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The holiday season conjures thoughts of family time and celebration, but for many, it also triggers an inner need to give back. You can donate a toy, or help out in a soup kitchen, but those are generally fleeting moments of satisfaction. Some midlifers are raising the bar on their altruistic goals. They’re committing more time and resources to volunteering, while keeping a handle on their professional lives.
It’s a trend that Marci Alboher addresses in the New York Times, in a twice-a-month column and a daily blog called Shifting Careers, and her book One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success. I recently spoke with Marci about how some people have found creative ways to make volunteering a bigger part of their lives.
Judy: Marci, do you see more midlife professionals making a bigger commitment to volunteering?
Marci: It’s mostly anecdotal, but I see some patterns. There are those who have always volunteered in a low-level way who are now realizing that some of their other responsibilities which used to take a lot of time are diminishing. Maybe they can coast a little more in their career so they have decided to amp up their volunteerism. I call them the “über-volunteer.”
Judy: What defines an über-volunteer?
Marci: These are people who have always had an interest in a cause and really want to move it to the front stage. For a long time they were identified with the moneymaking part of their career and now want to shift. I think this is true mostly for the midlifers and baby boomers who have reached a point in their career where there’s not a whole lot they want to prove anymore.
Judy: What’s the catalyst for such a sudden shift?
Marci: They either travel to another part of the world and see where they can really make a change, or they start to pay more attention to their own community. They’re thinking, “It’s time to downshift and make room for something I really care about.”
Judy:: But for busy, competitive professionals, volunteering weekly can be extremely challenging.
Marci: But the über-volunteer has decided to rearrange their life to make room in their weekly schedule for this new part of their lives. They choose to get involved in a real hands-on kind of way. Not just giving money, but a real chunk of time. Also, these people are starting to identify by this new label associated with their volunteerism as much as they are identified by their career label. When people decide they want volunteerism to become a bigger part of their lives, it comes from a place of passion.
Judy: What other variations are you seeing in this trend?
Marci: There’s volunteering that you can do related to your career. For example, I volunteer by teaching writing to inner-city children and mentoring young people who want to be writers. I know a woman who is heavily into the financial sector who uses her skills and contacts to help a nonprofit that is involved with micro-lending to women in Latin America.
Judy: That sounds like a 24/7 commitment to work. Where do you draw the line to avoid burnout?
Marci: None of us can be productive if we just keep adding and don’t take anything away. If you’re really committed to giving back in a complete way, you have to address your bandwidth to be present for something new—like volunteering. I recommend twice a year, or even quarterly to sit down and say, “If I’m making room for this, what has to go?” and you’ll be surprised how much deeper and fulfilling your life will be.
