When it comes to a rewarding life, a lot of focus is more on how you feel, and your experiences. A rewarding life for a lot of people doesn’t amount to the money you have or the number of belongings you have in your possession; it’s more about the lessons you’ve learned, the memories you’ve had, and the good practices you instill daily to make sure that you’re always feeling your best.
Making a choice to want to give back and lead a more rewarding life is the first crucial step in doing so. Already, you are seeking out personal fulfillment and reward simply by making that decision. It can be tricky to know where to start if you want to make a difference in many ways, but all that matters is that you have the right mindset and desire to do good — for others, and for yourself.
How to Help Others
Here are just some of the ways you can look to help others and give back more in your life.
Donate to Charity
Whether it’s a one-off donation, a regular membership donation, or giving unwanted items or clothing to charity, what you do will always make a difference.
Not only that, but choosing to declutter your home (and life) and give unwanted items to charity can, therefore, not only help the cause in question but also allow you to live a more personally-rewarding life knowing that you’re surrounded only by the things you need (and that the items you didn’t need went to a better cause).
If you want to take it a step further, inquire with charitable causes of how you can best help them. It might be that they need volunteers in the shop, or maybe there is a specific item they require more than others, such as clothing or books. That way, you can make sure that what you do donate — whether it is your time or any household items — can go a long way.
Be Compassionate and Positive
A little compassion goes a long way. Try to instill more kindness and positivity in everything you do, whether it’s people you work directly with, people you live with, or even strangers on the street. A simple smile can go a long way for someone who needs it. Or it may be that your determined positivity rubs off in the right way on somebody else who was feeling particularly low.
Having a more compassionate mindset means you are also more likely to embrace better practices to help others, and it will inspire others to do the same.
Make Yourself Available
Lend a kind and supportive ear whenever you can, or make it known that you’re always there should anybody need support. This is key for friends and family if you want to make sure you give back in a positive way to them by always being a comfortable and reliable presence in their lives.
You can also translate this mindset into your working environment too. No matter your job, there’s always time to listen to those who need it, whether colleagues, customers, or anyone you deal with during your work. You choose to listen and offer advice that may make all the difference at that moment.
Tailor Your Career Path to Helping People
One significant way you can truly work to help people is by pursuing a career that will let you do so daily. Many careers are tailored around helping people in a variety of ways.
Within a Healthcare Setting
Many dedicated career paths within medicine and healthcare put patients and people at the forefront of everything you do. Whether it’s working behind the scenes at a pharmacy and helping deliver the right medication, whether you’d prefer to put your bedside manner to good use on a medical ward, or if you’d like to tailor personalized care for specific families and people by becoming a family nurse practitioner, these are all examples of ways you can help within the healthcare setting. Click this link to find out more.
Within an Educational Setting
Help to shape the minds and development of other people, no matter the age group, by becoming a teacher or educational assistant within a learning environment. Reap the rewards of knowing you’ve helped somebody during their educational journey, and offered key support where it’s most needed.
Within Emergency Settings
You may want to help people in the worst possible situations by providing emergency assistance and ensuring that you have a key part in helping people, or perhaps even saving lives. Emergency service jobs are essential in helping and caring for others.
Other Public Service Jobs
These job roles are essential for providing quality service to all people within a community and ensuring that other individuals can live their lives healthily and happily. This could be anything from social work to police work. Anything which gives back to the community.
Try Voluntary Work
Many great causes around the world will always require volunteers. You should think about those causes which mean the most to you, or simply see which causes are most in need of volunteers. This kind of work, especially in another country with a completely new culture, can be extremely beneficial for your own personal outlook and help those in need, no matter the cause.
Furthermore, the experience of travel can be significantly rewarding on a personal level when it comes to voluntary work. Traveling can help you learn more about yourself and what is most important to you to live a more rewarding life for yourself.
How to Help Yourself
Living a more rewarding life isn’t just about helping others. It is also about making sure that you are caring for yourself and living the best life you can in terms of your own personal wants and needs. After all: you can’t hope to help anyone else if you’re not caring for yourself in the process.
Here are some great ways you can have a more rewarding life by helping yourself.
Know When to Say No
A lot of stress and personal unfulfillment can arise when you are constantly giving your time and energy to other people and putting yourself in situations you do not want to be in. While it’s important to try not to be completely selfish with your time and energy for those situations where others may need you, it’s also important to be selfish when it counts. There’s nothing wrong with understanding your own wellbeing and energy levels so that you know when you need to say no to certain demands of you.
You don’t have to be a people-pleaser to feel fulfilled.
Pursue Something You’re Passionate About
A truly rewarding experience in life is knowing what makes you happy and pursuing that. Whether it is a hobby or your job, having a passion is key for finding more gratification with your time and energy. To find your passion, ask yourself:
- What do you enjoy doing?
- Is there anything you’ve always wanted to try?
- Do you have skills you’d like to develop?
- Is there a hobby you’d like to try for another reason, such as meeting new people or getting out of the house?
- What is the goal of your passion: to simply enjoy as a hobby, or eventually make a career out of it?
Always take the plunge with anything you’re passionate about, which you would like to try, even if it takes you out of your comfort zone. Often, it is those situations that scare you that become the most rewarding.
Be Mindful
You can often find the most reward in the little moments of the present. Dwelling on the past or worrying about the future will not offer any reward apart from negativity. Instead, try mindful practices in everything you do. This could be active meditation practices every day, or it could simply be focusing on the small tasks, like how your cup of morning coffee tastes, or what’s with you in the moment when you take an afternoon walk.
Truly live in the present so that you can best appreciate it and feel grateful for everything you have. This is a rewarding practice in reminding you of all the positives in your life and enjoying simple experiences in a better way, like focusing more on the taste of your food or the sounds of nature around you.
Conclusion
Leading a rewarding life and helping others is about finding a happy balance between what makes you happy, the amount of energy you can devote, and the specific ways in which you want to help people. Sometimes, helping others may be exhausting or stressful, but ultimately make you happy with the result if you’ve truly made a difference. At other times, it may be about finding fulfillment in more relaxing ways whilst concentrating on your own wellbeing.
Either way, always be open to new practices, whether with other people in need or with yourself.
