We’re a part of society whether we like it or not, and although it might not always feel like it, we do have an influence on our community. As such, it’s important to ensure that we’re having a positive influence, rather than a negative one. There have been plenty of people before and around us who have helped give to us, so that we can be. We have our chance to do our part too. While we want to first make sure that we are in a good place, we can’t make that the end of our journey.
Below, we take a look at some tried and tested ways to have a positive impact on your community. This will also bring benefits for your own life, too — studies have shown that helping others makes us happier, and also, let’s not forget that we’re not helping some random community: it’s yours, and you’ll also benefit from your efforts.
Be a Positive Force
To begin, take a look at your current role in your community. Are you a positive force? It does take a little bit of effort to do slightly more than you’re currently doing, but it’s worthwhile making an effort. While the sky’s the limit when it comes to how much you want to do, the very first step is to simply be courteous and friendly. Our community is going to reflect the energy that is put into it. If you’re beeping at people because they’re doing two seconds longer to set off when the light changes to green then you’d like, then all you’re doing is spreading some negative energy. Keep things positive.
Volunteering Your Time
Life is pretty busy; there’s sometimes no getting around it, but it’s also true that we’re not always so busy — we do have time to scroll through social media, hang out with friends, and so on. One of the best ways to give back to your community is to sacrifice a little bit of your personal time, and use it instead for volunteering. No matter where you live, there’ll be organisations who need a little bit of help. What you do will depend on your interests and skills. For example, you could simply clean up rubbish from the beach, or you could sit in with lonely elderly people, helping marginalised communities, local activism. You’ll be making a difference, but also, you’ll be acting as inspiration. Volunteering isn’t an especially promoted act — if people you know see that you’re making a difference that way, they might also decide to help out with something close to their hearts, too.
Start a Business
Communities need robust downtown areas in order to be thriving. Without them, it can feel like there’s no hub, no centre, no thrum of daily life that keeps everyone intertwined and a part of each other’s lives. One of the big problems in recent years has been the influence of supermarkets and other big companies, who have moved into communities and sucked up too much of the local money. Thankfully, the tide is beginning to turn — people are less likely to drive out to a supermarket. They want to be in the community. But they need businesses to be there if they’ll be able to. As such, one of the best ways to give back to your local area is to start a business. Whether it’s a coffee shop, a clothing store, or providing services like legal or travel or anything else, it’ll give residents a reason to spend time in the commercial area of town.
Your Career
Of course, not everybody has the desire to be a fully-fledged business person. Thankfully, it’s possible to make a positive impact in your community through your work, too. For example, you could be on the frontline when it comes to emergencies and healthcare. You could look at joining the police, fire brigade, or taking the first-response healthcare route. If you want to help people but don’t want to be on the front line — and all the drama that goes with it — then there are other things you can do, too. Study on a course that provides neonatal nursing education, and you’ll help newborns thrive during the first two years of their life. In all communities, children are always the future. By becoming a neonatal nurse, you’ll be helping to ensure that the future of your society is bright.
Local Businesses
It’s not just about starting a business or your job, though. You’re also going to be a consumer. As such, it’s recommended that you think about which businesses you’re giving your money to. Your eyes might be automatically drawn to the shop whose name you recognise from the adverts, but just think about where your money is eventually going. It’s not kept in the local area, like it would be if you gave your money to a local business. It’ll go into the bank account of a company who has little to no connection with your hometown. There’s nearly always an option to buy local — take it.
Charitable Evenings
It doesn’t matter where you live: there are always things that need to be done, help that’s needed, money to be raised. It could be for the local football team, or to repair a historic building, or anything else. But of course, the money isn’t raised automatically — it requires someone to step up and organise things. If you know a lot of people and are reasonably good at getting things organised, then volunteer your skills. The bare minimum is a little bit of enthusiasm (never underestimate just how far a little bit of enthusiasm can take you). Just by spending a little bit of time, effort, and energy, you could make a huge; difference to your local community.
Community Gardens
Most places have fallen victim to the onrush of industrialisation. There are places that were historically nothing but beautiful green fields that are no essentially concrete slabs. And something has been lost along the way, for all people, but especially the children, who have less contact with nature than they did in the past. As such, one of the gifts you can give your community is to create more green space and more of an outdoors culture. One way to do this to look at setting up community gardens. Everyone will have an opportunity to plant whatever they want, and it’ll also provide an all-natural hangout spot for children, too. There’s nothing better than hosting an afternoon family-friendly afternoon in community gardens, where everyone is usually more relaxed and full of good intentions.
Locally Engaged
One thing that many people surprisingly overlook is just how much influence they have in their local community. For all the decisions made at local level, they have great power — especially if they join forces with others. As such, one of the most effective ways to nudge your town in the right direction is to stay actively engaged with local political decisions. Any planned changes will be made available somewhere or another — it’s just a matter of putting in some time to stay informed.
Love Where You Are
Finally, make sure you love where you are! Nowhere’s perfect, and there’ll be days when you long to move to the sunshine or wherever, but overall, you should be proud of where you live. You’ll be much more inclined to give back to your community if you fundamentally love where you live.
This is a contributed post, edited by Nik.