Volunteer to be different
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Where's your comfort zone when it comes to helping animals? |
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We all have our comfort zone - those areas in life where we feel comfortable, & safe, like putting a piece of music on that we know, or picking up a book we've read hundreds of times before, going to the same place on holiday, sticking to the same routine in life.
And then we have that area which is going to try and test us - that area where we need to move outside it and get a bit uncomfortable, as we try out something new - perhaps we agree to go to somewhere on holiday which we've never been to before, where we've got that extra bit of adrenalin, but there are still plenty of certainties, such as the people we're going with, the holiday firm we book through, the airline we choose to fly with.
And then there's the really challenging stuff, where we're going to do something completely out of areas in life we know and feel comfortable with - perhaps going on a camping holiday instead of staying in a luxury hotel, or going on safari in Africa when we normally head to Devon in the UK. You have no idea of what will happen or how you'll handle it.
It gives us a chance to find out more about ourselves, to try new things, to discover we had greater strength in us than we thought we had, to come upon new interests & more. It means we are living life, instead of existing through it. |
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Comfort zones & volunteering
Our comfort zones differ when it comes to helping with animals, and each of us will have ours. Examples of comfort zone include:
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Getting messy! Some of us love getting mess, some of us don't.
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Seeing sights we know are going to upset us - such as rows of unwanted animals in cages, waiting to find a home, or bears kept in tiny cages, or the sight of wildlife caught up in wire or plastic
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New horizons & challenges in travel - going somewhere to volunteer abroad, meeting new people, trying to find out what the customs & culture is, lending a hand, finding there isn't much to do and wondering what else we can do to help. This can be in the form of a charity challenge For others,volunteering in the UK may be equally as challenging
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Starting up a charity or a campaign - this is something people often start off on a very small scale but it can grow in ways they never expected.
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The volunteering itself. Will we be able to do what's asked of us? Will we like the people we meet?
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Finding they can offer more than they thought - sometimes people offer to volunteer for just one or two things and before they know it, they are in much deeper, doing things they never thought themselves capable of. An example is standing up in front of a group of teenagers or children in a school to talk to them about animal welfare, or the work a charity does, or pet care
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A physical challenge, such as taking part in a sponsored event - a run, a walk, a swim, cycle - whatever it is. The 1 mile walk can be as much a shift out of a comfort zone for one person as a climb to the top of Kilimanjaro is for another. We are all different and start out from different places. What matters is that move from our starting point, and onwards! Charity challenges are great for these.
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Changing our routine. It is amazing how many of us stick to the same old routine day in day out, year in, year out - in part to cope with the amount we have to do. We think it will conserve our energy if we stick to that routine, giving us more to handle the rest of our stressful lives. In fact, if we were to do something wild and wacky for an afternoon in a week, it may give us the energy and buzz we need to see the rest through.
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Getting unstuck. Sometimes, our comfort zones can keep us in one place, mentally & spiritally, physically & emotionally, in life. Discovering the key to getting unstuck so that we make the changes we want is only going to happen when we identify the chages we want to make.
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Putting our talents & skills to use. The comfort zone is using them in the workplace. The reality is that we could push our comfort zones by giving them to a charity for free in our spare time and really doing something worthwhile
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| The real comfort zone may be in staying put and not wanting to leave it for fear of what that might do - success in doing something may well mean that you're saying to yourself "I'm not happy with my lot - I want more out of life" - never an easy thing to admit for a number of us. Once you've left your comfort zone and "done it!" once, you may well find yourself wanting to do it again. And that may be the barrier to stopping you doing it in the first place. |
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Moving out of your comfort zone brings benefits:
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It can be a great way to enjoy personal growth
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It can give us energy & renewed passion for life - we feel ALIVE!
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We may make new friends or even find that special love in our lives
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We find a new confidence from discovering that things we do for the employer we work for can be used elsewhere, too
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We gain a new dimension on life
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We may want to try again - only this time we want to do more
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It could lead to new opportunities, now we've discovered a new confidence
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We want to do more!
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It sets us on a new journey
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It gives us the chance to make a contribution that really makes us feel good. And we enjoy the ride & look for our next challenge!
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Most importantly of all, the animals you love benefit because you took a risk and moved out of your comfort zone. If you'd have stayed put, they'd have lost out.
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