?Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ?Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?? Actually, who are you not to be? ?You are a child of God. ?Your playing small does not serve the world.? –?Marianne Williamson
When we’re young, we all dream of being superheroes.? We dream of being doctors, lawyers, princesses, and President.? We’re told we can do anything.? We can change the world.
So last month I decided to stop playing small.? I wanted to be more than a preschool teacher, more than a blogger, and more than a Saturday-afternoon volunteer.? Last month I became a superhero.
Where did the super powers come from?? They spawned from a simple question: What if somebody really did take a full month and devote their energy to community improvement?? What could one person accomplish, if they single-mindedly pursued the cause of kindness, and volunteered all around their city for one month, meeting civic leaders, community giants, volunteers, and constituents?
The Mission: Volunteer for a different non-profit or cause for thirty days, while also balancing my full-time job, school, and a nightly blog recording my journey and highlighting all the do-good organizations in my city.? By the end of the month, I aspired to have hands-on helped several local charitable groups, as well as raised awareness for social issues and encouraged others to stand up and lend a hand.
Perhaps more importantly, I’d learn about myself and what one person might be capable of accomplishing.? Then, through blogging, that knowledge could be shared.? If I can, we can.
Sound a bit strange?? It’s not as peculiar and one may think.? Within the past few years, a fringe group of ?Real Life Super Heroes have taken to social justice causes.
With the month over, I’m left with memories and one, nagging question: Was the mission a success?
I did have failures.? What was supposed to begin in March ended up being held off until May, when I barely called up the grit to start.? I worried: What if I get sick and have to call it off?? What if I can’t handle the stress?? What if everyone just thinks I’m a silly girl in a mask?
Some nights I was too tired to provide my promised blog. ?My performance at work was definitely less than one hundred percent by the middle of the month.? There were days I had to choose between eating or sleeping because I didn’t have time to do both. Often, I’d find a little time for a nap, then drink coffee and eat fast food in the car on my way to the next project.
Every single person who chases a dream will be climbing uphill.? We slip.? We fall.? It hurts.? Then we keep going.
And you know ? so what?? Because guess what else I did?? My alter ego, the Blue Beacon, lent a hand at multiple organizations, including Raleigh Rescue Mission, Green Chair Project, Safe Haven for Cats, the SPCA of Wake County, Zach’s Toy Chest, Rex Rehabilitation and Nursing, and Note in the Pocket.? Blue Beacon also exceeded her fundraising goals for Activate Good.
Most importantly, I met an entire community full of real superheroes.? I made friends and worked side by side with the non-profit leaders and everyday volunteers who build my community.
Believe me when I tell you, after a month of teetering between weariness and inspiration: Volunteering is vital.? It makes you come alive.? It shows you where you fit in your own community.? It connects you.
It’s not about what I did.? It’s about who I met.? I met homeless people and homeless animals; I met children needing a role-model, lonely patients in a hospital room, survivors of domestic violence, and elementary students who survived cancer?as well as community leaders, television personalities, and other superheroes.? Every single one of the people I met had hope on their faces.? I was part of that.
I was part of a living community, a single-celled organization that inhales kindness and exhales unity.
Was the superhero project ultimately a success?? There’s no good answer.? I wish I could have done more, but what I’ve learned from the mistakes will simply make next time better.? There was tiredness and joy, wild inspiration and dull boredom.? But I’m glad I did it, and I hope somehow I made my world a bit better.
The next time someone tells me they don’t have time to volunteer?or that their dream is just too difficult to achieve–I’ll just smile and don my blue mask.
“The trouble with changing the world is… you don’t. Not all at once. You just inch it forward a bit at a time, and watch it slip back, like the Greek guy with the rock. And you hope that when you’re done, you’ve moved it up a little, changed it just enough. You hope. Let’s go to work.”?? ? Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Edited and published by CB
