3 benefits come from volunteering, network is not on the list

Experiencing volunteer work is something amazing, at the same time you give, you also learn and learn a lot. This is an inevitable process and it just happens.

Based on my own experience, working as a volunteer at a charity shop, after almost one year, I realized that I had changed a lot and these are the 3 most evident things in this process:

• Opportunity to make mistakes - volunteer work gave me a margin of error without the pressure of the business environment. At the same time, autonomy and initiative are keys that open doors. I explain, in the work I do I have a certain autonomy, so it's up to me to identify my own mistakes and solve them. The initiative is what will take you out of inertia and make you put into practice what you have learned.

• Improve the ability to empathize - put yourself in the other person's shoes, wear their shoes and run 10km. That's what I'm talking about, it's not looking at the other person through your own eyes, it's trying to see the world through that person's eyes. A smile, a good morning, taking a chair for someone else, listening patiently, all this and much more happens. Volunteer work is a great place to develop this.

• Consciousness about your ability - you know you are capable when you also learn from mistakes and feel rewarded for knowing you are self-developing and self-evolving. Consciousness is like walking in a swamp, knowing your shoes are going to get muddy, but you know exactly where to step so you don't sink. It remembers the opportunity to make mistakes, which leads to the opportunity to learn, put these two elements together and you will be aware of your ability. My mother would call it an experience and she wouldn't be wrong.

Network, challenges, boost your CV are great things and a quick google search appears as a result, but volunteer work can take us further and that is what I learned. I consider myself much stronger, empathetic and more experienced because volunteering gave me this opportunity.

I hope I have piqued some dormant curiosity about volunteering, thanks for reading.