Joy All Around

Join me on my quest to find joy in the little things.

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Happiness in the Walk

I discovered a startling truth the other day. I've recently found a new joy in my job going door to door. At first I thought it was the sun or the evening stroll, both things I love. But there was an even deeper aspect to the job that brought me so much joy. As I walked around what is well known as one of the nicer communities in my city I began to not see myself as working, but instead think of myself as being one of the people from the community. I would walk down the street and hear a family enjoying a BBQ in the back yard and picture that it was my family, my BBQ, my memories being made. I would put myself into each household and imagine how happy I would be if only that was me. I've never been one who thinks that happiness comes through possession and before now I've never even thought there would be  "that" to make me happy. But my "that" isn't the latest technology or a private plane, instead, the "that" which I believe will make me happy in a family, a place to belong and a place to be loved. Don't get me wrong, I love my family I grew up with, biologically they are my family but I've never felt a sense of ownership or belonging. It has never been MY family, just a family. This realisation echoes through many aspects of my life I will not go into detail here but there is a follow up thought. If I believe that "that" will make me happy, what happens when one day I have achieved "that" but it is still not enough? Life is not a postcard, things don't magically get 100% better. Many people living in the big houses with the picture perfect families are not happy. Are they not happy because they want more or are they not happy because the don't appreciate what they have? What aspects of my life am I taking for granted that others strive for? How do we ever begin to fully realise how blessed we truly are in our current walk in life?

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Change of Thought

Today I went out to do door knocking for a friends painting company. The pay is good and it's a nice excuse for an evening stroll. The first couple times I went out I would come back emotionally exhausted. Being rejected for two hours straight is not my idea of a good time. I had people get frustrated at me and a handful were quite rude (only a handful, it's still Canada after all). Then I began to realise the problem wasn't with these people but it was with myself. For starters, I began to think of myself as offering the option to paint their house instead of trying to sell them to paint their house. I was showing up on their doorstep with the offer of a free quote! Who doesn't like free stuff! This began to change the way I viewed the work and I now enjoy going out and offering the neighborhood something free. How often does this reflect actual life? Those times when we don't talk to others for fears of burdening them with our problems. I enjoy when people come to me with their problems because it means they are letting me in, they are including me in their life story. Instead of thinking of it as burdening a friend, think of it as including a friend. Or even just to recognise your blessings, I don't have to go for a run, I am blessed with use of both my legs and am therefore given the opportunity to run which I should take advantage of for my near perfect health. There are two sides to every story and in every aspect of our life we see the negative of there is always a positive. To be cliche, there's always a silver lining. With this, happiness was a change of thought, a little switch to be flicked that changed everything. My challenge to myself and to you is figure out what switches you have to flick and flick them! See the world for what you can offer.

~Forward, upward, onward, together

[joyallaround-blog]

Joy for Others

Being a single young adult in the spring is a little tough. There's the whole graduation aspect with the fact that life will never be the same but that is what you expect. What do you don't always expect is that aside from the fact everyone you once loved is moving on with their life, they are moving on without you. One of my best friends got engaged a couple days ago and while I am ecstatic for them, it's one more thing that makes it tough for me to find joy. My joy seems to be upon the backs of others, I'm happy that so many of my friends are getting married, getting good jobs and moving on, but I feel like I'm never been happy for myself. This sad realisation comes as I rethink about my best friends funeral a couple months ago, I had been a groomsman at his wedding only two weeks before the funeral, those emotions aside, I feel like I have no right to be distraught when he leaves behind his family and new wife who must be more distraught. It's like I have must act more normal than them because they must be hurting more. At his wedding, I wasn't allowed to be the happiest for him because he had family and closer friends. I never allow myself to be the extreme of any emotion, I must always base my emotions off what I assume others more involved to feel. To round out this thought, I feel as if nothing in my life has ever been about me but instead I have always been in the background. This thought in itself isn't a terrible thought as it's entirely true, technically I haven't graduated yet, I haven't been a real relationship, I haven't had a real job, there are so many milestones I have yet to hit that my friends have. I know I have joy coming down the pipelines but it's difficult to remember that when those closest to you are finding these sorts of joys on daily basis. I am happy for them, but none of them need my happiness as they have fiance's and families to share that joy with them. My friends all have other best friends to be excited with them while I am left only being excited for them. I keep thinking of the motivational poster of the cat holding on to the tree branch, "Hang in there" written below. I am closing a chapter in my life this summer, a chapter I have enjoyed but it feels like I was not the main character in my own life story. On the other hand there is a new chapter opening, a new story coming forth full of adventure and suspense. Who knows that this new chapter will hold for my life, maybe this is finally the beginning of the climax of my life, maybe it might finally be my turn.

I came upon this quote the other day (I love 9gag): "The bad news, There is no key to happiness. The good news, it's not locked." As the first few pages of my new chapter get written, I want this to be a guiding thought. The challenge isn't to find happiness, the challenge is to accept it.

[joyallaround-blog]

Finding Joy

As summer begins to show its bright brilliant head around the corner, I find myself in a new chapter in life. Being a young adult, technology has carried me and swept me through the last couple years and only recently am I noticing the affects it has had on my relationships and on my soul (I will use several terms which will have to be defined in this blog but by soul here I speak about that pit of the stomach, bottom of the heart place that refuses to change on a whim unless its to plunge you into sadness). I have lived life using technology as a pathetic excuse for my failures and shortcomings. I may not have friends to hang out with every weekend but at least I have a couple hundred friends on facebook. Life starts getting surreal when you start doing things just to put up the Instagram to show off your awesome life. This summer I have made myself a goal to spend less time on social media and more time trying to find this ellusive joy. The joy which I seek goes beyond contenment (which I think of as peace), or even happiness (which is a temporary feeling) but instead an energy and love in my soul for the world around me, this is the joy I hope to find. I recongize that it may seem I'm swapping one area of the internet for another in starting this blog but instead I want to treat it as Joy Diary. At the end of every day I want to look back at the things that went well and good and write them here. I hope you join me in this and even comment with your joy momments for the rest of us as well. This should be a great journey of self discovery and acceptance.