The Misguided Guidelines of Joy-Taking Accountability of your Delight

Disclaimer: Now, this one may be a little bit uncomfortable. Need I say slightly cringe? You may even say, "Ouch," while reading. You might even slam your laptop shut and totally walk away. And that's completely ok. Take a minute, if needed. Just know that we can't serve each other well here, if we aren't willing to hold each other accountable. So yes, it's time for us to take full inventory of how we stack our joy.  It's time to measure our stock room to ensure our capacity to properly compile our delight. It's officially time to discard any versions of joy that hold us back from stretching ourselves and fulfilling our purpose. Accountability for our Joy Assembly, is officially in session. Joy Inventory Control has begun. Don't worry, I'm right here with you. We got this. Let's go...

So often in life we tie our joy to external versions of idealism. Or even perfection. We depend on others' measurements of what joy looks like to determine our own right to experience it. These are some misguided guidelines of joy. We, in turn, define these external ideals as personal standards.  Against this backdrop we rhythmically fit our joy into spaces where we believe society, community and social circles will approve. We condition ourselves to define joy by our ability to avoid failure or sustain status. Social norms shape our meaning of joy.  Effortlessly, we often squeeze our meaning of joy somewhere between our definitions of happiness, success, acceptance and accuracy. All the while, un-accepting that joy is not a result of living, but rather a means to live. We people please our way into joy. We meet various social and lifestyle benchmarks to show why joy deserves us and we deserve it. We secure the job, purchase the house, drive the car, marry the spouse all to show proof of how we earned our joy. Opposed to accepting that our birthright to have it, is the only benchmark required. We create justifications around joy, revealing that deep down we believe versions of us are unworthy of having it. Some of us will even, explain how we earned it, as if it's an achievement that someone deemed us fit to have. We view joy as a reward earned for good behavior, opposed to something universally and divinely awarded to sustain us through life. For some of us joy only becomes accessible when those in our orbit seem externally joyous. We become contagious to the energy and aura of joy. Yet as soon as the moment is over-so is the joy. This is not joy. Remove it from your stock room. We treat joy like a seasonal cold, catching it only when our lives are in bloom. We miss the awareness that joy is not a moment. It's an outlet. Its a deep knowing of oneself that, even in the harshest of seasons, it can transport you back to who you are. Its a means to live life with a deep knowing that you are enough, just as you are. Not as a perfected version of who you think you can become. The truth is perfection and joy have never been aligned. We think, in order to experince joy, we have to do "it" right. And in order to do "it" right we have  to do "it" perfect. But perfection is pressure by people to pretend. It's not sustainable, nor is it real. It does not serve you, strengthen you or grow you. But joy does. When it comes to joy, stop focusing on aceing the part and simply be it. Be the wonderfully made human that you are. Practice not allowing others to define your joy by the things you acquire or by your ability to perform. Stop gauging your joy off people's definition of success. Maintaining room for false versions of your joy will only take up space in your life, and distort your truth and knowing. It's time to restock your joy with substance. It's time to unlearn the things that have not served you. It's time to purge away the versions of joy that have kept you silent, small and scattered. It's time to organize your joy and stack it with intention and purpose. It's time to lean into your creativity and the conduits in your life that spark your joy and keep it lit. It's time to do the things that make your heart leap out of your chest. It's time to return to your inner knowing-the one you kept ignoring and pretending didn't exist. She's been waiting for you to prioritize her. It's time to take inventory of your heart and of your life and ascertain if what's in it aligns with your joy. Remember, that everything in your stock room doesn't have to agree with you, but it does have to strengthen you. Use your discernment to clearly understand which items are worth keeping in your stock room of joy. Just because weights are heavy doesn't mean they don't deserve a space. Sometimes the heaviest weights we carry in life create the most clarity on how we posture and define our joy. Use wise discernment to decide which weights are worth keeping. Or if this season of your life even requires them. This is your stock room. You decide what stays and what goes. You are the steward of your life. You are the steward of your joy. Account for your stock. Steward well and stock with intention.