Tap Into Joy
What if I could tap into joy?
So much of our lives are formed by others. It may not be intentional, but the thoughts and opinions of others are constantly pressing in on us. And their thoughts and opinions are being pressed on by those around them. This can make it challenging to really know ourselves. Just when you think you know how you feel about something, you may learn someone else's perspective and find yourself shifting again.
Changing and adapting is very healthy; it can also make it that much harder to know what we want to do with our lives, how we want to live, and what we think and feel about various topics. Though I have yet to get a diagnosis, I have many ADHD symptoms- extremely fast moving thoughts, loving to do things I love yet feeling like life is being sucked out of me for anything that feels uninteresting or unnecessarily time consuming (like cooking). This makes it extremely hard to do certain things without external motivation (i.e. getting paid, hanging with friends, listening to great books).
As I processed some of these thoughts recently, I wrestled with motivating myself to do anything other than read and sit in the sun. I love reading and sitting in the sun, but I don't want it to consume all of my time. I want my space to be welcoming, which means keeping it tidy, putting up the decor I like, cleaning off table surfaces, etc. I want to eat food I like and enjoy, that means planning, food prep, and cooking (something I'm trying really hard not to hate). I want to feel productive and useful without sacrificing my life to productivity. All of these small things that contribute to my overall happiness feel tedious and hard to achieve. But what if I could find delight in the small things that often seem so tedious to me?
I’ve been working on shifting my perspective around things I don't enjoy. To see them as small, easy, and dare I say fun tasks, instead of overwhelmingly depressing and tedious tasks that would like to end me. I've begun breaking them down. For instance, I make it into a bit of a game. What if you just moved those Christmas floaters into storage? (You know, the five random Christmas items that magically didn't make it to their box when the Christmas decor was put away.) Once it's done, I celebrate the fact that I did something! 😄
The perspective shift has been helping, but I want faster change, which brought me to the question I'm focusing on in today's blog, "What if I tapped into joy?"
Connecting to what I love helps motivate me in ways that are filled with joy and delight. It lights up my internal world until that light spills out of me in actions and motivation.
Over the next few weeks, I'm going to watch for what sparks joy in me. Would you like to do it with me? Here’s my approach:
Gently set aside pressures to meet other people's expectations.
Turn the volume down on the voices telling me what to think, feel, and do.
Tune into my own, inner desires.
Observe and take note of the following:
What do I like?
What do I enjoy?
What would my daily life look like if I were to tap into joy in a deep, bedrock sort of way? (This feels like my million dollar question.)
Now take action to begin bringing that joy, bit by bit, into daily life.
