Why Giving Is Really Good for You!

It’s been a tough year for us all, I don’t need to stay on that subject too long, but what has been nice to see is the giving nature that is coming back this Winter.

With a year of ‘isolation’ it is no surprise giving reduced and our focus was on ourselves. Now there is nothing wrong with that, you know I am a proponent of serving yourself first, so you can and are able to serve others. But today I wanted to focus on giving, to others, and why that really is very good for our health and wellbeing.

Winter is the season of giving, something we have always tried to champion at Epoch and if you have been in recently you will see that again this year we are collecting for the Lincoln Community Larder, one of our favorite local charities.

So here is why giving is so good for you!

Human beings are pack animals, like wolves we are meant (designed) to work together and contribute towards our herd (our community). In exchange for contributing to our community or giving, our body releases endorphins, happy hormones. I am sure you have all felt this, when you have given something to someone who needed it and expected nothing in return. Your heart warmed up, you felt good, you got your endorphin hit.

But you see, this inbuilt release of happy hormone is double edged. We actually crave the ‘high’ we get from it. And with a world that is so removed from community these days, the substitute your body goes for is, you guessed it, sugar!

So, if you, like me, have a sweet tooth and crave a little sugar every now and then, why not try giving instead? Maybe buy that cream cake and instead of eating it, give it to someone else. Speak to your friends and colleagues and why not do a food bank collection or give some of your time to a charity or group that need the extra help in hand?

What I love about Lincoln is its community, and in particular the community at Epoch. So thank you for that and keep it up, together not only can we resist the sugar and improve our on health, but we can also make somebody else’s day or life better and get ourselves that little endorphin high at the same time.

With love

Tom