Wow!!! Just now seeing that this blog post was never published—-even though it was written in November—I’m sharing it now because the message is exactly what I needed to hear. Thanks old self for giving me this gem for present self!!!
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#joyseeker
These are my peeps.
Yep, those who seek out as much joy as they can each day and choose to see the good things that surround them. No matter what the day may bring.
It’s far too easy to see all of the things that go wrong each day and is way to simple to dwell in the negative things that happen.
It takes a strong person to be aware of the hard times yet choose to seek out the joy that they know surrounds them. To feel all of the anxiety and fear, yet seek the blessings that are pouring over them.
Each are a choice that you get in every single situation and will be what defines you as a storm chaser or a joy seeker. Which one are you?
The beauty of this is that you can be both during any given experience and you can reprogram yourself to become a joy seeker more than a storm chaser.
A storm chaser keeps their eyes on whatever storm is happening for them at the moment. A bad day catches their attention and they remain fixated on every little detail of it, which then causes the storm to grow. Or they see every little detail that is going wrong, choosing to obsess over the chaos.
They find themselves wrapped up in drama, overwhelmed by fear, and left feeling alone as they clutch onto whatever they can control. Control. What they often miss is that they have the control to switch their mindset at any moment, whether it’s the instant the storm begins or in the eye feeling like they have it under control when it’s really just swirling around them.
We all know people who quickly jump to conclusions or point out every wrong step in the world around them because often negativity is the easiest thing to see. It causes so much commotion, so many uprooted trees, a wide range of emotions….all things that are easy to see and easy to get lost in the cycle of storm chasing.
Does your kiddo make a huge mess for the millionth time and you focus on the mess, how overwhelming it is to clean up? So you choose to grump over having to get it cleaned it up? Or do you see all of the joy they had playing with the toys in the mess?? Inviting them to tell you all about it as you pick it up together? The mess will be a mess either way, but it’s your choice of whether you feed the storm or find the joy.
You just dropped your coffee and it spilled everywhere. Do you beat yourself up, freak out that it’s created a huge mess, which then leads you to being late to the next part of your day. Creating a bigger storm than you started with. Or do you look at the coffee on the floor, be sad that the deliciousness is wasted, realize the only thing to do is to quickly clean it up and move on??
The control of how you look at it is in your hands. Will you be a storm chaser or a joy seeker?
Your actions will either feed the storm making it stronger or calm the storm helping it dissipate faster. Each thought is crucial, each action will result in making it better or worse.
I’m not saying that life is sunshine and rainbows either or saying that there are “No bad days” that just doesn’t sit well with me because it implies that having a bad day doesn’t happen but in real life that’s the complete opposite.
Just the other day I woke up late which then rushed everyone’s morning, you all know that feeling, right?
Then went to a Dr apt where it was implied that I was lying about my prior surgeries and was talked down to, the worst.
On my way back home I forgot to stop by the post office and had to drive all the way back to town, which was defeating.
Was then confronted by a team mate and my feelings were hurt. Emotions were getting the best of me for sure.
Our landlord informed me that the fix on the house would happen the week before Christmas, so inconvenient for our family so we pushed till after the first of the year.
Our dinner didn’t thaw in time, so I had to scramble to put something together for our family to eat.
All of these moments where I felt overwhelmed, sad and drained, it was tempting to just wallow in how each instance was totally stealing my day. Instead I had to let myself feel those emotions of being upset, hurt, frustrated. Then used strength to point out the good, I had to choose to seek joy so that I could cherish the time with my family, connect with my customers, relaxed with husband, cheer on our team, design some earrings….if I would have went the easy route to feed the storm then I would have missed all of those moments.
It was a day, full of experiences that didn’t meet my expectations. Everyday is full of these moments and it’s far to easy to lean into those moments and sit back to focus on the storm. Every moment requires strength to find the good, you must be prepared and ready to use those joy muscles every single day. Instead of going through life saying No Bad Days….because bad days will happen or by saying today’s been a total bad day it’s whether you choose to chase the storm or seek joy that will make the biggest difference in how you view your time spent that day.
Storm chaser?
Joy seeker?
Either way you are amazing, strong and more powerful than you even realize.
Here are just a few of my fellow #joyseeker pals who’ve shared with me their joy of my joyful designs. Seriously so much joy and beyond thankful that I get to brighten their days with such a simple joy!!!!
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