588b1c58c8a68278cfc28555

Brett and Kate McKay
somebody, I don’t always feel very happy. Often, I grumble about it.
But every single time I’ve manned up and gone and done the service,
I’ve felt happy and satisfied afterward. Every single time. Service just
makes you feel good about yourself and about life.
2. Puts your problems in perspective. We often think that our problems
are huge. And they feel huge because we have nothing to compare
them to except our own life experiences. But when we serve those less
fortunate than us, we come to see how good we have it. Our problems
start to seem relatively small. And our gratitude for all the good
things we have in life increases exponentially.
3. Breaks down prejudice. It’s easy to paint people we’ve never had any
contact with broad strokes, to think we have them all figured out.
Immigrants, poor people, criminals, and so on – we think we know
their story. We often formulate our opinions on such people without
ever having talked to a single one of them. But when we work oneon-one
with people different than us, we come to really love them
and know them, and our compassion and empathy grows. We don’t
see them as stereotypes, but as flesh and blood people, people whose
problems are often far more complicated than we could have previously
imagined.
4. Helps you find yourself. A lot of people talk, and agonize over, “finding
themselves.” They want to find their authentic selves, who they
really are. To this end, many traipse through Europe or go to grad
school. There’s nothing wrong with such pursuits, but there’s no better
way to get to the core of who you are than serving others. It will
peel back the layers of your artifice and reveal what you’re really made
of and what you really value. I can’t explain in words why it has this
effect, but it does. I think it’s like the saying, “The watched pot never
boils.” The more time you spend thinking about who you are, the more
elusive the answer gets. As soon as you turn your focus to others, your
true self is revealed.
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