Hi, friends! A new post from me… Say what?!?!?!
Man, have I missed you all!
I don’t plan to blog as regularly as I used to, but I am happy to be back in the swing of things.
I have missed this community so much and all the wonderful interactions with my friends!
I have many things I want to share with you all, but today I want to talk about something that has been heavy on my heart ~ JOY
Have you ever thought to yourself and wondered where the JOY went in your life?
Wondering why everything is getting you down lately or upsetting you lately?
So busy you just feel like you are going through the motions and wondering what impact you are leaving on people?
No? Just me.
Well, these are just some of the thoughts I’ve been having lately.
I don’t know what my problem has been???
I’ve been having such a hard time with finding joy and “purpose” out of my life and just feeling overwhelmed with so many things.
Believe me when I say, I’ve had things happen to me where I can justify being a little bitter and unhappy.
However, that is NOT the type of person I am at all.
My breaking point was the other day when Emily asked me to fix her a simple snack after school and I got ANNOYED at her asking that because I just wanted to go sit down and get on IG!!!!
I knew instantly that I was in the wrong. How could I get mad at the very girl that I brought into the world and loved more than anything?
I told Emily I was sorry for losing my patience with her, fixed her the best snack she’s ever had, and went to my room.
I asked God to please help me to find the joy in my life again and to quit letting such negative thoughts consume my life.
To quit feeling like everything is going against me and start realizing everything I have to be thankful for.
I have SOOOO much to be thankful for. I am healthy, I have a beautiful family, I have a great job that I love, a beautiful home, and a great group of family and friends.
I know I will be a work in progress, but I am claiming right now that I will get JOY back in my life.
There will always be things that go wrong~ but happiness is a choice we make and I choose to be HAPPY!
Here are some things I plan to do to help me with this:
DO WHAT I ENJOY:
- Get back to blogging. (It’s therapeutic for me)
- Get back to walking. (Hello, 10 pounds I’ve gained since this summer)
- Spend more time with my family and friends.
HAVE AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE:
- Every day write down at least one thing I’m thankful for. (Use the app Gratitude Journal 365 for this)
OTHER THINGS:
- Putting my phone down.
- Writing one nice note to a student every day.
- Did I mention, putting my phone down?
If you are feeling stressed or unhappy and just need to find joy in your life again, please reach out to me.
I don’t have all the answers, but I do know that through some simple steps and with God’s help, it is possible.
Thanks for letting me share my heart with you all today!
It feels so good to be back publishing a blog post.
Hope your Thursday is great!
Love this so much! Thanks for the reminder. I’m pretty good at this most of the time but somehow getting packed to leave town always gets me worked up and I was so ugly to my husband and kids the last 24 hours!!
Sounds like an exciting time ahead! Enjoy and have fun!
First up; welcome back! You were missed. 🙂 Secondly, I swear I could have written this exact post today. I too have been feeling stressed and rather down lately even though I try to put a happy spin on things. I can’t pinpoint any one reason why I seem to have lost my joy but I’m thinking two weeks in a row with 4+ days of rain just isn’t helping. I am a sunshine gal and living in New England it’s kind of a joke that we probably won’t see sun again until June (not something I deal with well!).
Thank you! I have missed you so much.
Rain isn’t my favorite! I’m a sunshine gal also! It’s supposed to be 40 degrees here tomorrow and rainy. Boo!
Hope your weekend is great.
Glad you are back at it! Love you and this precious blog!!! Thanks for sharing!!!
Love ya! 😘
Welcome back, Jen! Hope that things calm down for you a little bit so that you can get back to the things you enjoy (including blogging)! I know that I always look forward to your posts and I think that you’ll enjoy have these posts in a few years when you want to look back on them! 🙂
Thank you!
Yes!!!! I love having it as an online scrapbook. One of the best things!
Hope you’ve been doing well!
What a refreshing post to read, friend! I feel like you took the words out of my mouth, literally! I was just talking to a friend about this the other day and how I want to blog again for the therapeutic aspect. I have blogged for 8 years and it’s been almost a year since I have blogged and I miss it. I love reading your posts and that you are going to be back occasionally. I’m with ya, Jen!
Love ya! 🙂
I’m so glad you’re back! I know exactly what you mean with finding joy and not letting things like your phone get in the way of doing the right thing. It can really be a struggle!
Such a struggle! Chris has been coaching football and Liz has cheer practice every day after school, so it’s just me and Emily. I got in a bad habit of just sitting on my phone, A LOT! And next year she will be busy with basketball, so I want to enjoy this time with her!
Welcome back, you have been missed. And you are absolutely not alone. I used to think, though, I could find JOY and PEACE that would last day after day after day. Now I try to find moments of joy and peace in each day. Might be five minutes of quiet time, a power nap, a walk, driving and listening to my Audible book. Might be fleeting but at least I have had a few moments of what I need most. Allow yourself some grace, go into your room, shut the door and decompress for 20 minutes everyday. Light a candle, read, close your eyes, listen to some favorite music. But see if that doesn’t help. Once you have allowed yourself those few moments to recharge, you will begin to find the joy in life again. I can just about guarantee. Big hugs!!
Great advice! Thank you.