I am a volunteer. Lately, i am fed up with it. Or maybe a combination of fed up and burned out.
The word “volunteer” has all sorts of rosy connotations associated with it. People volunteer with food banks and the Red Cross, at homeless shelters and soup kitchens. If you are a “volunteer” you are helping people.
I’m not that kind of volunteer. I volunteer for my bridge club. There are lots of things that have to be done in order to keep the thing running. I’m not helping the poor or contributing to the greater good, per se. But i am passionate about bridge and i want to do my part to keep the clubs and tournaments going. And technically, a “volunteer” really is just someone who donates their time to something other than their own personal affairs.
So i volunteer. I have been in the bridge world for 11.5 years now. In that time, i have
- served on my local club’s board of directors for 5 years (and counting), sometimes holding offices. I’m currently the Secretary, which means i’m one of the only board members who has to actually prepare for meetings by creating minutes and attendance reports and such.
- served as my local club’s treasurer for 3.5 years (and counting)
- served as the tournament chair for 3 years (6 sectional tournaments)
- served as the partnership chair for 3 years (8 sectional tournaments) (and counting)
- served at our regional tournaments in various roles, including intermediate/novice chair and manning the registration desk
June 29th, 2010 1:15 pm
Don’t compare yourself to others. You shouldn’t “volunteer” if you don’t feel like it. It’s that simple. And don’t compare yourself to someone else (didn’t I already say that?).
IMO, one should volunteer when they can enjoy volunteering, or at least, feel enough ‘passion’ for the effort.
I volunteer for things *I* like: GOTR, Teen Writing Club, etc. But I am selfish and like *my* time and those have fallen behind me now.
I cannot stand volunteering for my daughter’s school. However, I love my daughters
, so I have enough ‘passion’ to make an effort.
But I think it’s disingenuous to volunteer for anything that you don’t care about, or burned out on, or any reason other than ‘you want/like/love doing it’.
And don’t ever compare yourself to anyone else and what they are doing!!!
June 29th, 2010 7:06 pm
I was going to say the exact same thing. It’s easier advice to give than to take, but you should never ever compare yourself to anyone else. Why don’t you take a break? It wouldn’t have to be permanent; nothing terrible or irreversible will happen if you let a few of your current obligations slide. You might see that everything runs fine without you, and that (and a few months off) might be relaxing enough in itself to revive your energy for the task.