What is bringing me Joy

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 Good Morning,

Thank you Marie Kondo for coining the "brings me joy" statement. It has been a good thing to fall back on and when things that I am doing to bring joy are no longer working it might be time to take a pause or even remove that entirely. Writing every day began to feel more like a chore than an outlet and I'm not always the most creative to begin with unless it comes to power query or excel so creative writing for fun is new for me. 

That said, I think that break was exactly what I needed and I want to be able to have the memories of this time in life for years to come. Not being on social media (or at least active on the accounts that I haven't deleted) makes that slightly more challenging, but I think this is a healthy compromise. 

Below are the things that have brought me joy for the past few weeks while I took a pause from writing in no particular order:

1. morning quiet time - I've done the Bible Recap this year and this has been a really positive way for me to wake up and start my day with positivity and gratitude. I'm grateful to Tara Leigh for the energy that she puts out and that it truly does feel like a judgement-free area which is not always how I've felt about religion. 

2. trader joe's - spending about 30 minutes at trader joe's getting "fun food" for my family every friday has made me very happy and content

3. remembering gratitude - my family is fortunate. We are very privileged that when things got challenging medically (really more scheduling if I'm being perfectly honest) I was able to leave my job and put our priorities in the order that we'd always claimed they were. My amazing spouse has made this possible, the work that we'd put in for now decades made this possible, and our privilege made this possible. I am grateful for what we have and want to remember that every day and give back whenever we can. 

4. my counselor - I truly could not be in the place that I am today without spending time with my wonderful counselor and friend regularly. She has helped me to finally start to slow down, understand gratitude, and also have faith in the future that felt so overwhelming two years ago when it seemed as though we were in a full 360 autorotation while needing to sneeze.

5. of course my family - my boys and spouse have brought me so much joy and spending quality time together, even though some things have been a little rough, has been beyond positive. 


I think that I'll be back to a daily post as this has been a great way to push myself and show myself grace simultaneously. 

See you tomorrow!

💛Jess


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