I’m in my seeking joy era. ✨
These days, I’m choosing to prioritize delight; to optimize for joy.
For me, this comes to life through dance parties, wearing sparkles for no reason, picking a bright nail color, savoring delicious garlic noodles, squealing over the peonies in my front yard, blaring a good song and driving with the windows down, enjoying a sunny afternoon walk, watercolor painting, telling people I love them and why, reading a can’t-put-this-down book, being generous, going to the beach, being easily excited, admiring a cotton candy sunset, telling hilarious old stories, spending time with my sisters and friends that feel like family, taking my evening bath, appreciating who I am and the life I’ve been given.
For me, this looks like creativity, curiosity, play, silliness, possibility, spontaneity, gratitude, hope, light.
There are days and seasons that are long and hard, where joy feels hard to find, where delight feels nonexistent. Moments when doubt, shame, and anxiety creep in much more than I’d like to admit. Seasons of grief and disappointment and pain that feel like they won’t end. I’ve had them and I know many more will come. Choosing joy doesn’t mean pretending everything is perfect or that the hurt doesn’t exist. Instead, for me, it means finding moments of delight and goodness alongside the heavy and hard.
I’m reminded of this Shauna Niequist quote: “It’s rebellious, in a way, to choose joy…to choose to love your life. It’s much easier and much more common to be miserable. But I choose to do what I can to create hope, to celebrate life, and the act of celebrating connects me back to that life I love.”
So today, in the here and now, I’m choosing joy and delight. Case in point: face glitter + a sparkly fringe cape + a backyard dance party with my sisters and daughters last week!