Giving Time.
Have you ever volunteer? Giving time for a cause, for people. Spending an amount of time in your planning just to think to other people and help them. I discovered JCI in 2014, at the beginning of my entrepreneurship experience. As I had a startup project about « job search », a friend who I was working with, introduced me to the local team of JCI where I lived (Saint-Denis de La Réunion). They were beginning a mission to help young people far from employment finding their orientation. I started spending time with amazing volunteers (at least 1 hour a week). After few month, I got the chance to lead the whole team to the end of this project. We had everything to build from scratch. And we created (more than 20 persons helped this mission) a 4 days training to teach young people how to find themselves.
It was 1 year of great adventure. I enjoyed volunteering with JCI and found a way to give without waiting anything in return. I discovered the Joy of giving time thanks to JCI.
Giving Gifts.
Have you ever forgotten a birthday gift or a Christmas gift? One year, I did decide not to give any gift for Christmas. I knew that my family could understand. I didn’t had any money left. I was working 15 hours a day. My body was hurting… but I still continued to work with the objective to give birth to my website before Christmas. The result of 1,5 year of hard work.
This Christmas was the worst Christmas of my life. I could not look at myself in a mirror anymore. My body was hurting so much that I could not even carry my baby godson. My heart was sad.
After that difficult moment, I decided that I would never lived that sadness ever. I begun giving gifts without any reason but having Joy doing it. Yes, I discover the Joy of giving gifts thanks to my baby godson.
Giving Care.
One day, one of my family member called me on the phone with an hesitant voice. She was about to have a surgery at the clinic near our homes. And she needed someone to give her a ride there at 6am and to get her back home at 12pm. As the surgery was planned on a working day, she didn’t know how to ask me exactly. My answer was « Of course I’ll do it. And then I’ll stay with you all the night to make sure that everything is OK. » Yes I was a little scared, I had never done that before.
To prepare that day, I canceled my meetings, I went to the market to buy some vegetables to cook her a soup for diner. I knew that it wouldn’t be a funny day. But I spent time with her. I checked on her. Made sure that she took the correct amount of medicine. Grab her glasses of water when necessary. I was there when she needed me. It was just a day but I discovered the Joy of giving care thanks to my godmother.
Giving Confidence.
For this one, I don’t have one example but multiple comments on my work. Thanks to my old startup blog and vlog, thanks to my current Medium writings and the training I create, people thank me for the change that I bring in their lives. Each time I see a smile on someone’s face telling me « I read / watched » one of the content published, it gives me Joy. I always say that if I could make at least one person more confident in life, it means that my job has found its target.
I hope I gave you examples of Giving that you could apply in your life (starting now) and find your Joy of giving.
Take care.
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