You can contribute to the community and develop new skills through volunteering. But you need to learn how to find the right balance between work, volunteering and family commitments. It can be challenging at times to juggle these things without prior planning. So you have to think about how to integrate volunteering into your schedule without compromising your personal and professional responsibilities.
Think about what your goals and priorities are.
You have to think about what is important to you in your family life, work and volunteer activities. You have to understand your primary commitments so that you can decide how much time and energy you can put into volunteering. Once you have a clear goal of what you want to achieve with volunteering, you will be able to stay motivated. You have to select a volunteer opportunity that aligns with your skills, interests and availability. This will help balance your work load. You need to look for roles that will fit well with your schedule. It is never a good idea to agree to more volunteering time than you can commit. You need to look for flexible volunteering opportunities as this will make your life much easier. For example, you can volunteer in evenings, weekends or remotely. But if you have the time and space in your schedule for more, you can look into volunteer work in Tanzania or any other country where you will have a completely new exposure. The trick is to find an opportunity that doesn’t overwhelm your other responsibilities.
Once you have selected a volunteer opportunity,
You need to have a schedule that includes your family commitments, work and volunteer activities. You can use a calendar to map up your time so that you have specific periods allocated for each activity. When there is a clear schedule, you will be able to stay organised so that you are not overbooked. You need to have time allocated for self-care and relaxation as well so that you don’t experience burnout. It is also important to set boundaries so that there is a healthy balance between work, volunteering and family life. You have to define the times when you will be available for volunteering work. This has to be communicated to the volunteer organisation. You have to inform your workplace and family aboutthe volunteer commitments as well. When you respect these boundaries, you will be able to put sufficient attention to each aspect of your life.
You can also involve your family in volunteer activities
And this is a great way to spend quality time together. There are family friendly volunteer opportunities that you can find. When you volunteer as a family, you will be able to strengthen your bond and this will teach empathy to your children. It is also a good way to manage your time easily as you can combine volunteering and family activities. If you are volunteering in something that is particularly demanding or needs flexibility during work hours, you will need to communicate this with your employer. There are many employers that are supportive of volunteering and offer flexible work arrangements. There are also volunteer programmes that are offered by some companies.
