Volunteering with Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee can create feelings of purpose, enjoyment, and empowerment through selflessly serving girls and their families. These positive feelings that we get from volunteering and the impact that we make are what keep us volunteering year after year.
However, there are certainly times when volunteering can leave us feeling drained and overwhelmed so we gathered some tips on ways to decrease these feelings.
Tips on Promoting a Healthy Life Balance for Volunteers
- Join or create a Girl Scout support system such as the GSMIDTN Community Group on Facebook. The leaders in your local service unit are also a great place to start. A safe space to ask questions and get support when needed from other volunteers can go a long way when you feel overwhelmed or confused.
- Remember that no troop or leader is perfect! We all have our fair share of “Pinterest Fails.” Consider sharing your “fails” with other leaders. They will likely have similar stories to laugh about or have valuable feedback to help with next time.
- Remember that you do not have to do it all! Be sure to incorporate volunteer/work-life balance. Take time to do things for yourself that you enjoy and spend time with your family outside of Girl Scouting. It can be helpful to create a schedule for yourself, stick to it, and set boundaries on your time. Consider asking parents or other troop leaders for help with big projects.
- Consider creating committees for ways to involve your troop parents and guardians. Some ideas include covering fall products, cookies, troop outings, and more.
- Include girl-led principles into your troop. Girl Scouts can be led by and for girls. This can cut down on the amount of planning that is required for troop meetings and trips.
- Create and consistently use kaper charts at meetings and on trips. This allows the girls to take responsibility for various tasks such as cleaning, handing out supplies, and leading the beginning of meeting traditions, and creates eases some of your responsibilities.
- Request a travel activity through GSMIDTN instead of a traditional troop meeting. These activities range from songs and games to art activities to STEM activities!
Do you have tips and insights you would like to share with other leaders? Email communicationsdept@gsmidtn.org and share your volunteer story!