13 Mar 2021 | 4 mins

If you're after a rewarding experience that you'll never forget, then volunteering is right up there with the best of them. While you spend the majority of your time helping others, you actually spend the whole time helping yourself grow and learn. The services you provide will not only change the community for the better - they'll also improve your own life.

Volunteering lets you skip to the front of the line for good karma, and you also gain a whole load of perspective along the way. It's never a bad decision to volunteer, but here are 8 reasons why you definitely won't regret it

1. Life experience

Volunteering programs - whether they're done around your home city or whilst on the road - present you with a number of unique opportunities that most people never get to experience. Whether you're working with endangered animals overseas, helping those with disabilities, or doing some environmental work around your local community, you'll get so much more out of your experience than if you just sat around and watched Netflix for the day!

2. Give back

Probably the most important reason to volunteer is to help people or to do some good for the world. We all know people in worse situations than ourselves, and we all know that the planet could use a bit of love in this day and age. Giving back doesn't just help other people though - in the end, you improve the world you live in and your life gets better as a result. It's win-win!

3. Make friends

Volunteering unites people from all walks of life. Working together in a new and challenging environment provides the perfect opportunity to make lifelong friends with other volunteers as well as the people in the communities you’re living in. Nothing brings people together like overcoming obstacles hand in hand (just ask Harry, Ron and Hermione).

4. Challenge yourself

When you volunteer you throw yourself head-first into the unknown, and who knows what challenges you might face? There will be awkward "getting to know you" phases, communication barriers, any kind of conflict, and a whole lot of problem-solving. Chances are you’ll be out of your comfort zone, and you’re going to have to make the absolute most of it.

5. Learn new things

That communication barrier? You’ll be breaking it down over the course of your work bit by bit, as you learn from the people and communities you help.

You’ll be learning so many new skills you won’t know what to do with them all.

6. Opportunity to travel

It sounds obvious, but volunteering can give you the opportunity to travel to places you might not ever have thought of on your own, as well as truly immersing yourself in the experience. Even if you go somewhere you've already been (whether that's down the road from your parents' place, or somewhere overseas), volunteering allows you to see places from a fresh perspective, and you'll be surprised at things you can learn!

7. Experience cultures

You’ll be spending an extended period of time interacting with new cultures, people, maybe even languages. You’ll be able to witness the local culture from the inside. 

Spend a couple of days with people you'd normally hang with, and you'll come out of the experience with a newfound respect for people who live their lives a little differently to yourself.

8. Sense of accomplishment

Most importantly, you’ll be able to look back at the work you’ve done, the people, animals, communities, and environments you’ve helped, and think: Yeah. I’m proud of myself.