100 Things That Make Me Happy Besides Money

Few things are more fulfilling in life than helping other people. Because it is so selfless, it is deeply beneficial to the human soul.

Because my dear Aunt Linda almost died in 1989, save for blood donations, I knew before I even knew what I wanted to be when I grew up that I wanted to donate blood too, so someone else wouldn’t lose her beloved, funny aunt.

As soon as I turned 17, I donated. It wasn’t regular, every 8 weeks, but I gave blood. I gave blood when I moved away to college too. Giving blood makes me feel so happy so easily because one donation can save the lives of up to three people. Three people! What other action can you do in an easy 30 minutes that can save three lives? I don’t know of one. Sure, you have to endure a little bit of pain, but it is minimal considering that my short-lived pain can allow other people to live.

I began to donate regularly in 2004, and would still be doing so today. Unfortunately, I learned in late 2006 that I have a genetic disorder that increases the likelihood that my blood will clot, so I was disqualified from donating. I cried. Not enough people donate blood as it is, and now I am unable to as well. I hope that, in the future, I can find someway to participate in blood donation, but I can give my own blood anymore.

Several years after my aunts were in a car accident, I learned another lesson about helping others. In 8th grade, I joined Key Club because all my friends we’re joining and some older kids that I looked up to, and who doesn’t want to help other people? Key Club is a community service organization, so our meetings centered around projects that would enable us youngins to make a difference in our community. We Trick-or-Treated for canned goods fully costumed a week before Halloween to collect non-perishables for local homeless people. We helped to deliver beautiful bundles of daffodils that people had ordered to donate money to the American Cancer Society.

We, as 13 and 14 year olds, learned that by giving our time to help people who had endured a more difficult life than we had, could grow as people, we could discover that we did have an impact on our world when every one around us made us feel like we were just little teenagers. It is a power lesson to learn.

Helping others does not have to be done through an organization like Key Club, Kiwanis, or Rotary. Your local church, your kid’s school, and even the post office offers many opportunities to experience the joy that comes from helping other people. Don’t miss them. See if your city has a Ronald McDonald House and volunteer. Help out at your local soup kitchen with your kids on cold weekends in the winter. I read about a family who prepares 20 sack lunches together on Saturday mornings and delivers them to homeless people.

There are many ways to discover the true happiness that comes from selfless acts. Don’t miss them!