4 Ways to Bring Back Your Joy

Do you ever feel like you’re in a mental fog? I’ve been there A LOT lately. I remember waking up as a kid, the morning we were suppose to leave for vacation. I was happy and excited to get out of bed, no matter how early I had to wake up. Excitement comes from our curiosity and hope for something to come. I’m learning, if I schedule time for rest and leave my schedule open for spontaneity, life starts to surprise and excite me more. Not only that, but sticking to consistent business hours and being strict with the clock out time helps create that balance we all long for.

Here are a 4 things that have helped me get out of the fog and spark joy again:

Try a New Hobby

I saw a friend of mine posting videos on Instagram about skating. We hadn’t talked in years, but I was curious. I replied to one of her Instagram stories and asked her if skating was actually as fun as it looked. She quickly responded and was so excited to tell me all about it. She invited me to go skating with her and I thought, “Why not? I should try it!” Since then we’ve gone skating a couple times, I bought a pair of skates I love, and I’m getting better at it every day. It’s been a slow process, but this new hobby has been so refreshing. It has nothing to do with work and has really helped me find joy in not being productive. I tend to feel the need to be productive all the time, but this has helped me realize it’s okay to have fun. Give yourself permission to have fun with no agenda!

Set Boundaries in Work & Life

This is still a constant learning curve, but I’ve made some changes that have helped A LOT. I’ve been working strict consistent hours in my business, scheduling out reoccurring tasks, and planning quarterly instead of just for the next week. I’ve had to get better about not responding unless it’s during work hours. This doesn’t always happen, but I realize when I stick to this, things seem much less overwhelming. I’ve even stopped posting a lot of work on my person Instagram feed and only posting on my business account. A big thing I realized after doing this is “I am not my business.” My business is a part of me, but not all of me. More to come on this in an upcoming blog post ;)

Shift Your Mindset

Focusing on what I do have, not what I don’t have. I tend to listen to Joyce Meyer when I can’t get out of my own head. It’s not always what I want to listen to, but I have to choose to set my mindset. It sounds cold, but attitude is a choice. She’s a wonderful stepping stone out of the darkness and back into the light. Sometimes all we can do is simply choose the next right thing. Baby steps are still steps, no matter how tiny. Take a little step towards a better attitude. I’ve heard that gratitude interrupts anxiety. I found this to be so very true. When I focus on what’s going right, not what’s going wrong, things start to shift. It’s not going to solve everything, but it always helps put things into perspective more clearly.

Create Without an Agenda

This one can be a challenge, but has so many benefits. I tend to think I have to make money on all my creative projects. This mindset can hold me back in so many ways. It can cause the flame of a new idea to be completely blown out. Pour gasoline on your ideas. Give yourself permission to be creative without perfection. Want to paint something, do it! Don’t like it? Paint over it with white paint and start again. Those words are so powerful, start again. The more you use creativity, the more you have. God created us in His image, therefor by default, we are creators. Creativity is simply a muscle. It takes time to build up those muscles, but man oh man is it rewarding if you simply keep trying. Allow yourself to fail. Trying is much more courageous than just day dreaming about it forever!