Volunteering, Shmolunteering

There are a lot of kind of personal hurdles (some of which I've posted about on here) that have made me come to this forthcoming realization. Long story short, I've been looking for something that I can do, knowing that it makes a positive impact on people's lives, with as much hands-on involvement (i.e. preferably not the office components to jobs) and with little political worry as possible. I don't want to have to constantly think about whether what I'm doing is truly beneficial or if it's really more harmful than helpful. I kind of wanted to be a firefighter, either volunteer or professional (I know, you would never look at me and think, "Wow, what bulging muscles and a heart of steel; that girl is such a potential firefighter!"), but obviously I can't do that right now and I doubt I will in the future either. I've decided that being an EMT is something I might seriously want to do. I don't think I'd do it as a profession but I am seriously considering becoming a volunteer EMT. I can't do it this year without dying/dropping Drama (seriously, I want to do a lot more with my life, but I also have accepted that I have to do what I can manage, not what other people can manage. It's hard enough for me to balance school with the activities I do now; I know I can do more, but there's no way I personally would be able to balance being a volunteer EMT with school) but I am very seriously considering trying it out in college and beyond.

Someone suggested doing a ride-along in an ambulance which I think is an excellent idea. I definitely should see what it's actually like before getting my heart set on doing it. I think it would be a huge shock to initially see seriously hurt/bloody/dying/dead people but it's also one that I think (and hope) I can manage. But we'll see.

In the meantime, I've started looking for a lot more volunteer things again. I want to volunteer at a nature center (god, my family will laugh at me for hours on end when they hear that one) but I have a serious aversion to bugs (which I really want to get over), so that may not work out.