My mom volunteered as PTA president. She loved being in charge of things like that.
Spending her days organizing, planning, and being the boss-lady. So, naturally when my daughter headed off to school, I tried to do the same.
I signed up to be on “the board” and had instant regret. I was a newbie, so I started with a super fun job “book sale chairman.”
Y’all. This job was collecting used books that kids brought in from home and put in a laundry basket at the end of the hall each week.
Ugh.
It was my job to catalog and organize them, and then take them over to a warehouse for the school district’s used book sale they held once a year.
I was told that it was a really important job.
That the district brought in tons of money for this. And so, I went in once a week, spent a couple of hours cataloging books, took them to the warehouse, all in all it totaled about 100 hours worth of work for the year.
The amount my kid’s school made off of this “job” of mine? $64.00.
SIXTY FOUR DOLLARS!
I think I spent more than that on gas driving to the warehouse with all those heavy books in my trunk.
Seriously, screw that. And that’s when I realized what a colossal waste of time my volunteer position was.
When they asked the next year, I politely declined.
And so can you.
I know this isn’t the popular opinion, I know we all feel socially obligated to donate our time. But remember, your time is PRECIOUS. You only have so much of it, and if you can’t afford to spend it on volunteering, then don’t.
And don’t feel guilty about it either. Even if you want to spend your free time watching tv in your skivvies and you feel like you should be volunteering, remember that it’s okay to put yourself first.
It’s okay to spend your free time on you.
You’re worth it.
