The Littlest Joys Make a Difference

Let’s just be real with each other for a second - we’re friends here. Life is hard. It doesn’t matter who you are, no one is immune to the difficulties we face living in a broken world. And it’s easy to get caught up in just how hard it is sometimes. 

At the beginning of 2023, work started to get really hard for me. The amount of work we were doing kept picking up and we had big events happening, new responsibilities getting added to our team, and then hiring a new team member who needed training - it was a lot. It got to the point where I didn’t really recognize myself anymore. I showed up to work each day, did as much as I could and usually pushed myself to get more done (any fellow overachievers relate?), and left totally exhausted. By the time I got home I had nothing left and on more than one occasion I just broke down in the middle of dinner. Now of course I know that there are others who are in much more difficult seasons or facing realities that are much harder than mine. But, I got to the point where I was so consumed by how hard work was and how miserable I felt, that it was sucking the joy out of the rest of my life. 

All the amazing blessings that God has given me were overshadowed by one tough thing I was facing. And, don’t get me wrong - it was hard and we will face challenges that do affect us that way. But if we lose sight of the good in the midst of the hard, we’re setting ourselves up for misery and a much tougher way out. 

One of the things I had to start doing again was looking for the little joys in each day. I used to be much better at it, and if you’ve been here a while, it was something I talked about a lot - choosing happy (something my husband reminded me of). So, I entered a new era of finding the joy, and now we’re here!

The idea is simple really. Not every single day is going to feel like a good day, but I’d be willing to bet that you could find at least one good thing that happens each day. It can be as big as getting a new job, buying a house, or going on vacation. But it can also be (and likely will be) as “small” as a sunny day, a smile from a stranger, a coffee from your favorite coffee shop, or talking a walk. It could be reading a chapter of a book, watching your favorite show, or talking to a friend.

The more you start to look for these little joys each day, the more joy you find filling your cup rather than the difficulty of what you’re facing. My challenge to you is to find one every day! I believe that even the littlest joys makes a big difference in your life and your outlook - I know it has for me!

Join us on Instagram and tag @ohsohappyco in your little joy posts with #littlestjoys. I’ll be saving all of the joys shared by you along with my own so we can always go back and be reminded of the joys we have.