If the impact is great, pursue!
Paul White's nationally distributed syndicated column, “If the impact is great, pursue!” is published in 22 publications across seven states. This includes the following newspapers and digital publications: Midland Daily News (MI), SFGate (CA), Seattle PI (WA), Connecticut Post (CT), Laredo Morning Times (TX), Huron Daily Tribune (MI), The Telegraph (IL), and more. The article focuses on one of the greatest life tools this world has to offer — helping others, and yourself, through volunteer work. Give yourself five minutes to embrace this “life tool” power, and GiddyUp!
There were a lot of valuable life lessons I learned from observing my parents. They were pretty simple people who cared deeply about the lives of others.
It really showed strong by their pursuit of volunteering. Over the course of time, I went from observing the impact their volunteering had on others to clearly seeing the impact their volunteering had on them. It was huge and it was positive. It also had a profound impact on every person who came to see them in their volunteer role and even people that heard about the joy it brought my parents as they attempted to inspire others to pursue volunteering as a primary source of joy. One of those people was me.
My mom began her self-therapy journey with weekly visits to a nursing home. Eventually her commitment to the residents of that particular nursing home was what really defined her life. She began each Wednesday at church picking up Communion to distribute to members. She always had her prayer book and devotional guide with her, allowing her to begin conversations with faith and then she would let God choose the direction those conversations would go from there. Unless there was strong resistance, she would always hold the person's hand in hers, acknowledging the need for human touch and the emotional healing power it yielded. Most of the conversations eventually revolved around the person's family.
As time went on there were many outside of her own faith community, including people without any faith, that she would visit with and pray with. Her praying always included the Lord's Prayer and then she would quickly follow with intentional request prayer as she held tight to other person’s hand. She’d pray for healing, comfort, repair of broken relationships, strengthening of faith, and the staff at the nursing home. She would always finish with gratitude praying in an attempt to help each person realize that if they focus on all of the things they were grateful for, the things that bothered them didn’t matter so much.
In her later years I had the privilege of accompanying my mom on some of those Wednesdays. As I observed her, I realized that I wanted what she had discovered. She had found inner peace, joy, comfort, love, faith, gratitude and compassion and shared all those virtues with others. While she had a huge positive impact on others, the impact volunteering had on her was so great, so she pursued it until she died. That’s how my mom helped me fall in love with helping others.
My dad began his self-therapy journey delivering Meals on Wheels once a month. Each month he was assigned a partner to work with. They would show up at the distribution kitchen around 11 a.m., load up the hot meals to be delivered, attach the magnetic signs to the side of the vehicle (he told me vans worked best), and follow a designated route until each meal had been delivered to the intended recipient. In essence, the team was performing a well-check and in many cases were the only human beings the recipients would come in contact with that day. My dad would often struggle to find the best wording to describe what he felt when the deliveries were completed. After hearing him try, I realized he had found inner peace, joy, comfort, love, faith, gratitude and compassion and shared all those virtues with others.
Later, I had the privilege of working with my dad and because Meals on Wheels was a two-person volunteer opportunity he asked me to be his partner each month. We developed a routine of leaving work together at 10:45 a.m., loading up and performing the delivery of the meals while embracing each encounter so that we could discuss both the impact we had had on the recipient and the impact the experience had had on us. This was so powerful. Each time we felt renewed, re-charged and confident that, despite what the news reported to us, the world was a beautiful place to be a part of. We learned to look at the little things that were going right in the world and were amazed that they were all around us. Our focus pre-Meals on Wheels had been influenced by what others thought were most important regarding how our society and the world worked. But we had found inner peace, joy, comfort, love, faith, gratitude and compassion right in front of us through volunteering and we had this insatiable desire to share all those virtues with others.
Did you note that my parents took completely different paths that ended up in the same destination? The only piece to their journeys that was exactly the same was that both paths involved helping others which in turn helped them find those things that all of us yearn for while we’re here on earth. We all crave being loved, appreciated and respected each day of our life. We can satisfy that craving through developing our own unique path that is defined by helping others. The impact on ourselves will be great and will lead us to continue to pursue what works.
So, I’m asking you to develop a path that works for you that will deliver inner peace, joy, comfort, love, faith, gratitude an compassion and pursue that path. I’ve done the heavy lifting by sharing with you that every successful path includes you helping others. If you try a path of volunteering that doesn't deliver, then try a different path. When you find the path that’s right for you, share your story with others in an attempt to encourage and inspire them. Ask them to help you walk down your path so they can at least observe how the path you’ve chosen works effectively for you. Then encourage them to find the path that works best for them. Can you even imagine what this world would look like it we all make an honest effort at this? I sure can. Remember, if the impact is great, pursue! And don’t forget to add some GiddyUp!
In addition to being a nationally syndicated columnist, Paul White is an author, motivational and inspirational speaker, entrepreneur, podcaster, and life coach located in Midland, Michigan. He offers self-help and culture development to start your journey towards consistent growth and joy. If you’re interested in getting in touch with Paul, please submit an inquiry via our Contact Page.