Makenna Nigon is a junior at Byron High School and a Varsity Letter in Community Service awardee for the second year in a row. This year, she shared the following reflection about the impact her 100 hours of volunteering year has had on her life over the past year:
Volunteering: Breaking Barriers of Egocentrism
As a high school student with a fairly busy life, it is easy to get caught up in mundane daily tasks and what I have to do. I often find myself thinking, “If I can just get through the day, I can rest tonight.” Or “If I can push through until Friday, I will have a break this weekend.” When life becomes a routine, it is so easy to only think about myself and what I need. When I am in a routine for such a long
time, I lose the ability to put myself in other people’s shoes. I become so focused on myself that I don’t have the brain capacity to think about others. This is called Egocentrism. Egocentrism is a psychological phenomenon that occurs when we lose the ability to see the world through another person’s point of view. It is so easy to fall into egocentric patterns, and the consequences are harsh.
When we lose sight of the world around us and the people other than ourselves, we may begin to push others away. It becomes difficult to accept the ideas or beliefs of others, and it will be almost impossible to communicate and empathize with others. Egocentric behavior is such a complex issue wrapped around social and cognitive psychology, but there is one solution that can permanently alter our brain chemistry. That solution is volunteering.
When we volunteer, we have the opportunity to work with many different kinds of people. We have the opportunity to help, converse, support, and nurture. When we volunteer, our brain releases a chemical called oxytocin. Oxytocin is deemed the “love hormone.” It fosters social bonding and connections. We have the opportunity to come alongside people and empathize with them. Although we may never be able to truly understand what a person is going through, showing up and showing empathy means more than we can comprehend. Volunteering focuses our eyes off ourselves and onto the lives of others.
A volunteering experience that stands out to me was working with memory care residents at the nursing home in my town. Getting to know the residents was like getting to know good friends. A lot of the residents were struggling with mental and physical health issues, and many of them were unhappy with the situation they were in. Being there to listen and support and bring smiles to their faces was such an amazing experience.