August News

Hello! As Phoenix mentioned in last month’s post, my name is Melissa and I am so excited to be helping in a leadership role with the Chicktime San Diego chapter. I’d like to use my first post here as an opportunity to tell you a little about myself. I had been looking for ways to get more involved in the community and have found a real blessing through Chicktime and Casa de Amparo. You may be wondering why did I (or why would you) want to volunteer? And why Chicktime?

Let me start at the beginning. When I graduated college in 2008 I became fascinated with the subject of happiness. I found that I remembered being happiest when I accomplished something; when I passed a class, when I completed a project, when I graduated. You needed something to celebrate, what I started calling a “win,” even if it was something like a birthday. I remember thinking that if I could only get to the next big win, I would finally be happy… and hopefully permanently. I kept trying to accomplish big wins and when I started a full time job I realized it’s not practical to have the same kind of big wins in the real world that you have in college. So how could I get big wins to reach the destination of happiness? I talked about this with many people, and finally became convinced of something I heard but could not quite appreciate yet; happiness is in the journey, not the destination. You can find happiness in the small things in your life, like a soft rug between your toes when you step out of the shower. You can find happiness in a laugh with your closest friend; or your new friend. You can find happiness as you go through the walk of the life if only you can stop long enough to appreciate it.

One surefire way to have a constant inflow of “wins” is to build a sense of community in the area you live. If you have even a small network, you will find wins all the time. If you can celebrate someone else’s win with them, not only do they benefit but you do too. I started to realize this and wanted to engage even more than with casual friendships, but by giving back in some way. I was thinking of how others in our San Diego community are in different places in their walk of life and maybe they need to celebrate some wins. Then I found Chicktime.

Chicktime does just that. I was anxious at the first event but realized I had to give something out of my comfort zone a try. I found Chicktime is an organization revolved around building up others and celebrating wins. The San Diego chapter builds a sense of community with the boys and girls at Casa de Amparo, and there is also a sense of community within the Chicktime volunteers themselves. The volunteers at each event truly want to celebrate the big and small wins with the kids and with each other. I always leave the events with a smile-I feel proud for helping with the kids and I feel cheerfulness from being around the positive spirited volunteers. And because of this, as I drive away I can’t help but think of all we accomplished and celebrated that day and feel incredibly…  happy!!