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sarrbrinton · 5 years

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Service Is The Answer

Introduction

Volunteering can produce greater benefits to any individual when compared to the benefits of medications, eating healthy, and exercise to the extent that it can relieve individuals of depression, lengthen humans lives, free people of loneliness, live life being happier, and help your life feel more fulfilling. With all the sicknesses, mental and physical, and the challenges that humans are going through in this time, the search for a cure is even greater than ever before. Therefore, I find the importance in writing a research paper on the effects of volunteering and service and how it truly can be that cure that many are looking for.

I am qualified to provide this research because of the major in which I am studying, I am going into the field of family science, therefore I am being educated on these subjects through classes which I am currently taking, the subject is fresh in my mind. Also, I have had much experience in the volunteer environment and have been blessed to be surrounded by many people who also share this love for service. I have seen and know the positive effects that come from volunteering because of the characters that these individuals possess and they truly are examples to me in my life. Throughout my life I have loved serving others and volunteering in different programs at school, church, or wherever I was needed, I found joy in serving. When I was about seventeen years old, I entered somewhat of a depression, my life was not focused on others, but I was wrapped up in myself, I was not happy. I realized that this was not how I wanted to live my life and this experience shook me to change my life around. I began to become involved again, with school, church, friends, and my community. These experiences gave me hope and showed me that I can choose to be happy and helped me see what truly brings that happiness. At the age of nineteen I went to Peru for a church service mission where I was able to dedicate a year and a half of my life, every day, all day, to serving the people in Peru, what a happy time in my life that was. I saw the impact that service made on others and even more than that, I saw the impact that service was making on me. I returned from Peru a little under two years ago, and since then I have promised to always try and make service a top priority in my life and I have been blessed with many opportunities to be able to serve since then. I can testify that service to others truly changes people and brings happiness. I wish for everyone to come to realize this and experience this true joy. I know that if we become a more service-oriented nation, we will have citizens who are changed for the better and because of the great impacts that service has, we will have an overall nation that is changed for the better. Therefore, I have chosen to study in this field and conduct this research project because, for me, this is my hope for America, that this nation and this world can become a better place. I hope that my studies and my experiences can make an impact on others for the good so that they too can thrive in doing the things that they love and make their impact as well.

Volunteering produces nothing but good for those who are providing the service and those who are receiving. I know that many people are aware of this effect that volunteering has on them but may not know how or why they feel so good after participating in an act of service or volunteering. The research I am wanting to do is to answer the questions, “What physical, mental, and emotional effects does service and volunteering have on humans? Is there correlation between service and happiness?” I hope to find and create data to prove that service does have positive effects. To do this I will look at the effects that service has on the doer of the service, I will do some research about how our brain works and the things that are triggered when one volunteers. I will also look at the long-term effects that volunteering has on people and why it is that those who make volunteering a large part of their life live longer, happier, more fulfilled lives. My purpose in addressing this topic is to gather scientific evidence to prove the positive effects of volunteering to the point that doctors are convinced that they feel the need to prescribe and promote volunteering because they can see that it is a cure to many problems and illnesses for the doer. The type of volunteering that I will be researching for my paper is service volunteering, such as helping out in the community, in schools, nonprofits, helping those living in poverty circumstances, immigrants, sharing talents and finding teaching opportunities to those who are wanting to learn a skill, or providing services to others who are in need for no cost. To prove that service has the power to change individuals for the better and leads to a happier, healthier, and longer life, I will first conduct social media surveys and look up responses online as to what type of effect volunteering has had on individuals. To collect data, I will conduct surveys and research studies that have been conducted by neurologists on the effects that service has on our bodies. These results will lead me to know whether service volunteering has a positive impact on us as humans and will explain the logistics behind the feelings felt when serving others. Based off my research I hope to better educate physicians of the positive, immediate, and long-term effects that service volunteering can have on those suffering from mental or physical illnesses so that they can prescribe/recommend service as a remedy for these individuals and then, at the same time, help them see the bigger picture and the consequences that could come if all physicians were to start prescribing service to their patients.

The Numbers

Out of curiosity, I conducted a small survey on Instagram of 100 people and asked them the question, “How do you feel after doing service?” and let them answer with either, “the same” or “better than I did before.” The audience was varied in age, ethnicity, race, and location; out of 100 people 96% of them answered that they feel better after doing service and 4% of them answered that they feel the same. Although I was surprised about the 4%, I was not surprised to see that 96% of them felt better afterwards.

In the United States, the top state with the most volunteers is Utah, Fox 13 wrote an article about this and it says that, “The Corporation for National and Community Service's Volunteering and Civic Life in America report has shown Utah to lead the nation in the percentage of volunteers for 8 years running. In Utah, 43.8 percent of adult’s volunteer compared with a national average at 26.5 percent (Statistics Show Utah Leads Volunteering in 1 Category, Lags behind in Many Others, 2014).” Then in an article done by USA Today, Utah comes up as the second happiest state in the US right behind Hawaii (Best states for happiness? WalletHub study ranks Hawaii first, West Virginia last, 2018). Is this a coincidence or is there a correlation between volunteering and happiness? To get a bigger picture, an article from Psych Central shows the stats of a couple of countries and the percent of adult volunteer that that country had in 2018, it states that, “Worldwide, the prevalence of adult volunteering varies, with estimates of 22.5 percent in Europe, 36 percent in Australia and 27 percent in the USA, according to the researchers.” Then in correlation, Forbes magazine posted an article in March of 2019 titled, Ranked: The 10 Happiest Countries In The World In 2019, and this is what they have to say about the US, “The US has seen fall in happiness despite its economic success, which has seen it slip a place from 18th last year to 19th this year. CEO of The Happiness Research Institute, Meik Wiking, attempts to explain why, "The main reason… is that the US has been facing a social crisis for several years, where more and more people find that they have no one to count on in times of need. The divide between rich and poor also creates an erosion of the cohesion and trust between people, which is so vital for the feeling of safety and security and therefore for the overall happiness level of the American people (Ranked: The 10 Happiest Countries In The World In 2019, 2019).”” This is no coincidence, the numbers speak for themselves and show that not only service, but trust, belonging, feelings of safety and security, all contribute to the happiness of the individuals.

The Science Behind It

Studies have been done to show that people who give their time to others are “rewarded with better physical health- including lower blood pressure and a longer lifespan (Volunteering May Be Good for Body and Mind, 2015).” “Many people find volunteer work to be helpful with respect to stress reduction, and we know that stress is very strongly linked to health outcomes,” therefore as we volunteer we reduce our stress which reduces our blood pressure and then leads to us living a longer life. But, how many hours of service do we need to put in to see results? “In the Carnegie Mellon study, 200 hours of volunteering per year correlated to lower blood pressure. Other studies have found a health benefit from as little as 100 hours of volunteering a year.” Knowing the number of hours that are needed to have an impact on someone is great information for prescribing service to patients who are suffering from depression or loneliness, etc.

There are chemicals in our brain that are released every time that we do something that tells us whether the thing that we did made us happy or sad, these chemicals trigger our emotions and when a certain chemical is triggered it then triggers other chemicals that help in producing other emotions. An example of this is The Happiness Trifecta, in a study published by Psychology Today, it educates us on the effects that service can have on our brains, “Helping others triggers a release of oxytocin, which has the effect of boosting your mood and counteracts the effects of cortisol (the dreaded stress hormone). Interestingly, the higher your levels of oxytocin, the more you want to help others. When oxytocin is boosted, so are serotonin and dopamine (The Neuroscience of Giving, 2014)!” I conducted a survey on Instagram to help enforce this study asking people if they felt better after doing service or if they felt the same. One hundred people responded in the survey and 96% of those people said that they did feel better after doing service. This just proves the positive mental effects that service can have on people and if we were to start prescribing it to people who are needing to lower their stress levels, lower their blood pressure, and to those who are struggling to find happiness and belonging, then we may just be able to help them find that through service.

My Position

Based on the research that I have done; I know that service leads to happiness. I believe that if physicians in all types of medical offices start prescribing or encouraging their patients to participate more in service that the physicians and loved ones of these patients will start to see these individuals who are suffering from all different kinds of illnesses (depression, loneliness, anxiety, heart break, cancer, etc.) are happier after participating in service. They will have a greater feeling of purpose as they see the impact, they are making in the lives of the people they are serving. They will more often trigger those neurons in their brain to produce more oxytocin, therefore relieving them of stress and allowing the Happiness Trifecta to kick in. When one does service, they usually do it in an environment or for a cause in which they believe in, whether that is volunteering to teach low-income kids to play piano, helping make Santa sacks for families in need around the Christmas season, or whatever it may be, as these individuals participate in these act of service they will be happy because they are sharing something that they love.

Counterargument

In a Psychology Today article it unlocks the secret of altruism, it says, “we do good deeds to others in the hope that they will return the favor someday, when we are in need (Why Do Human Beings Do Good Things? The Puzzle of Altruism, 2013).” This article also argues that humans are selfish and that there is always an explanation for why a human does some act of service and that it always comes back to benefitting the doer of the service. This may be true for some individuals but isn’t that the end goal anyways? This chain reaction of people serving each other is great because when one participates in service both the doer and the receiver reap benefits. If we allow others to serve us in return, then we are allowing them to also experience the happiness that comes from them being able to serve someone and it is just one happy chain reaction.

Conclusion

Becoming service focused takes some practice and may even take some pushing yourself out of your comfort zone but as humans we need connection, love, belonging, trust, help, health, and happiness. Service can help us fulfill these needs in a healthy way. As I mentioned at the beginning of this paper, I have personally experienced the benefits of doing service and it has brought so much happiness in my life and now I cannot afford to take it out of my life, it has become something that I crave. Service brought me out of my sad state, and I know that it can lift many others, the science is there, and there are many ways to serve. I invite you to find out what your patients’ passions are and to invite them to serve. It may just be the right amount of “medication” they need to be cured.

Research History

Up until this semester of school I don’t think I have ever researched anything that I am truly passionate about and write a paper on it, at least not to this extent. Before this, when I heard the words research paper, I would always be nervous because the teacher would always give a specific topic that we would need to research and usually it was something that we are not necessarily interested in. This year in one of my family science classes, we were asked to use a similar research process that we used in this class, only for this other class it had to be about a social problem. I loved that in ENGL 2010, the options were endless, that there were no restrictions on what we were to write about. I have never experienced such freedom in school and it really opened my eyes to seeing that the things we learn in school are for our benefit and can be used and applied to the things that we decide to do in our careers and in our lives, not just for that specific class. Some previous problems that I have had research is not caring about the things that I am researching; therefore, I just research the bare minimum and end up not learning about the subject that I should be learning about. This semester has been my most successful experience with researching because I was passionate in the topics I was researching and wanted to find solutions and had questions that I wanted to find answers to.

English 2010 helped me improve my research literacy by showing me a way to break things down. Research is not supposed to be neat and perfect, but it is free writes and rough drafts, it takes several steps to get to where you want to get to with a subject and that’s okay. Now I have a better idea of what it takes to really understand a subject. I also learned that there are endless resources when doing research and it is true, you never are really done, new questions will form and more ideas will always come up with research.

Synthesis

The three articles that I am going to synthesize are: one, an article published by Fox 13 News that was done in 2014, two, an article from a Harvard Health Blog in 2015, and three, an article from Psych Central from 2018. The first article talks about the number of adult volunteers that Utah has had from 2015-2017 and points out that Utah has been the top volunteer state for the past 11 years. They mention that those who volunteer also tend to also help do favors for their neighbors and then state the number of hours and the economic value that all these hours of service have added up to. It concludes with a true story of a man who gives free haircuts to people in the park who can’t afford haircuts. This article is great if you are looking for numbers and statistics, but it does not explain the why behind any of its claims. It doesn’t claim that those who are volunteering in Utah are necessarily happy nor does it explain the motive behind the man who gives free haircuts in the park. What this article does do though is spark many questions which then leads me to needing to do more research. After reading this article I started to wonder how many service hours are needed to really make a positive impact on someone?

This leads to the need of article number two; this article answers my question about how many service hours are needed to make an impact on an individual. This article talked about the health benefits of service and that they include having a lower blood pressure, a longer lifespan, and acts as a stress reducer. This information can also be connected to explain why volunteers may have a desire to help their neighbor. Individuals who volunteer have a better control on their stress, therefore being able to be patient or add on extra tasks from their neighbors whereas someone who doesn’t volunteer as often may feel like a needy neighbor is bugging them or is adding to the stress that that individuals is already experiencing with the many things that they are already dealing with. Then this article answers the question that I had at the end of reading article number one, they say that 200 hours of service leads to lower blood pressure and that 100 hours of service could lead to health benefits. This article also brought up another great point, the fact that our heart needs to be in the service and that we can’t be doing the service wanting to benefit ourselves but that we do the service wanting to benefit others and then we receive more of a positive effect on ourselves. This quote explains this new idea, “One key for deriving health benefits from volunteering is to do it for the right reasons. A 2012 study in the journal Health Psychology found that participants who volunteered with some regularity lived longer, but only if their intentions were truly altruistic. In other words, they had to be volunteering to help others—not to make themselves feel better.” This added another question, how can we know if our reasons are altruistic?”

The third article also talked about the person who is performing the service needs to be doing it for the right reasons, “Although people tend to volunteer for altruistic reasons, if they do not feel they are “getting something back,” then the positive impact of volunteering on quality of life is limited, the review found. Researchers also found that if people volunteer too much, the habit can become a burden, bringing problems of its own.” When reading articles two and three it opened a counterargument and I started to see that there could be a negative side to service. Could there really be people out there who feel that service is a burden or who do service only to get something back? There were now two articles that claimed the same idea and so I guess it should be something that I started to consider the counterargument. Must we need to get something back for something to benefit us? What truly are we getting back when we provide service? Is it a feeling, does it trigger some chemical in our minds? Some questions were answered but more questions always formed.

Sources:

“5 Reasons Why You Should Volunteer.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-third-age/201403/5-reasons-why-you-should-volunteer.

Anderson, Eric. “Statistics Show Utah Leads Volunteering in 1 Category, Lags behind in Many Others.” fox13now.Com, 14 Feb. 2014, https://fox13now.com/2014/02/13/statistics-show-utah-leads-volunteering-in-1-category-lags-behind-in-many-others/.

Bright, Christopher. “Community Service.” Centre for Justice & Reconciliation, http://restorativejustice.org/restorative-justice/about-restorative-justice/tutorial-intro-to-restorative-justice/lesson-3-programs/community-service/#sthash.96qRe2Bg.dpbs

Brinton, Sarah. “Story.” Instagam, https://www.instagram.com/stories/sarrrbrinton/. December 2, 2019.

Leimer, Trisha. “Giving Goes Both Ways.” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 1 Mar. 2017, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/refugees/stories/giving-goes-both-ways.

Ritvo, Eva. “The Neuroscience of Giving.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 24 Apr. 2014, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/vitality/201404/the-neuroscience-giving.

Taylor, Steve. “Why Do Human Beings Do Good Things? The Puzzle of Altruism.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/out-the-darkness/201310/why-do-human-beings-do-good-things-the-puzzle-altruism.

US Census Bureau. “2018 National and State Population Estimates.” 2018 National and State Population Estimates, 20 Dec. 2018, https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-kits/2018/pop-estimates-national-state.html.

“Utah Homelessness Statistics.” Homeless in Utah Statistics 2018. Homeless Estimation by State | US Interagency Council on Homelessness, https://www.usich.gov/homelessness-statistics/ut/.

Watson, Stephanie. “Volunteering May Be Good for Body and Mind.” Harvard Health Blog, 30 Oct. 2015, https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/volunteering-may-be-good-for-body-and-mind-201306266428.

Wood, Janice. “Volunteering Can Improve Mental Health, Extend Life.” Psych Central, 8 Aug. 2018, https://psychcentral.com/news/2013/08/23/volunteering-can-improve-mental-health-help-you-live-longer/58787.html.

Companion Piece:

file:///C:/Users/sarah/Downloads/Writing%202010/Happiness%20workshop.pdf

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sarrbrinton · 5 years

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Opinion Series- Final Draft:

The United States Government-

The percentage of individuals living in poverty in America is not very high, but in America we care for every single one of our members in this country and therefore should want to find a solution to lift these individuals and families up. The solution to poverty is much more than just giving these individuals enough money to survive. The solution to poverty is teaching these individuals how to not only survive in America but to thrive. By providing service within our communities to help the poor we can contribute to this movement.

The Statistics

According to The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness there are over 600,000 people in America, as of 2018 who are living in poverty (Utah Homelessness Statistics, 2018). This number comes from state census counts; public schools also did a count of families and students who they knew of who were living in poor circumstances and the numbers doubled! Some of the major states experiencing homelessness are California, with a census count of 129,972 and a public-school count of 246,296, and Florida, with a census count of 31,030 and a public-school count of 72,042. But there is a positive side to these numbers as well, there are 327.2 million people, as of 2018, that make up the population of the United States. If we double our 600,000 number to 1,200,000 to include the public-school homelessness data, that is still less than 1% of Americans who were living in homelessness as of 2018. The numbers aren’t high, but they are there which means that we still need to find a way to reach a hand and pick these individuals up.

Let’s Help Out

As we better promote people to serve in their communities this will help the funding that the government is giving to the poor and to non-profits to not go to waste. Government funding is not enough to provide everything that the poor in the United States need. There are businesses, organizations, and wealthy people who are willing to fund a good cause, “They pick up the pieces where government programs leave off, and by volunteering for these organizations, you participate in helping our society meet the needs of people from all walks of life (5 Reason why you should volunteer, 2014).” Let’s help these organizations get more volunteers by starting a service campaign to invite businesses and schools to better promote these volunteer opportunities.

Mirroring Neurons

There is this structure inside each one of us called mirror neurons that are triggered when someone does something towards us. An example of mirror neurons is given in an article written by Eva Ritvo, “Helping others is often a highly social activity, which creates a beautiful cycle of smiling. When you smile the whole world smiles with you because you are triggering their mirror neurons. Both the giver and the receiver can directly impact the others brain in a positive way (The Neuroscience of giving, 2014).” If the government were to apply this simple activity, it can stand as an example for the rest of America and the chain reaction begins.

Doctors-

As physicians your goal is to help cure people of mental and physical illnesses, you strive to find what is the best fit for that individual and their situation. Many of these cures include medications that trigger neurons in our brains telling it to go fix a part of our body or to change a chemical reaction that is going on. My goal in this research paper is to introduce another type of “medication” that can be prescribed to people who are ill. This treatment is service, and as we see in studies, it too can trigger chemicals in us that lead us to being happier and healthier.

Lower Blood Pressure and Stress Levels

The Happiness Trifecta

Service Advocate-

Yes, there are a lot of pros to service, but just like everything else in the world, when there are pros, there are also cons. It is impossible to say that one thing can be good for everyone, it doesn’t work that way. There are people out there who don’t like service and that are not positively affected by service but become annoyed by those trying to do service for them and when forced into performing service, makes them stressed. There are always two sides to a spectrum.

Humans Are Selfish

There’s this thing called altruism which is the belief in or practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others. This is basically what people like to claim is the reason for why people just randomly help people they don’t know. But, are they really concerned about that other person? Is it possible to care so much about someone that you have never even met? No. There is no way that you could possibly connect with someone so quickly that you instinctly decide to make a sacrifice for that person. Human beings are selfish, everything we do has one motive and that is to help ourselves progress. In a Psychology Today article it unlocks the secret of altruism, it says, “Altruism makes us feel good about ourselves, it makes other people respect us more, or it might (so far as we believe) increase our chances of getting into heaven (Why Do Human Beings Do Good Things? The Puzzle of Altruism, 2013).” Therefore, if a human acts on a feeling or instinct that they claim to have come from altruism, then great, that just shows that humans really are selfish and reach out to serve others just so that can look better. Later in the article is also suggests altruism to be a investment strategy, “we do good deeds to others in the hope that they will return the favor someday, when we are in need.” Finally, one last evidence that humans are selfish is that by doing service it is, “ a way of demonstrating our resources, showing how wealthy or able we are, so that we become more attractive to the opposite sex, and have enhanced reproductive possibilities (Why Do Human Beings Do Good Things? The Puzzle of Altruism, 2013).” All this research proves that humans, even if they say that they are doing something for someone else, there is no way that that is possible because every time they are doing something for someone else, they will also benefit. For example, a man is in a train station and sees a man slip and fall onto the track, the man sees that the train is coming quickly and that the man cannot get out so he also jumps on the track to try and cover the man from the train, the two men both end up surviving. Yes, this man did all he could to help the man who fell into the track, but he also is going to benefit greatly from his actions. That man will now be recognized as a hero, known as someone who sacrificed his life for the life as another, and he will receive praise for that from everyone for the rest of his life. It is impossible to be a service-loving human and not be selfish as well.

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sarrbrinton · 5 years

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Annotated Bibliography- Final Draft:

“5 Reasons Why You Should Volunteer.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-third-age/201403/5-reasons-why-you-should-volunteer.

This article was written in 2014. There is a small number of adults who volunteer regularly, so more than an hour in that last 12 months. “Some suggest that the decline in volunteering is due in part to the struggling economy; people are focusing on getting and maintaining adequate paid work and don’t feel they have time to think about unpaid work. However, volunteering isn’t something to put off until you have extra time and money. There are numerous reasons why the returns far outweigh the time you invest, especially during lean times.” “1. Volunteers live longer and are healthier. Volunteers are happier and healthier than non-volunteers. In fact, during later life, volunteering is even more beneficial for one's health than exercising and eating well. Older people who volunteer remain physically functional longer, have more robust psychological well-being, and live longer.” Volunteering can be something that we are encouraged to start early on in life just like we are encouraged to exercise and eat healthy. If people just knew the effects that volunteering can have and there were more awareness of it, then I think that there would be so many more people volunteering and we would also have less problems with poverty and a kinder world. I am wanting to raise awareness of this effects so that the government, influencers, teachers, therapists, social workers, and doctors would suggest volunteering as a “prescription” of source and encourage it. “2. Volunteering establishes strong relationships. Despite all of the online connections that are available at our fingertips, people are lonelier now than ever before. Indeed, a 2010 AARP study reported that prevalence of loneliness is at an all time high, with about one in three adults age 45 or older categorized as lonely. Online connections, while useful for maintaining existing relationships, are not very helpful in establishing lasting, new ones.” Volunteering can cure mental illnesses, something that has been so hard to find cures to, by being a solution to loneliness. You can establish relationships with the people you volunteer with (friends, family, children, peers) (volunteering could even be a solution to dating). You can start putting your values into action which may help people more solidify your beliefs and may even find clarity in those beliefs. This also then creates a ripple effect where “Children who volunteer with their parents are more likely to become adults who volunteer.” “3. Volunteering is good for your career. People who volunteer make more money, partially because the relationships people create while volunteering can be leveraged for financial benefit.” Volunteering can help build up your social network and open new doors and opportunities. “4. Volunteering is good for society. these businesses are committed to doing good things for society. They pick up the pieces where government programs leave off, and by volunteering for these organizations, you participate in helping our society meet the needs of people from all walks of life.” Some businesses wouldn’t even survive if it weren’t for volunteers, ex: nonprofits. I don’t really think this point would be one I would use in my paper though. “5. Volunteering gives you a sense of purpose. volunteering serves to express and facilitate opportunities to carry out one’s sense of purpose. The very nature of volunteering means choosing to work without being paid for it. As a result, people choose to spend their time on issues they feel strongly about.” Volunteering is great for people who feel like they have no purpose in life or don’t know what direction to go, ask them, “Where would you feel comfortable volunteering? What would you want to volunteer in? What are your passions?”

This was an interesting article from fox 13, it is a bit dated, 5 years dated but it got me thinking about some important things like seeing where Utah stands with their volunteer statistics and how Utah being such a church oriented state and having that be effected by the fact that Utah is also a very churchy state and that the church that is most popular in Utah is a very volunteer oriented state. The article shows us that, “The Corporation for National and Community Service's Volunteering and Civic Life in America report has shown Utah to lead the nation in the percentage of volunteers for 8 years running. In Utah, 43.8 percent of adults volunteer compared with a national average at 26.5 percent. And even second place trails significantly—37.7 percent of Minnesotans volunteer on a regular basis.” But it shows that the fact that Utahans are devoted to their religions is the reason why they have such a large percentage of volunteers, “Utahns are so devoted to their churches that the numbers look like a misprint. Twenty nine percent of Utahns volunteer at church. The next highest state for church volunteerism is Idaho at 16.5 percent, and even Idaho stands out as the rest of the other states settle in between 5 percent and 15 percent church volunteerism.” But if we were to take out the church volunteers, Utah is behind with their volunteers, “That said, when church volunteerism is removed from the equation: Utah has a volunteer deficit compared with the national average. All-in-all, 14.5 percent of Utahns volunteer outside of church, compared with 16.5 percent nationally. And that below-average result holds up across all areas of volunteerism outside of church, including education, social services, health, civic activity and the arts.” Then the article talks about that volunteering being specifically in schools, “Six percent of Utahns volunteer in schools compared with a 7 percent national average. That 1 percent increase is a more familiar problem in Utah, the teacher to student ratio.” Lastly, this article sparked the idea for me to write about how volunteering is good for us with this part, “There's lots of evidence that suggests that volunteering helps make people happier and that volunteering helps the community," he said.”

This article is a good follow up article from my last citation about an article on Fox News that talks about where Utah stands with the number of volunteers that Utah has in 2014, this article now talks about where Utah stands with having the number of individuals that have volunteered in 2015 and 2017, “Nearly 51 percent of Utahns volunteered in 2017, according to the federal agency. It's more than the 43.2 percent of Utahns who served in 2015, and more than double the average 25 percent who volunteer across the nation.” Also it shows that Utah still is on top for the number of volunteers they have had over the years, “For the 11th time, the Beehive State earned the top spot in the country for the number of people who volunteer…” “Volunteers also do good for their neighborhoods and are three times more willing to do favors for neighbors and friends than people who don't volunteer, the study reports,” this teaches that volunteering is contagious and has a chain reaction. They share the effects of all this volunteering, “More than 77.4 million Americans served more than 6.9 billion hours in 2017. Nationally, almost one in three Americans volunteer and their service has an economic value of nearly $170.9 million, the agency reports. Its full report is expected to be released Nov. 13.” This articthe le also talks about a man who does haircuts, donates his day off to cutting homeless people’s hair, it amazes me how these people who have these talents do things for free, why? Probably because it makes them happy.

“Then, the case is referred to a programme coordinator who makes the appropriate placement. Where no such programme exists, a pre-sentencing report is given to the judge suggesting community service. In Washington, the typical order requires the offender to perform between and fifty and two hundred hours of work.” Could there be a correlation between the number of community service hours that are needed to have an effect on someone and the number of community service hours that are given to criminals? “For the most part, non-violent offenders are chosen for the programme.” There is a specific type of individual (non-violent offender or juveniles) who is chosen for community service and it is well thought out as to whether this would be a good alternative for the individual and whether the community will benefit. This information shows explains the benefits that come from community service, one of these being that the offenders sense of self-worth is improved, “In this way, the offender may see the reasons for the limits of social tolerance. Moreover, the offender is provided with a constructive, proactive means of repairing the injuries caused by his/her crime, with the potential to improve the offender's overall sense of self-worth.” Community service in this sense is considered a treatment for these individuals which also supports my theory of service being something that is worthy of being prescribed and heal, “In the traditional welfare-oriented agencies community service has the potential to become an alternative treatment rather than an alternative sanction.” Nonprofits are one of the organizations that benefit from these community service orders.

Brinton, Sarah. “Story.” Instagam, https://www.instagram.com/stories/sarrrbrinton/. December 2, 2019.

I conducted a poll on my Instagram story, the question was, “How do you feel after participating in an act of service/volunteering?” and the options for answers were, “the same” or “better than before.” The reason why I phrased it this way was because I wanted to show the impact that service can truly have on people and whether it truly has an impact for the good. The people who answered are not all people from here in provo, but from all over Utah and also in other parts of the world like south America. Out of the one hundred people who participated in the poll that was just up this day, only 4 of the people said that they felt the same after doing service and the remaining 96 said that they had felt better than they did before.

Leimer, Trisha. “Giving Goes Both Ways.” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 1 Mar. 2017, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/refugees/stories/giving-goes-both-ways.

“What I began doing out of a sense of moral duty has long since turned into an ongoing and deeply rewarding experience. Transcending all cultural and language barriers, my work with refugees has connected me to individuals whose examples of quiet dignity amid unimaginable sorrow and loss have given me a new perspective in my own life and have blessed me and my family profoundly.” The author of this article was serving in one of the refugee camps in Germany and one of the men from irag was there on the camp. The woman had been coloring and one of the little childrens there kept taking her markers, as a motive to stop the children from taking the markers she said that she did not have enough money to buy more markers and that the little girl could borrow them is she promised to give them back. This man from Iraq had heard the woman say that and offered the woman some money, the woman assured him that she did have enough money but that she was just saying that to try and get the child to take care of her markers. The man understood and they both went on with what they were doing. After the activities for the day were wrapping up and all the cleaning was done, the man came up to the woman again and handed her some money. This truly touched the woman because, the man in the first place did not have much to give but was still giving. She promised him that that money would not be used for herself but that that money would go toward helping someone else. The woman said that, “I walked away from that scene feeling like I had been entrusted with much more than this man’s meager wealth. I had been entrusted with the opportunity to allow him to be the giver for the first time in a very long time. When I accepted his money, I allowed him his dignity.” Service is not only a blessing for the receiver but also the giver. We too must allow others to serve us. This story is from 2017 and took place in another part of the world but stands as a testimony of the effects that service can have on both the giver and the receiver.

Ritvo, Eva. “The Neuroscience of Giving.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 24 Apr. 2014, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/vitality/201404/the-neuroscience-giving.

Dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin make up the happiness trifecta, they are the neurochemical drivers of happiness. These chemicals are released when something goes on in our life that is good and therefore make us feel the emotion of happiness. This “Neuroscience has demonstrated that giving is a powerful pathway for creating more personal joy and improving overall health.” This is because these chemicals are released when we give, therefore boosting our mood. Helping others triggers empathy, mirror neurons, and the happiness trifecta. “Empathy: There are structures in the brain that are dedicated to helping you see things from the perspectives of others, so these mental processes get some great exercise when you put yourself in the shoes of another person and try to give them what they need. Mirror Neurons: Helping others is often a highly social activity, which creates a beautiful cycle of smiling. When you smile the whole world smiles with you because you are triggering their mirror neurons. Both the giver and the receiver can directly impact the others brain in a positive way. The Happiness Trifecta: Helping others triggers a release of oxytocin, which has the effect of boosting your mood and counteracts the effects of cortisol (the dreaded stress hormone). Interestingly, the higher your levels of oxytocin, the more you want to help others. When oxytocin is boosted, so are serotonin and dopamine!”

We can understand why humans do things for people whom they are close to, like family members, but why do humans instinctly or purposefully do things for people they don’t even know, or animals? What is it in us humans that drives us to do that? Altruism, which is the belief in or practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others. When we are doing acts of service we are, for the most part, doing it to benefit another person, not necessarily to benefit ourselves. Although, humans are said to be pretty selfish beings. Here is another counter argument: “Altruism makes us feel good about ourselves, it makes other people respect us more, or it might (so far as we believe) increase our chances of getting into heaven.” “Or perhaps altruism is an investment strategy - we do good deeds to others in the hope that they will return the favor some day, when we are in need.” “it could even be a way of demonstrating our resources, showing how wealthy or able we are, so that we become more attractive to the opposite sex, and have enhanced reproductive possibilities.” “Finally, evolutionary psychologists have also suggested that altruism towards strangers may be a kind of mistake, a ‘leftover’ trait from when human beings lived in small groups with people we were genetically closely related to.” If we helped the people in our group then that would mean that we would survive as well, therefore preserving our genes. All of these reasons explain why altruism is not really a thing but explains why humans may act this way as it is something built in and that doing things for others, doesn’t really exist. These are all examples of egoic altruism. But there is also something call pure altruism, “it’s possible that, at the very moment when the act takes place, your only motivation is an impulsive unselfish desire to alleviate suffering.” A good example of this is when we find a spider in our home and instead of killing it, we pick it up and put it outside. The spider is not going to do anything to repay us, nor is it going to tell others how great we are. An explanation for this is empathy, “I empathized with the spider as another living being, who was entitled to stay alive just as I was. And I believe that empathy is the root of all pure altruism” We can see the world through another persons eyes and connect with them in a way that we empathize for them. This may trigger a consciousness within us that connects with the other persons and we become interconnected, therefore allowing us to feel of their suffering and then we search for ways to alleviate that suffering like we would our own, “In the words of the 19th century German philosopher Schopenhauer, ‘My own true inner being actually exists in every living creature, as truly and immediately known as my own consciousness in myself...This is the ground of compassion upon which all true, that is to say unselfish, virtue rests, and whose expression is in every good deed.’” Stev Steve Taylor PhD is a senior lecturer in psychology at Leeds Beckett University, UK. He is the author of Spiritual Science: Why Science Needs Spirituality to Make Sense of the World.

This citation led me to an excel sheet titled “NST-EST2018-01: Table 1. Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2018.” This was the main table that I looked at to find out which states had similar populations to Utah. Utah’s census population in 2010 was 2,763,885 and in 2018 it was 3,616,105, Arkansas’s 2010 census population was 2,195,918 and in 2018 it was 3,013,825, Nevada’s 2010 census population was 2,700,551 and in 2018 it was 3,034,392, Iowa’s 2010 census population was 3,046,355 and in 2018 it was 3,156,145, and Mississippi’s 2010 census population was 2,967,297 and in 2018 it was 2,986,530. Arkansas, Nevada, Mississippi, and Iowa were the 4 states who had the closest populations to Utah which were all under 200,000 people. Iowa was the closest with a difference in 2018 of only 4,960 people, then came Nevada with a 126,713 difference, then Arkansas with a difference of 147,280, and then Mississippi, with the difference of 174,575 people. Some other documents/excel sheets that are included in this page are: Monthly Population Estimates for the United States: April 1, 2010 to December 1, 2019, Cumulative Estimates of Resident Population Change for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico and Region and State Rankings: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2018, Estimates of Resident Population Change for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico and Region and State Rankings: July 1, 2017 to July 1, 2018, Cumulative Estimates of the Components of Resident Population Change for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2018, Estimates of the Components of Resident Population Change for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico: July 1, 2017 to July 1, 2018, Estimates of the Annual Rates of the Components of Resident Population Change for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico: July 1, 2017 to July 1, 2018, and Estimates of the Total Resident Population and Resident Population Age 18 Years and Older for the United States, States, and Puerto Rico: July 1, 2018.

“Utah Homelessness Statistics.” Homeless in Utah Statistics 2018. Homeless Estimation by State | US Interagency Council on Homelessness, https://www.usich.gov/homelessness-statistics/ut/.

This is a government report and shows the numbers of homeless people as of January 2018 in all of the 50 states in the U.S. and breaks them into groups. It also gives a public school report of the number of students who experienced homelessness throughout the 2016-2017 school year for all 50 states and breaks those into groups. I specifically looked at the results for Utah, Arkansas, Mississippi, Iowa, and Nevada because they have similar populations, under 200,000 population difference. Utah’s report states: “As of January 2018, Utah had an estimated 2,876 experiencing homelessness on any given day, as reported by Continuums of Care to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Of that Total, 287 were family households, 239 were Veterans, 191 were unaccompanied young adults (aged 18-24), and 306 were individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. Public school data reported to the U.S. Department of Education during the 2016-2017 school year shows that an estimated 15,094 public school students experienced homelessness over the course of the year. Of that total, 636 students were unsheltered, 994 were in shelters, 459 were in hotels/motels, and 13,005 were doubled up.” Nevada’s report states: “As of January 2018, Nevada had an estimated 7,544 experiencing homelessness on any given day, as reported by Continuums of Care to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Of that Total, 167 were family households, 723 were Veterans, 1,404 were unaccompanied young adults (aged 18-24), and 648 were individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. Public school data reported to the U.S. Department of Education during the 2016-2017 school year shows that an estimated 20,696 public school students experienced homelessness over the course of the year. Of that total, 483 students were unsheltered, 2,292 were in shelters, 2,771 were in hotels/motels, and 15,150 were doubled up. ” Arkansas’s report states: “As of January 2018, Arkansas had an estimated 2,712 experiencing homelessness on any given day, as reported by Continuums of Care to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Of that Total, 147 were family households, 251 were Veterans, 240 were unaccompanied young adults (aged 18-24), and 466 were individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. Public school data reported to the U.S. Department of Education during the 2016-2017 school year shows that an estimated 11,984 public school students experienced homelessness over the course of the year. Of that total, 268 students were unsheltered, 1,014 were in shelters, 524 were in hotels/motels, and 10,178 were doubled up.” Iowa’s report states: “As of January 2018, Iowa had an estimated 2,749 experiencing homelessness on any given day, as reported by Continuums of Care to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Of that Total, 325 were family households, 196 were Veterans, 209 were unaccompanied young adults (aged 18-24), and 270 were individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. Public school data reported to the U.S. Department of Education during the 2016-2017 school year shows that an estimated 6,774 public school students experienced homelessness over the course of the year. Of that total, 104 students were unsheltered, 1,410 were in shelters, 507 were in hotels/motels, and 4,753 were doubled up.” Mississippi’s report states: “As of January 2018, Mississippi had an estimated 1,352 experiencing homelessness on any given day, as reported by Continuums of Care to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Of that Total, 112 were family households, 102 were Veterans, 87 were unaccompanied young adults (aged 18-24), and 279 were individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. Public school data reported to the U.S. Department of Education during the 2016-2017 school year shows that an estimated 9,284 public school students experienced homelessness over the course of the year. Of that total, 71 students were unsheltered, 380 were in shelters, 203 were in hotels/motels, and 8,630 were doubled up.”

Watson, Stephanie. “Volunteering May Be Good for Body and Mind.” Harvard Health Blog, 30 Oct. 2015, https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/volunteering-may-be-good-for-body-and-mind-201306266428.

“A growing body of evidence suggests that people who give their time to others might also be rewarded with better physical health—including lower blood pressure and a longer lifespan.” ““Many people find volunteer work to be helpful with respect to stress reduction, and we know that stress is very strongly linked to health outcomes,” she says.” “For example, how much time would you need to put into volunteer work to lower your blood pressure or live longer? In the Carnegie Mellon study, 200 hours of volunteering per year correlated to lower blood pressure. Other studies have found a health benefit from as little as 100 hours of volunteering a year.” “The Greek philosopher Aristotle once surmised that the essence of life is “To serve others and do good.” If recent research is any indication, serving others might also be the essence of good health.” This article led me to think about some other things in my research project. Another way that our bodies can benefit from service is by lowering our blood pressure and stress levels. I also didn’t think about what amount of service would need to be done to have effects on people. Knowing the amount of hours that are needed to have an impact on someone is great information for prescribing service to patients who are suffering from depression or loneliness, etc. This also got me thinking if this effects the number of service hours that are given to prisoners, do they give them a certain number of service hours because that is how much will make an impact on them? This article also brought up another great point though, is the fact that our heart needs to be in the service and we cant be doing the service wanting to benefit ourselves but that we do the service wanting to benefit others and then we receive more of a positive effect on ourselves. “One key for deriving health benefits from volunteering is to do it for the right reasons. A 2012 study in the journal Health Psychology found that participants who volunteered with some regularity lived longer, but only if their intentions were truly altruistic. In other words, they had to be volunteering to help others—not to make themselves feel better.”

This article comes from august 2018, at this time the stats show, “Worldwide, the prevalence of adult volunteering varies, with estimates of 22.5 percent in Europe, 36 percent in Australia and 27 percent in the USA, according to the researchers.” Here is an alternative or an opposing argument, “Although people tend to volunteer for altruistic reasons, if they do not feel they are “getting something back,” then the positive impact of volunteering on quality of life is limited, the review found. Researchers also found that if people volunteer too much, the habit can become a burden, bringing problems of its own.” This may be where those few who answered that they feel the same after volunteering, and may lead to them not having a desire of volunteering again because it doesn’t have any positive effect on them. Why is it that volunteering can have such a large effect on some and no effect on others? We may not know but it is good to note that it is possible and that service is not a never failing cure that works on everyone. One explanation for physical benefits is, “physical benefits, for example, could be explained by the fact that volunteers spend more time out of the house…” Do we need to get something back at all times for something to benefit us? What truly are we getting back when we provide service? Is it a feeling, does it trigger some chemical in our minds? “researchers also found evidence of an approximately 20 percent reduction in mortality among volunteers compared to non-volunteers.” This is just another support saying that volunteering really does increase our life.

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sarrbrinton · 5 years

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Project Proposal- Service

Volunteering produces nothing but good for those who are providing the service and those who are receiving. I know that many people are aware of this effect that volunteering has on them but may not know how or why they feel so good after participating in an act of service or volunteering. The research I am wanting to do is to answer the question, “why does volunteering have such a great effect on humans physically, mentally, and emotionally?” I hope to find and create data to prove that service does have great effects. To do this I will need to do some research about how our brain works and the things that are triggered when one volunteers and compare it to how our brain reacts when we are doing something just to do something, or for ourselves, instead of doing it for another person. I will also need to look at the long-term effects that volunteering has on people and why it is that those who make volunteering a large part of their life live longer, happier, more fulfilled lives. My purpose in addressing this topic is to gather scientific and qualitative evidence to prove the positive effects of volunteering to the point that doctors and government officials are convinced that they feel the need to prescribe and promote volunteering because they can see that it is a cure to many problems and illnesses. The type of volunteering that I will researching for my paper is service volunteering, such as helping out in the community, in schools, nonprofits, helping those living in poverty circumstances, immigrants, sharing talents and finding teaching opportunities to those who are wanting to learn a skill, or providing services to other who are in need for no cost. To prove that service has the power to change individuals for the better and leads to a happier, healthier, and longer life, I will first conduct social media surveys and look up responses online as to what type of effect volunteering has had on individuals. To collect data on whether volunteer service has a positive impact on people, I will ask the question, “How have you felt during/after participating in volunteer service?” and then allow them to respond with either, “bad, the same, better than I was before participating in the service.” Based off the responses and additional research done online, I will then research studies that have been conducted by neurologists on the effects that service has on our bodies. These results will lead me to know whether service volunteering has a positive impact on us as humans and will explain the logistics behind why we become happy when serving others. I hope to support those results by finding real life examples of people who have made volunteering a large part of their life and see where they are at today based off the type of lifestyle they have chosen to live. Based off of my research I hope to teach others of the positive, immediate, and long term effects that service volunteering has had on people and create the desire in others to not only make service more of a priority in their lives but also share with others who they see are struggling and serve them or invite them to serve with them so that our loved ones too, can experience the positive benefits that come from service and volunteering.

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sarrbrinton · 5 years

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Moscow Day 2:

Breakfast omelet. Hopped on the metro to go meet another friend of one of my friends, this friend is actually an English teacher in Russia so she spoke very good English. She took us to a bunch of museums, the first one we went into was a museum about the Russian alphabet which is super complicated to me because it is made up of some of the English letters but they act as different letters for them then they do us. For example: a P makes the R sound in Russian.. Then we went to another museum that talked about the history of Russia which was really just talking about all of the leaders that Russia had. This area where all the museums were was super beautiful because it was all based off the soviet time, during this time Russia tried to come off as super fancy and wanted to appear like they had a lot of money to everyone, so they made all the areas that people normally see very fancy, so the buildings here were very extravagant with cool colors, paint, stained glass, marble pillars on the outside, and this is also why inside their metros it is so fancy because they wanted to show that they had “so much money” that even their METROS were fancy, with chandeliers and such. We got dinner and I got my nails done which was awesome because they do such a good job there, it took an hour but they take their beauty very seriously in Russia so it was the best manicure I have ever had. Then we stopped by the grocery store and got some breakfast for the next morning, and I found a dark berry Dr. Pepper, it was great.

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sarrbrinton · 5 years

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Moscow Day 1:

Well we finally got to Moscow, ate KFC because it was the only thing open at the time, seeing as we got there about 6am... we waited around and I did some homework thanks for the WiFi as KFC and then we trekked to our new Airbnb which was a while away from the metro... on the walk there we were hiking our stuff up some stairs and I had my brand new airpod pros in my ears and one of them fell out of my ear and into a water drain, I screamed, picked up the grate that was over it and got my airpod, thank goodness it only got some dirt on it. We chilled and then went out to eat. We then headed over to Red Square which is like the White House for Russia one of the beautiful buildings is the St. Basils Cathedral which looks like a giant fancy candy, gum drop castle, it is so colorful! There is also a giant fancy mall with Christmas lights all over it because Christmas time is coming up and so they had started decorating already. They were in the process of putting up the rest of decorations, so if we would have gotten there just a little later then we could have seen all of the decorations, which I can just imagine is incredible! The mall here sold all the name brands, very expensive like louis Vuitton and you have to pay to use the bathrooms. They did have dangling lights all over the streets though which was awesome! Then we hopped on the metro and went to a fancy restaurant with live music, the decoration was awesome and we went there because another one of my friends who used to live in Russia is friends with the manager of the restaurant, she bought us drinks, entrees, and dessert so it was a real treat! Although, we told her to order her favorite thing for us, and she ordered tongue salads... not a fan of the fact that we could see the pores still on the tongue... but they did have an amazing honey cake, which is now definitely one of my favorite desserts!

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sarrbrinton · 5 years

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St. Petersburg Day 4:

We went to church!! We packed up all our stuff and hopped on the metro and went to church in an area where my friend served her mission. It was all in Russian of course but they actually had English translators for the main meeting and so we were able to listen to the main meeting. We then went back into the city to visit the Kazan cathedral, this is one of the actual working cathedrals and since it was Sunday there were lots of people worshipping here. The religion there is orthodox and there were candles all over and pictures of different Saints spread around. People would go and place candles in front of the Saint they wanted to receive blessings from, for example if you were struggling with courage you could go pray to the courage Saint to receive more courage. There was to kiss and pray in front of the picture of Mary holding baby Jesus, this is one of the more famous ones to worship. It was an amazing experience to see these people worship and see their faith in action. They would walk up to the veil, which had the pictures they worshipped, make the symbol of the cross 3 times, kiss the picture, or say some type of prayer and turn around and go on their way. Then we made our way over to spilt blood, or the church of the savior on blood, we got there right before they closed the museum, this museum was dedicated to Alexander II who was riding in a carriage and attacked by a bomb, the first bomb did not get him but the second one did and he was very badly wounded and his blood was spilt, he did not die but his body was taken back to the palace where he died soon after. That night we then hopped onto the sleeper train again, although this time it was hostal style and so we all got random bunk beds and slept on there for the train ride to Moscow.

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sarrbrinton · 5 years

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St. Petersburg Day 3:

St. Issacs cathedral. This one has lots of beautiful artwork of Christ. Here you can walk up a skinny staircase of more than 200 stairs and see an amazing view of all of St. Petersburg from the top! Then we road the largest escalator in the world (I think) haha which is in one of the metros in St. Petersburg and the duration of the ride is a little over 3 minutes. Then that night we went to the ballet and saw swan lake in the Mariinsky theatre, which was so beautiful but so long( 3 hours)... unfortunately we got there a little late because we got lost on the way there and so we lost our seats and had to sit in the back in some pretty bad seats but after the first intermission we got better seats, I may have fallen asleep through act 2 and 3 but act 4 was incredible! They take their arts very seriously in Russia! Swan lake is about a prince who is being forced by his mom, the queen, to pick a wife and so she throws a ball for him with lots of girls to pick from, he dances with them but doesn’t like any of them so he runs out into the forest and sees all these swans, the swans were a bunch of girls who were turned into swans by the princes mentor and they turned back into humans and the prince fell in love with one of the swans but she couldn’t go to the ball because she was a swan during the day. The prince goes back to the party and his mentor tricked him into thinking that the mentors daughter is the girl he fell in love with in the woods but it’s not the same girl, the prince finds out that it isn’t the same girl and then runs out to the woods and finds his love and then drown together. Cute. Romantic.

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sarrbrinton · 5 years

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St. Petersburg Day 2:

This day we went to the hermitage!! Which is where the royal families of Russia used to live, specifically the Romanov family! Now it is a giant museum with artwork, furniture, and China from all over the world inside to look at, it is incredible! This place is so ginormous that it takes hours to walk through, I almost didn’t make it because I was so tired. Some of my favorites were the Anastasia ballroom and the decorated hallways that had pictures of Jesus’s life. Also, fun fact, every place that you go into has cost rooms for you to hang up your winter stuff with people working them and they give you a number to hold onto so that when you’re ready to pick up your coat you just show the number and they get your coat for you! Russia is so cold so everyone bundles up ALL the time! Well, after this long walk around the hermitage we went back to the Airbnb to nap, I very much enjoyed putting my feet up on the ceiling to get the blood flowing. Then that night we traveled to my friends mission presidents apartment, apartments are the main form of shelter in Russia, everyone lives in apartments! We talked for a while and then hopped back on the metro to go back home and found a cute spot that is open late to eat a late dinner. Then at 11pm/12am one of my friends friend, who she met in Russia back when she lived there, took us out to see the “night life” of Russia! We drove around and saw the bridges, we got to even see one of them lift up, they lift up in the middle of the night to let the boats go through, then we saw the soccer stadium, and in the parking lot there the Russians like to race and drift at night time. Then we went to a very chill night club, he bought us all drinks, nonalcoholic of course, with coke, cranberry juice, and Red Bull. We danced to some Russian music for a bit and then headed back to get some rest, although it was about 3 am... and that ended day 2!!

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sarrbrinton · 5 years

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St. Petersburg Day 1:

Blue and white. St. Petersburg, Russia. This city holds a lot of history and it is impossible to see it all in just 4 days but you can definitely put in a good effort.

The Peter and Paul fortress includes many different buildings, one of them being where the Romanov family is buried, this family was the royal family in Russia back in the 1600’s, during the time of reign the family was captured and put in prison and then shot, the bodies were found late to prove that it was the Romanov family but there was one body missing, one of the daughters, Anastasia. The rumor was that Anastasia escaped and that she was still out there, many people tried to “say they were the missing Anastasia” but later the body was found, it was just put in a different spot to make it look like someone didn’t purposefully kill the whole Romanov family. This fortress is filled with beautiful art and fancy caskets made out of a marble looking material with names, there is this large goal structure that makes a wall that is said to be the veil and if you were to go to the other side then it’s like passing the veil to go into heaven, and then there is a seperate room for just the Romanov family tombstones and they have been cremated. Then there is another building that is the torture museum where is shows all different kinds of mechanisms of torture that they used at the time. I personally did not go in that one. A third building that we went into was the prison, this prison is the original prison that was used and was still used up in the early 1900’s. You could feel the despair inside these cells, it was like a huge weight walking through there and you could feel the pain and loneliness that people went through in there. But, this prison did look a lot nicer than the prisons that we have nowadays. Also, something interesting was that they had a punishment cell which was not isolated at all and the prisoners just had a metal cot to lay on and no light, so they would freeze in there and that would be their punishment. A very heavy weight came over me when I walked into that cell. Then there was a river that was at the back of the fortress and there were steps that went right into it, not blocked off at all! This was a truly beautiful spot! ALSO, I found my favorite drink this day! A non-alcoholic mulled wine which was made up of grape juice, apples, cinnamon, oranges, and other spices all mixed and warmed. It tasted like the holiday season, and was amazing!!

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sarrbrinton · 5 years

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Transportation

How many types of transportation have you experience?

Back in the day people traveled by feet, horse, boat, raft, or wagon. Bikes and trains came in the early 1800’s, cars came along in the late 1800’s and then planes were invented in the early 1900’s. I imagine that when these modes of transportation were first invented they were for the wealthy and it was a privledge and luxury to ride but nowadays it just seems normal to us. Today we are able to travel around the whole world for a short price and do it safely and in very comfortable conditions. In Utah we have chosen to use cars as our main transportation so things are more distant from each other, we live in homes, stores are further away, and the mountains have paved roads so they are just a quick drive away and then we can travel from state to state in them! You can hop on the freeway and get to your friends house and then rent a minivan to fit 7 of your friends and a some suitcases and drive to California in just 10 hours! Then there are airplanes, which are a little more expensive, but can help you get across the oceans and to different countries. It can help you fly from California to Paris for 10 hours to get on a connecting flight from Paris to Russia that is about 3 hours. Now, in Russia transportation is a little more different. There they have chosen train and metros to be their main form of transportation. They do have cars there but that is more of a luxury and takes twice as long to get anywhere because of the traffic and the amount of people there is much larger than the people in Utah so cars don’t work too well. So there, you can hop onto a large train with beds with all your luggage and get a room to sleep in while you travel 8 hours to a different city, for example from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Then once in St. Petersburg you can hop onto a metro train which is smaller and can take you to wherever in that city you would like, the trick here though is that you need to know what stops to take and when to change to another train to get where you need to. Then you can enjoy russia for 10 days and do the exact same thing to get back. Lots of metro stops, 8 hour sleeping train ride, shuttle to the airport, 3 hours flight from Russia to Amsterdam, 10 hour flight from Amsterdam to Portland, 2 hour flight from Portland to California, and a 10 hour car ride from California back home to Utah. You can go from the whole other side of the earth and back home in just a quick 2 days! Woohoo! Where has transportation taken you??

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sarrbrinton · 5 years

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Comfort Zone

How can we know if we are in a comfort zone and if it’s time to push ourselves out of that comfort zone? We can do something for a long period of time where we become used to it, we get good at doing the things that we are doing, it becomes routine, and we almost get bored. You almost feel like you are just standing in one place, you recognize everything around you, you don't just recognize them but you are familiar with your surroundings and can describe them, you have them memorized. Then when challenges come up in these circumstances, you know how to overcome them because you have done it before and you already know what the solution is. Then when you feel joy in these circumstances, it again is something that you had already experienced before that it almost becomes less of a joy because you are so used to experiencing it. The people that surround you are the same ones, you can love them but you are used to them. You get into a routine, know the times that it takes you to drive from place to place, you memorize the traffic, you know the open and closing times of stores, you know the routines of your closest family, friends, coworkers. THIS is when you know that you have entered a comfort zone. And this is the time that I think we should re-evaluate our lives and push ourselves out of that comfort zone because we are not going to grow or experience anything different if we stay in the same place, with the same people, and doing the same things. I experienced this. I loved my life, I loved what I had going for me and was grateful for all I had, I was grateful for the people who were in my life and I love those people, I was doing good things, money was good, I could buy whatever I wanted, but I wasn't growing. So what do I do? Well if you’re like me, you can only stay in that spot so long. Because of the fact that you are not growing, you cannot accept the fact that you are not growing, not learning new things, and not pushing yourself, not feeling something new. So what did I do? I moved. Moved to a place where I wasn't familiar with, to where not many people knew me, and made my life harder. Harder in the way where I am further away from my job, have less money, have to do more driving, have to do more walking out in the cold, have to be alone, have to pay for all my needs, have to think about more things then I had to, have to make new friends, have to find new people to love, have to think about more things then I used to. And I know that as I experience these new things that I will, overtime, get used to them again, and again become comfortable, just to get to a spot where I need to decide to push myself out of it again.

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sarrbrinton · 5 years

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Truth or Scam

Yesterday at a work a man walked in saying that he was lost. He told us that he was from Louisiana and that he had been here in Utah for 6 days. He had been traveling from Louisiana to California for work and the bus that he was on stopped in Utah and while he was waiting to get on another bus a homeless person stole all his stuff, his luggage, his wallet, his phone, everything that he had. Leaving him stranded in Utah. He had spent the last six days walking around trying to find work to earn some money to get back home, he said he only needed $58. He mentioned that he had not eaten anything since Sunday (and it was Tuesday) besides a little bit of food that one of his friends gave him. That same friend also gave him a reference of somewhere to go to possibly find work but the location was in Lehi. He didn't know anything about the people that he was going to meet, he said there was some sort of construction site there where he could work enough to get his $58 and all he had was an address. Going back to the initial meeting, he asked for directions, he was wondering where Lehi was and if he was in the right direction. So by instinct I looked up the address on google maps and found that he was a little over 4 hours away walking, I printed out the map and directions for him but he didn't seem satisfied or grateful for the help. He then asked to sit down because he was so sore from walking all the way from Salt Lake to Riverton and he was hungry. We gave him a donut and offered him water but he didn't take either. He started to cry and repeating his story. He made sure that we knew how much money he needed. After hanging out in the lobby for a while he dramatically left, left the donut, didn't take any water and left. Now here is my dilemma, was he telling the truth or was it just a scam to get money by making us feel bad for him? I personally wanted to drive him to the place that he needed to go because I was heading to Lehi in 40 minutes and thought that he could just wait and then I could take him. But as I have been taught, you should not drive alone with strangers. So then I thought that I should just give him the money he needed and talked to my boss about it but he talked me out of it because he said that people make up stories like this all the time to get drug money or money just in general. In the moment, I thought he was telling the truth, I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt and serve him but everything that I could offer him (directions, water, food) he didn't want, nor did he act grateful for it. Which made it hard for me to want to keep serving him. Everything I could offer him didn't seem like enough. This is what makes me question if he was telling the truth or not, I felt that nothing would make him happy unless it was giving him money... but someone who is truly desperately hungry, or lost would usually be more grateful for anything someone was willing to give them. Am I wrong for thinkin this way? Did I do the wrong thing by not giving him the money or was my heart still in the right place and did I do everything I could, given the circumstance? How can we know, with so many scams going on, who is being truthful and who isn't?

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sarrbrinton · 5 years

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What an amazing truth! That temples are where we can make covenants with God and that we can be with our families for all of eternity, meaning we can even be with our families after this life, in heaven! That’s amazing!! What a blessing. Also, thanks for putting how many members are there, I didn’t know there were that many! I imagine all the families that are being blessed over the many years of sacrifices they have made until now to get to the temple before now or the time they have waited to receive these blessings because they could not travel to a temple in the past. This new temple is life changing for them. God loves His children.

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Take a video tour of the Rome Italy Temple with Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!

The temple is the first in Italy, a country with 27,000 Latter-day Saints. The temple is believed by Saints to be the holiest place on the earth and is a place where we learn more about our Father in Heaven, our Savior Jesus Christ, and the Restored Gospel. It is a place where we make covenants with God and are sealed together as families for eternity.

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sarrbrinton · 5 years

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Hydroflask

Tall and skinny. Not the skinniest version but not the fat version. Not the tallest but not the shortest. Somewhere right in the middle, the perfect size. Now I can’t find this perfect size at Scheel’s anymore and it makes me sad because I have the perfect size. We have been together many years, you were there with me for all those long days at work, back in the day when I was just a cashier at a sports mall. You waited for me at home when I went to Peru. and now you are with me, everyday, in the car, coming to school with me, going through every day at work with me, and even supporting me and giving me that extra energy I need at the gym.

White. Clean. Not a sticker tattoos your perfect whiteness. But, through the years you have accumulated a couple battle wounds because your owner (me) has dropped you just a couple times. A couple dents, a couple grey spots, and rough edges that make you unique. But those dents, sports, and rough edges are how I know that you are mine.

Black top. Plastic top. Perfect spot for me to hold you and you can hang right off my finger. Which makes it so nice because then I can hold you even when my hands are full because I just need one finger free.

Flip up. I flip up the straw and you quench my thirst. I put down the straw so that it stays clean. You keep my water cold and I love you for that. Thanks for keeping hydrated Hydroflask.

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sarrbrinton · 5 years

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Life Balance

How does one find the right balance to life? There is so much to do and so little time (said the overachiever) haha. There are so many things that demand our time and it varies on what time of life we are in. Right now, things like college, work, church, friends, relationships, boyfriends, bills, hobbies, family, homework, and exercise may be what is taking up your life, like it is mine. And making sure that your health stays up and healthy so you can do all the things that you need to do because if you were to take a sick day, it would throw your whole schedule off... But then in a couple years it is going to change and I may be married by then, living somewhere else, with more bills, and graduated and with a career.

Balance your life. Don’ t expect to be perfect in everything you do but do your best in the things that you do. And when you get comfortable with your agenda and the things that you are doing, find ways to push yourself and get out of your comfort zone a little and then little by little you grow overtime, gain more knowledge and learn new talents.

This is why it is good to stay busy, because a busy person does not have time to be sad and you are continually pushing yourself to get out of your comfort zone and best using the time that God gave you here on this earth. Therefore, fulfilling your purpose to grow as an individual and then as you grow you become more and more able to help other people, which is the main reason why we are all here on this earth. To help each other, because we all have different strengths and weaknesses and we need each other.

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sarrbrinton · 5 years

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Fall is probably one of the most perfect seasons, the only think that would make it better if the days would switch off with one cold day and one warm day but we could still get all the pretty fall leaves and colors and good fall smell in the air. You can just smell the fall in the air. The flavors of pumpkin and spice in the cereals, and the candy corn, and the breads and the butters and all the other fun foods! The new candle scents that come out filling the air and prepping all the homes to be cozy and warm. Fun fall activities start, with carving pumpkins and mazes and fall hikes. And the fall colors, the orange and the reds just lightening up everyone’s mood.

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