Welcome to Week 5 of the Summer Challenge!
We don’t often ask school employees to volunteer because our Healthy Life Survey states at least half of you are already doing something for your community. Further, research states that over half of you have second and even third jobs in addition to what you do for schools. Finally, we see your work in schools as, more often than not, a calling rather than a paycheck. In short, what you do for Vermont schools is already above and beyond and therefore its own form of volunteerism.
The trouble with that “above and beyond” idea is that we hear a lot about burnout and compassion fatigue as a result. That’s precisely why we suggest becoming connected to your community in other ways. Doing so is proven to help combat compassion fatigue. Here’s a few reasons why….
National Geographic’s Dan Buettner, who wrote the Blue Zones (research on where people live the longest, healthiest lives), interviewed centenarians from all over the world. A woman from the Greek Island of Ikaria told him: “‘Do you know there’s no word in Greek for privacy?’ she declared. ‘When everyone knows everyone else’s business, you get a feeling of connection and security. The lack of privacy is actually good, because it puts a check on people who don’t want to be caught or who do something to embarrass their family.'”
I’m not suggesting we each get all up in everyone’s business, but when you paint a community center together or help out at a food shelf fund raiser, you get to know each other better and come to understand why we each roll the way we do. Compassion grows and rebuilds in exponential ways. So if you’re frustrated with humanity because you often see some of the hardest parts of it as a school employee, take some time this summer to be a part of the best of humanity for inspiration.
A byproduct of helping may also be the opportunity to find out what you want to be when you grow up. Meaning, when you do have time to give (on your own terms outside work), what will it look like for you? Those who have a plan for their life outside of work and beyond their official western working years live healthier lives.
Also from Buettner’s Blue Zones:
“In Okinawa, …the notion of ikigai — “the reason for which you wake up in the morning” — suffuses people’s entire adult lives. It gets centenarians out of bed and out of the easy chair to teach karate, or to guide the village spiritually, or to pass down traditions to children. The Nicoyans in Costa Rica use the term plan de vida to describe a lifelong sense of purpose. As Dr. Robert Butler, the first director of the National Institute on Aging, once told me, being able to define your life meaning adds to your life expectancy.”**
We know that people who don’t plan well for retirement suffer until they find that purpose. We know that people who gear their leisure activities toward a moral purpose live longer as well. Take the time to at least think about helping out in new ways that inspire you and fire you up to push through the stress of the daily grind.
Good luck and be sure to let us know what you end up doing!
See you on The PATH Ahead
Gillian, Shevonne, Amy and the PATH Team.
**The Blue Zone’s quotes came from an article adapted from new material being published in the second edition of “Blue Zones,” by Dan Buettner. Click here for the full piece.