Have you ever thought of the different levels of help you offer? And how it makes you happy?

We all want to feel good. Feeling good is easy if you donate some money or give your old books and clothes to someone in need. Or perhaps you pay a coffee to them.
Pure charity gives you happiness – for a moment. And it does not take too much of your time or your goods.
It is – besides a ‘doing good effect’ – mainly about YOU.

However, it becomes quite more difficult if you dedicate more than a moment and more than a product. Time, for example. If you offer time, YOUR time to elder, homeless or unhappy people. Then you have to listen by sharing the level of attention with your next. There is a kind of balance between YOU and the OTHER. And there are moments you do not like, where you are bored, impatient or you would prefer to talk instead of listening. That’s where pure charity ends and change starts.

“I receive an email a day from an amazing person who is pouring their heart out about being unhappy about where they are in their life and wanting to do something with meaning. My message to them is: If you don’t find happiness where you are right now, you’re going to come into the social sector and be just as unhappy,” cautions Tiffany Persons, CEO, Shine on Sierra Leone.

Real Change is about the OTHERS, not about you. Probably that’s why going into the social sector and thinking it makes you happy is the wrong approach.

What do you think?