might be surprised that after a tiring day at the shelter, you return home with a fresher approach to life and all its attendant problems.
Some say that the human brain can be likened to a house with many small compartments, like tiny rooms. In a day, you visit these different rooms. Staying in one for too long can be unhealthy. When faced with problems, all you need is a little break. You leave that problem room for a while and visit another that you may have forgotten exists. It could be that room that remains unexplored. It has a dusty sign on the door that reads v-o-l-u-n-t-e-e-r.
Explore that room not as an escape but as a small diversion, a redirection, a pastime. Once you have savored what is in there, you will have a fresher perspective of what to do next in life’s other rooms. Volunteering in animal shelters helps you recharge. You see life and problems in a new, more positive light. When you become more positive, you end up being a happier person.
