I've complained about volunteering feeling too much like a job, so I have to balance the scales by saying, in favor of volunteering, that there are plenty of health and social benefits associated with it.
This is well supported by the research. For example:
This research has established a strong relationship between volunteering and health: those who volunteer have lower mortality rates, greater functional ability, and lower rates of depression later in life than those who do not volunteer. Comparisons of the health benefits of volunteering for different age groups have also shown that older volunteers are the most likely to receive greater benefits from volunteering, whether because they are more likely to face higher incidence of illness or because volunteering provides them with physical and social activity and a sense of purpose at a time when their social roles are changing. Some of these findings also indicate that volunteers who devote a “considerable” amount of time to volunteer activities (about 100 hours per year) are most likely to exhibit positive health outcomes.
https://www.nationalservice.gov/pdf/07_0506_hbr.pdf
Note that the "considerable time" required to get the health benefits is really only about 2 hours a week.
Another:
Volunteering combats depression. Volunteering keeps you in regular contact with others and helps you develop a solid support system, which in turn protects you against depression.
Volunteering makes you happy. By measuring hormones and brain activity, researchers have discovered that being helpful to others delivers immense pleasure. Human beings are hard-wired to give to others. The more we give, the happier we feel.
Volunteering increases self-confidence. You are doing good for others and the community, which provides a natural sense of accomplishment. Your role as a volunteer can also give you a sense of pride and identity. And the better you feel about yourself, the more likely you are to have a positive view of your life and future goals.
Volunteering provides a sense of purpose. Older adults, especially those who have retired or lost a spouse, can find new meaning and direction in their lives by helping others. Whatever your age or life situation, volunteering can help take your mind off your own worries, keep you mentally stimulated, and add more zest to your life.
Volunteering helps you stay physically healthy. Studies have found that those who volunteer have a lower mortality rate than those who do not. Older volunteers tend to walk more, find it easier to cope with everyday tasks, are less likely to develop high blood pressure, and have better thinking skills. Volunteering can also lessen symptoms of chronic pain and reduce the risk of heart disease.
https://www.helpguide.org/articles/healthy-living/volunteering-and-its-surprising-benefits.htm
Re. that last bit, about lower mortality rate, this from the Mayo Clinic: "An analysis of data from the Longitudinal Study of Aging found that individuals who volunteer have lower mortality rates than those who do not, even when controlling for age, gender and physical health."
https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem....g-lives-the-6-health-benefits-of-volunteering
My initial experience with volunteering may have been kind of "meh," but with all of the positive benefits associated with volunteering, it's not something I'm going to pass up permanently. I may not be in the mood for anything that feels like "work" right now, but I'm still early in retirement. I think it's just a matter of time and of finding a good fit.
p.s. Research note: these are typically associational or correlational studies, as opposed to randomized controlled research, so some of these effects may be attributable to confounding factors. For instance, it could be that people who are healthier, happier, more connected, more spiritual or whatever, are more likely to volunteer, whereas people who are less healthy, happy, etc., tend not to. And so you'd end up with the volunteers looking better than the non-volunteers, but because that's how they started out, not because of volunteering itself. That might be responsible for some of the effects you see here.
However, it's also true that some of the research on helping and volunteering is randomized controlled research and so it's not subject to that critique. In addition, some of the research attempts to control for other factors/confounds after the fact (e.g., the Mayo bit), although I'm a little skeptical of those post-hoc statistical adjustments.
