Involve Yourself

Being involved was a struggle for me initially.  It's easy for me to come home after work, hop into my PJ pants and spend the entire evening playing piano, watching movies with my husband, or generally avoiding the outside world.  As an introvert, I tend to choose solitary activities and desire a calm environment.

As a matter of fact, I initially planned on being a stay at home mom who was just involved in her kids lives.  Then life happened and kids didn't (so far).  I changed.  I realized the outside world wasn't that bad and I might actually be able to contribute.

I can't stress enough how important being involved in your community is.

Being involved in your community is so beneficial it's almost ridiculous, but I thought I would list just a few reasons for you to consider. 

• Involvement makes the community better for everyone, especially the person involved.  A regular volunteer has a longer expected lifespan (BMC Public Health researchers determined), either because they were happier or because people who tend to volunteer also tend to do other positive things for their well being and thus live longer.  Either way, can't hurt to get involved.
• Involvement gives you life long skills that are used in other surprising areas of life.  For instance, I learned how to serve food in a cafeteria setting while volunteering in high school as a NHS student.  I would later use those skills at my campus job in college. 
• Involvement builds compassion and other important social emotions.  First, Understanding towards those that make decisions you don't agree with because you can empathize with trying to please everyone.  You also feel love for the people you are serving by being involved.
• The most important thing involvement brought to my life was the relationships with other people.  On a professional level, I have made contacts in almost every field and it's true that "who you know" makes a difference.  But most importantly, these relationships make this area precious to me.  Life on earth boils down to the relationships we have, and I have had the opportunity to meet and become friends with some of the most incredible people.   These relationships will last me a lifetime, both professionally and personally.  And because I started young, when I get to be an older member of an organization like the arts council, I will have a strong understanding of what it takes to run it and be prepared to continue it when those who are now leading it are gone.

Involvement can be a lot of things.  Since I've already made one list, why not another?  Here is a brief list of ways you can get involved to get the above benefits.

• Work at a job you love.  Might not sound like community involvement to you, but think of it this way.  On paper, being the part time help at a music store isn't that impressive, but a similar person helped me choose clarinet and completely changed my life.  A bonus for me, working downtown is community involvement all it's own, as I feel a little invested in the businesses around us.  
• Volunteering for things that are important to me.  I don't think a person who wants to make a difference in their community has to be involved in absolutely every organization.  I don't have enough knowledge or interest to be of help on some boards.  However, I have a few things I'm passionate about that I desperately want to share with the community. 
  For me and my interests, this means involvement in a lot of music activities and a few athletic ones.  From playing bass in the worship team at church to learning to write grants for the arts council, I am able to do things I love while also giving my community more opportunities to experience music.  Volunteering at local races and keeping up on the running and cycling club Facebook pages are ways I can be active myself while also encouraging others to do the same.
• Create something new. This is the most intimidating and the hardest work but also the most rewarding.  I have a secret love/hate relationship with being an event organizer.  Along the lines of "be the change you want to see in this world", if there is something I think should be happening in the area that isn't and it is in my capabilities, I make it happen.  I have learned a lot about myself through organizing these events.  "Solo Night", a reverse recital (teachers perform) at the store was my first real pet project in Ogallala.  The Run Around The Lake Relay was my major "athletic" one.  And my biggest organized project to date is probably the community jazz band I organized this summer.

The moral of the story?  Get involved.  If you are more experienced, join and share that experience.  If you are young, join and learn what you can because at some point, the older generation will be gone and we need to be able to step up.  If we were to lose these organizations by lack of volunteer-ism, we would be losing important aspects of humanity in our community.  We would not only be losing arts, music and athleticism, but also humility, compassion and the true definition of community.