It's a Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood

It's been a beautiful few days here in Brooklyn, dear readers. And I have taken full advantage of the sunshine. And plan to do so again today.

But, in my morning job hunt, while drinking iced coffee under the skylight, I came across this article via a networking group called Job Angels. The gist of the article is that, while unemployed, one should be neighborly - not just to help others, but to help themselves.

A close girlfriend of mine has been telling me something similar for the past few weeks - every time I get sad or depressed or incredibly lonely in these dark days of unemployment, L tells me to get out and volunteer. And while I have looked into a couple of things here and there, I haven't landed on anything yet. What do I want to do? Even a couple of hours a week? With summer approaching, perhaps I will look for a youth camp or outreach program in my neighborhood to volunteer for. I like the idea of giving back in my immediate community, where I've lived for 5 years now. And where people are not well off (the median income for a family of four is $35,000).

Will I meet people who will give me a job that way? Would I be better off finding something in Manhattan where there are top executives "giving" their time? I don't know. But I have always thought the point of volunteering was to give back in your own community. To be a neighbor.

Will it help to lift me out of those dark days? Those days when I feel like no one would notice if I didn't even get out of bed in the morning? Maybe. Dear friend L knows me very well and is usually right about these kinds of things. Even if it takes me a little while to figure it out myself.