By Briana Ryan
It can seem counterintuitive to say that giving back to your community can be a way to restore your energy. It takes energy to give to others, so how is it possible that giving away energy can help replenish your energy levels?
Giving back to others actually has an incredible impact on your happiness, and there is research to prove it. In fact, Dr. Elizabeth Dunn found through her research that “giving to charity made about the same difference for happiness as having twice as much income.”
The feeling that you’ve made a real and significant impact in the life of someone else by giving back can do wonders for your mood and energy but it can also benefit you in the long term. When we all work to make a difference in our communities, both large and small, we collectively have the power to not only change the lives of individual people or families but also change our communities as a whole. Giving back is part of making your community a better place for yourself and your fellow community members.
This idea that if we all give back in whatever way we can, we can create change on a massive scale is what started the GivingTuesday movement back in 2012. GivingTuesday was created with the simple goal of having “a day that inspires people to do good.”
Oftentimes, when we think of GivingTuesday, or when we think of giving back in general, we think of sharing our money with various organizations and causes and that is one really great way to give. This giving season, LadyBox will be giving back by sharing a portion of our proceeds with such organizations as Youth Care Seattle, Planned Parenthood, and Period.org!
But donating money isn’t the only way you can give back. GivingTuesday fully embraces the idea of “[Doing] what you can, with what you have, where you are” (Theodore Roosevelt). Any act of kindness is revolutionary no matter how big or small. Whether you choose to offer kind words to someone you see struggling, spend time volunteering, share your unique talents with your community, or donate money to an important cause, what you do matters and your community has never needed you more than they do now.