Recognize that if you commit to a certain amount or time, you sacrifice something else. While it might be something worthwhile, other times, it may be something valuable like helping your children with homework or spending time with them. Be cautious about visiting nursing home residents. Lonely elderly people will quickly become dependent on your visits and won’t understand if you stop showing up.
For example, working with sexually abused children when you yourself were abused may re-trigger the memories, feelings and so on you experienced. This may not be helpful and cause you distress and may hinder recovery for you.
In particular, stay at home parents are sometimes subjected to inordinate pressure to take on more volunteer work than they feel able to cope with. Being a full time stay at home mother or father is a real full time job. Sometimes this population is made to feel they ought to volunteer because they are not working outside the home–as if that means they are like retirees or unemployed–rather than honor this very difficult albeit unpaid job. [5] X Research source
Volunteer work can help lead to paid work through resume and network building. It should not prevent you from taking a paid position. There are opportunities for careers in charity work, which can be a fulfilling opportunity to have meaningful work while making a wage. Although the nonprofit sector typically does not pay as much as others, it is entirely possible to make a living this way. Some disabilities can make typical jobs difficult or impossible to perform, but not work on a volunteer basis. For example, a man with panic disorder may not be able to work yet, but is able to help do some website work for a local food shelf.
