3 Ways To Create More Joy In Your Life
Experiencing joy is your birthright.
I believed that feeling joy was only possible after I accomplished a big goal like losing the last 5 pounds, enrolling a new coaching client, or finally taking off for our two-week vacation. All of these are fantastic, but only allowing yourself to feel joy from the significant life events leaves feeling joy very fleeting.
I’ve lived most of my life waiting to give myself permission to feel genuine joy and happiness until after I’ve worked hard to “earn it.” Living my life feeling as though I had to “earn” joy was no longer acceptable.
The moment I decided to start believing joy was my birthright and set the intention of creating more of it on a day-to-day basis, my life, work, and relationships got a lot more exciting and fun.
These days (even with covid-19 going around), I’m excited to wake up early and start my day. I look forward to my morning routine, challenging workouts, dealing with challenging people every now and then, and even with the crazy worrisome thoughts that like to pop up in my head.
I look forward to all of these things because I also know that I get to choose how I will perceive these situations in my life. I can look at them as being monotonous, really hard, and scary. Or I can look at them and pull out the golden opportunities.
Let me show you the top three ways I’ve been able to create more joy in my life, and hopefully, they’ll inspire you to do the same.
1. Plan a trip or weekend getaway every 90 days or quarter.
My fiancé is amazing at making traveling a priority in his life. It doesn’t matter how busy work is, how far behind the basement renovation is, or even that there’s a virus going around. Traveling for him has always been a non-negotiable.
This wasn’t a value or my mindset before I met him. But now, it’s a must! We almost always have a short or long weekend getaway scheduled in our calendar for every 90 days. Before coronavirus, we had different countries every three to four months scheduled to explore, or an invite to a friend’s wedding or birthday somewhere in Europe. We’re not wealthy people by any means. However, we’re very good at managing our money so that we can travel often.
What’s this have to do with creating more joy and fulfillment on a day-to-basis? A lot. Having an upcoming trip to look forward to is exciting. It calls for planning and often talking about it and what you’ll do once you arrive at your destination. It also calls for you to save money.
Most evenings in our house are filled with us cooking together, sharing ideas of all the cool things we could do on our trip, and how we’ll budget for it. Cooking at home with your significant other or bestie is bound to bring up special moments, different topics, expressing feelings of gratitude, or even fears with each other. Don’t you think times like this will have you feeling more connected, supported, excited, and joyful? They absolutely will! Plus, eating in and cooking more at home will help you save money to plan more getaways!
Write in your next trip on the calendar 90 days from now, and enjoy sprucing up new recipes in the kitchen over fun conversations all about what you’ll do in route to your destination.
Lastly, if you’re a single gal, still get that trip on the books. Before I met my fiancé, I’d plan myself a little B&B weekend getaway a few hours from home at least once a year. It was fun and helped me to build my self-confidence over the years, too.
2. Have an exciting goal or challenge to work towards each day.
I’m not talking about a professional work goal you want to reach, so you’ll finally feel worthy of being part of the cool work click. No. What I’m encouraging here is to allow yourself to have a personal goal that feels true and aligned to you — something you truly want to start investing more of your time in each day.
Maybe you’ve been feeling insecure or unworthy of a healthy, loving relationship lately. Commit to yourself that you’re going to start making your mental and emotional well-being a priority. For example, a goal to begin journaling five days a week what you’re proud of yourself for, what you’re grateful for, or five to seven “I am” affirmations. Or maybe meditation is a spiritual practice you want to start? Whatever “aligned to you” mental and emotional well-being goal you’ve wanted to work towards, go ahead and get started on it. Now is always the best time.
When I hit rock bottom six years ago, what looked like extreme burnout from over-working, another failed romantic relationship, and suffering from chronic lower back pain. I said to myself, “This can’t be all there is to life. There has to be something more. Happiness has to be in the cards for me too. What am I missing here?” When I began asking myself questions like these, I started receiving valuable feedback from my higher self, and my life began taking a turn for the best.
What’s this have to do with creating more joy in your life? A lot. Your mental and emotional health is by far the most important factor of whether or not you’ll experience joy and fulfillment on a day-to-day basis.
Your new “aligned to you” goal doesn’t have to be anything overwhelming. You can start small. Try the journaling suggestion I gave. When you create a practice like this, day by day, you’ll begin to feel the energy shift in your body and soon start to feel more joy and peace within.
3. Reward Yourself More.
Are you working your butt off every day doing everything you possibly can to achieve your goals and dreams? Do you make huge strides and reach major turning points that have progress shooting through the roof? Are you working your ass off but not making as much progress as you would like or thought you would’ve by now?
Still, be willing to reward yourself! You are not a machine. You are human. And all humans need to be acknowledged, supported, and loved regardless of the progress they’re making in life.
Think of a little 5-year-old child for a moment. These little people are not exceptional at pouring themselves a cup of chocolate almond milk, then putting the carton back in the fridge with the cap on it. No, they’re horrible at it, at least my nephew is. But as I watch him pour a drink for himself, focusing on the process every step of the way, looking out of the corner of his eye to see if Aunt Nikki is noticing how hard he’s trying not to spill milk everywhere, I’m still so proud of him for doing his best, and I make sure to express that to him.
Be this way with yourself! I’m a goal-striving individual too, but as I said in the beginning, I’m not waiting anymore on allowing myself to feel joy. I’m no longer waiting to “earn” joy. Instead, I’ve chosen to reward myself with small doses of it along the way. I decided to give myself permission to enjoy the process of life, and I encourage you to do the same.
For me, this looks like rewarding myself in the middle of the day with a 20–30 minute nap if I’m feeling a little overwhelmed or stressed. Going to the neighborhood café and buying myself a hot green tea to drink while enjoying a good book for about an hour. Or adding an extra small scoop to my already three good-sized scoops of ice-cream. How about you? In what ways can you reward yourself more this week?
You see, it’s all about the attitude you choose to have in life that can have you feeling unlimited amounts of joy and fulfillment each day. I know this to be 100% true because it’s a new way of life I’ve consciously chosen to start living.
You can choose to experience more joy on a day-to-day basis in your own life as well. You don’t have to wait for significant events to happen before you do. And you most certainly don’t have to “earn” joy. You can give yourself permission to feel it now.
