Grief can feel like a massive burden to bear - and all too often, it's a burden we feel like we're bearing alone. One way to ease this burden, and to feel less isolated, is to get involved in community service.
Grief can feel like a massive burden to bear—and all too often, it’s a burden we feel like we’re bearing alone. One way to ease this burden, and to feel less isolated, is to get involved in community service.
This can be as small-scale or as ambitious as you want it to be. Maybe it’s as simple as volunteering to read to kids at an after-school program, or helping sort through donated items at the Salvation Army. Or maybe it’s something as grand as helping build a Habitat for Humanity house, or taking on a more full-time volunteer position.
What’s important is finding a cause that you’ll find meaningful—and ideally, a cause that will allow you to spend some time serving other people.
Giving back can help the grieving process in a number of ways. For one, it allows you to do something practical and concrete to make the world just a little bit brighter. That can be a powerful counterbalance to the darkness you may be experiencing inside.
Also, community service helps you to see the needs of other people, and to remember that a lot of people are hurting and struggling in different ways. This isn’t meant to diminish your own pain in the least, but rather to put it into context.
Finally, giving back can give you a sense of purpose—a reason to get up and keep going, even amidst bereavement. For many mourners, that sense of drive can be invaluable and therapeutic.
As you think about the best ways to lessen your grief burden, think about methods in which you can give back to the people around you.
