Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
Hi, thank you for listening to Chasing Life, a podcast aimed to help encourage you to chase a positive, healthy, and fulfilling life. I'm your host, Sarah Kane, and I'm so grateful you decided to join me. I'm a single 30-something dog mom, runner, and higher educational professional.
After struggling with a quarter-life crisis where I learned a lot about myself, I pursued and earned my MBA, got the good job, bought a house, but still struggle with fulfillment and continue to chase goals in running my career and life. I feel called to share what I've learned and continue to learn in the hopes that my story and tips will help make an impact on your day and help you feel less alone. Let's chase life together.
Welcome to another episode of Chasing Life. Sarah here and this week I want to talk about being of service. This is inspired by a recent volunteer opportunity that I've been a part of. A few weeks ago I signed up to volunteer at a local festival of lights at one of our local parks and
And for those who don't know, this is where a lot of light displays get installed and you can drive around and see them. And it's not only a socially distance and COVID friendly activity, but it also kind of is nostalgic of when you might use to drive around in your car with your parents through neighborhoods. But this is the lights all in one place. It's also a really good fundraiser. This particular event,
event, this festival is to fundraise for a summer festival that my local community typically hosts called the Speedy Fest and Balloon Rally. And those who don't know, Speedy's has basically marinated me. It's local to the
Binghamton, New York area, which is about 60 miles south of Syracuse. And then they also blow up hot air balloons and put those on display and launch them into the sky. It's pretty cool. But it's an event that's been around in our community for over 25 years. This year, this summer, due to COVID, that event was not held. So
the same organization put together this Festival of Lights as a way to fundraise for it and also support the local food bank. And I decided to volunteer, one, because I didn't have much else to do with still many restrictions in New York State. A lot of restaurants are at reduced capacity. There's no office parties to go to or other holiday events. And so I signed up to volunteer on a Saturday and I brought a friend with me. It was clear on the night that I went that
our help was needed. One thing that gets me frustrated is when I sign up and attend a volunteer opportunity and it seems like I'm just standing around or I'm not really needed and it feels like a waste of my time. So that I was happy when I volunteered that particular night that it was clear that they needed us and it made it worthwhile. And at the end of the night, my friend and I were really happy that we
We volunteered that we felt of service, that we felt like we gave back to our community. And it just brought us joy to serve the community. We had both been looking for volunteer opportunities and we just hadn't found the right fit. And this just brought us joy to give during a season of giving, to provide support.
service to this festival that helped to spread Christmas and holiday spirit, to see families come and spend time with their kids and see the kids light up just because they saw this lights display. And so just to kind of be a part of this very positive event.
When we were driving to and from the event, we were talking about different volunteer opportunities and how we wanted to become more involved. And we liked the people that we had met through this opportunity. And we're looking forward to volunteering more for the Speedy Fest, for other local events that host concerts. It was just...
snowball effect. I was a part of a young professionals organization that had sent out the email asking for volunteers. Then I reached out to my friend to ask her to come with me. And then through that, when we actually attended the volunteering event, we met people who organized the SpeedyFast or organized other large events in our community. And that helped us to just make a connection that we wouldn't have made otherwise. So that just goes to show that you never know who you're going to meet when you're
It might just be a person that changes your life. It might just lead you to an opportunity you never thought it would. And it also might just lead you to finding the fulfillment that you were looking for. For both my friend and I, we were searching for the right volunteer opportunity. We wanted to make sure that it was valuable of our time, but also wanted to make sure that it was to a cause that connected with us. And I've always had...
an interest in event planning. And so getting connected with one of the biggest events in our area is right up my alley. And so I'm excited to see where this goes. And it was also just reinforced because I've been listening to the book by Jay Shetty, Think Like a Monk. And one of the chapters that I just listened to today was about service and how service to others and to your community is what helps your life to feel more fulfilled.
And you want to make sure that you're dedicating yourself to the right service opportunities, making sure that you're not doing it for praise, but you're doing it because it feels good. And by getting involved with a cause that you feel most passionate about, then that's going to help you feel more willing to put your time into it and not expect anything out of it. So I just wanted to share that recent story with you and maybe just encourage you if you
you haven't been involved with your community or that you're looking for the right volunteer opportunity to just say yes to something because you never know what it's going to lead to. And the year that we've had when so much has been taken away, there is still opportunity for you to grow and to find things that can bring you happiness. So I hope you find that either in the next few weeks, in the next few months, or in the year ahead. Find a way to serve
Yourself, your family, your friends, and your community. I promise you that it will bring joy to your heart and help your days feel more normal and give you something to look forward to. Here's an excerpt from Jay Shetty's book, Think Like a Monk.
Choose where to serve based on your own compassion. You don't need to do everything. Do what calls your heart. Effective actions come from love. It is unstoppable and it is enough. Here are some tips to help find the right volunteer opportunity for you. Serve the pain that you know best. For example, if you wanted to go back to school and you were in need of funds or if you were depressed and in need of support.
Write down these three moments and match a charity or cause to each area of pain. Now see if any of these organizations have opportunities to serve that suit your dharma or your strengths. I want to leave you with this life hack. Service is always the answer. It fixes a bad day. It tempers the burdens we bear. Service helps other people and helps us. We don't
So I want to encourage you that if you aren't currently involved in a volunteer opportunity,
To seek one out in this new year, it might just be that missing piece that you are looking for. I hope you have a great week and I will talk to you soon. Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed today's episode, please be sure to subscribe and leave a review. I would love to hear from you. Even better, take a screenshot and tag me in your Instagram stories at SarahChasingLife.