With the thought of essays, midterms, and final exams all staring brashly at us from our computer screens, over-priced textbooks, student loan debt piling up in some remote Victoria, BC filing cabinet, and now, with the scare of swine flu flooding into the Kootenays, it can be difficult to see the glass as “half full.”

As future business mavens, anthropologists, psychologists, environmentalists, aviators, or even full-time sons or daughters, our lives are dependant on how we feel about those issues. So how do we break the cycle of negativity in our stressful lives? How do you?

Me, I volunteer.

Though volunteering is an act of kindness of taking on a task or responsibility without pay, it is an act of reciprocity. By giving your skills to an organization, you reap the sensation of self worth, accomplishment, and overall happiness for being needed (plus, it looks great on your resume).

I will be volunteering with the Canadian Cancer Society 2010 Relay for Life in Castlegar in June, and though I’m a full-time student and employee, I make the time to feel good about a cause that I believe will continue to make a difference.

Check out these organizations and lend a hand to a cause that’s working to change all of our futures:

Canadian Cancer Society
West Kootenay Office
(250) 364-0403
www.cancer.ca

Castlegar Hospice Society
(250) 304-1266
Contact: Suzanne Lehbauer

www.castlegarhospice.org

Castlegar Fire Department
(250) 365-3266
http://www.castlegar.ca/services_ems_fire_recruitment.php

Kootenay Family Place, Society for Children & Youth
(250) 365-8448 ext: 229
Contact: Jim Fisher

www.kootenayfamilyplace.org

People Loving People
(250) 368-8666
Contact: Scott Leylend

Public Library, Castlegar & District Library
(250) 365-6611

www.castlegar.bclibrary.ca

United Way, Castlegar
(250) 365-7331
Contact: Sandra Venn

www.castlegar.unitedway.ca

Youth Centre, The Station
(250) 365-8432

www.stationyouthcentre.com

Nelson Youth Centres

Contact: Cindy McClure

www.nelsonyouthcentres.com

Outside my thin walls is my small town, my beautiful province, my polite country, my ignorant continent, my let-down world, my glistening galaxy, my inexplicable universe—where does it end, and why do I clutch the ownership of all of these places? They aren’t mine. I don’t own any of them.

As a little girl, I saw myself and the things around me as pawns, tiny play-toys of a lonely giant, who sat amid the constellations to entertain himself with the lives of his doll-like figurines, such as me.

I would sway in dance or try to shift my dreams and wonder who was responsible. I often think about this analogy now and I wonder: was I that far off? Do I have as much control over my life as I like to believe? Do any of us?

Life is fast-paced and slips through your fingers as quickly as your schedule book pages flip. How do you slow down your seconds? How do you clasp onto your moments? Think about it, and email your thoughts to chocolateaddict@live.ca.