It is a well-known concept that helping people out, in turn, gives you happiness and contentment. It is an act you do for yourself more than you do for anyone else. It is you who is the one gaining by helping other people through their problems. Being the reason behind a person’s smile is the most precious feeling.
If you are an individual who loves helping other people out, then social work may be the perfect profession for you! You should consider getting your hands on the Master of Social Work online degree programs to polish your caregiving skills into a stable career.
If you are a tad bit confused about whether a social work degree would benefit your career or not, then read ahead because we have provided a list of some significant benefits opting for a social work degree may give you.
- It Keeps You Sane!
Evidence suggests that helping people out during their challenging periods or life problems has a direct impact on your mental and emotional well-being. It gives contentment and instils gratitude in an individual, which is extremely helpful in reducing stress and relaxing the mind.
You spend each day of your social work practice serving people. You get to witness various problems and adversities in life. Listening to people’s issues and observing their strength in trying times helps you to be grateful for your life. Social work helps people cope with addiction, poverty, abuse, mental illness, disability, etc.
The time you spend in helping people produces happiness and joy. Seeing other people happy because of you enables you to forget some of the stress and anxiety in your life. It is why volunteering is considered a therapy in times when you go through depression and anxiety. It is one of the activities advised for people who suffer from depression.
- Ensures A Long Life:
There is a direct relation between the level of stress you bear in your life and your health. Stress kills brain cells and makes the body lose its strength. As a result, you become vulnerable to diseases and illnesses. Chronic stress is well-known to cause anxiety and depression. It affects your satisfaction levels and pushes you down a spiral of hopelessness. In such a scenario, science has proved that volunteering gives massively positive results.
Taking up social work as a profession would mean attending people and their difficulties daily. It would make you happy and content. If your life is going through a crisis, making other people happy would help alleviate some of the stress. You would feel content and happy by picking other people glad. Happiness reduces stress, which, in turn, increasesyour lifespan. When you feel comfortable and satisfied, your body also reacts similarly. It is the reason why research has proven that staying happy increases life expectancy. Social work enables you to stay active and involved in healthy activities to promote happiness. The earth revolves, and so does your kindness. Your actions come back searching for you too.
- It Gives Your Life Purpose:
A life spent for others is a life well-spent. Often, if we ask people who suffer from depression and hopelessness, and they feel one thing in common: a lost sense of purpose. They think that earning millions in money, success, and fame has little to do with meaning, and they are also right at it. Life has a far greater purpose than just everyday fun and games.
Your life should be about achieving compassion, kindness, and spreading happiness. It is a better and more long-lasting objective than only attaining material possessions. Social work will do just that: provide your life with a more significant and nobler purpose.
Once you get in the field and taste the contentment helping others provide you, it is then that you will feel that you have achieved a sense of purpose in your life.
- It Makes You Happy:
Social workers help people with their problems. This sense of being able to aid someone will bring contentment and satisfaction in your life. Happiness means you feel gratified and joyful with your life and the work you do. American Socialists conducted research where 2000 people were observed over five years. The resulting conclusion of the study was that individuals who identified themselves as content and happy were the ones who spent at least 5.8 hours per month in volunteer work.
It goes on to prove that being a social worker will provide you with long-term happiness and gratification.
- Builds A Society Based on Kindness:
The culture of a society defines how specific values are upheld. Kindness, compassion, and integrity are all values that should ideally exist in a cultural system. When a culture confirms any belief, people follow it, and it becomes the best practice. Social work is based on all these core values, such as kindness, care, support, etc. A society that takes care of its distressed people thrives tremendously.
Making social work a common field and profession to take up will help change the thinking of a society that lacks these core values. Making these fields of study familiar and producing more professional caregivers would build a culture based on care and compassion.
Kindness is contagious. When you do good for people, it creates an endless ripple of love. When people receive love, they tend to forward it. That person will send an act of kindness done by you to someone else, and consequently, essential values will thrive in your society.
- You Get A Variety of Opportunities to Make A Difference:
Social work is not only about working at a social work organization run by the Government, but it also provides you with various opportunities to work and making a difference. You can work in schools, hospitals, advocacy agencies, and even businesses. Today, social work professionals are required in every field. You could take up roles based on policy development, serve in a supervisory role, or be involved in direct client care. Whichever subset of social work you choose, it will ensure you make a stable career in the long-term.
Conclusion:
Social work degrees turn you into professionals that help and support people in their difficult and challenging phases of life. You might have to help people with addictions to switch to a life of sobriety, handle a patient with abuse trauma, or aid people living below the poverty line. You will have to show compassion, care, and love to ensure all your clients deal with their life challenges adequately. Social work will have massive positive impacts on your life as well. It will give your life purpose, happiness, and contentment, which will aid you in living a long, healthy, and happy life!