When I started to walk the path on my self love journey two things happened right away. One, I quickly realized that self love isn’t a destination. It is the whole journey. And the other one was that the word “JOY” kept popping up time and time again. Why JOY? It wasn’t a word that I had ever really paid much attention to or even used on a regular basis. Joy was a major theme in a book that was recommended to me and I started reading. It came up in sermons at church. Podcasts that I started listening to talked about joy. I even went on an interview to a studio to teach Yoga and Spin, the studio was decorated for the holidays and there was one word in the lobby made from 3 foot high, glittery letters. You guessed it…JOY!

Happiness is something I always strived for in my life. Happiness with friends and family. Happiness at work and at my job. Happiness in marriage. Then it hit me, JOY is what I should have been seeking this whole time. I started to read more about joy and research the difference between happiness and joy. Is there even a difference?

Turns out, yes there is. Happiness is fleeting, while Joy is eternal. Happiness often comes from an external source, such as a fun moment with friends, a great meal, visiting a new place, or a moment in time. Joy is a feeling that lingers, never fades, and comes from within us. Joy is something that doesn’t just happen, as Happiness does, but is something that we continually have to cultivate. Joy comes when we begin to love and accept ourselves for who we are and how we show up in the world for ourselves and for others. 

I believe that Joy is not something we do for ourselves but something that we must share with others. Joy is selfless. I believe that part of obtaining Joy is to live in service to others and put others first. I also believe that Joy endures even in hardships and challenging situations. 

Joy happens when we finally come to a place of inner contentment, satisfaction, acceptance, and gratitude. Joy helps to heal wounds, inspires us to help others, and fills our souls. I think self love and joy go hand in hand. Each is a huge part of the other as you walk the path on your journey. Cultivating Joy will help you to love yourself and accept yourself more. Being more accepting and loving of yourself will help you to create more Joy in your life. While the journey to self love can be long and often difficult, you must find the JOY in the journey. 

But my self love journey did not begin with the end of my marriage. It is something I have worked on over a lifetime. I may have walked astray on my self love journey and stumbled off the path over those three years that my marriage fell apart, but because it is something that I have worked on for years, has made it easier for me to fall in love with myself again so much quicker this time around. Because I had spent years focusing on truly loving myself, I was able to quickly find the path to self love and JOY again this time around. 

Now JOY is something I focus on and cultivate daily in my life, and something that I hope I can help others with as well. The French have a saying, “Joie de Vivre”, which means the “the joy of living”.

Joie de vivre ( “joy of living”) is a French phrase to express a cheerful enjoyment of life, an exultation of spirit. It “can be a joy of conversation, joy of eating, joy of anything one might do… And joie de vivre may be seen as a joy of everything, a comprehensive joy, a philosophy of life!

Ultimately, cultivating a Joie de Vivre is about embracing the beautiful things in life, finding joy in everyday moments, and expressing gratitude for the world around us. So how do you find joy (or joie de vivre) in the everyday? This is a topic I want to focus on with my blog and other content. To not only find joy for myself but to help you find it in your lives as well.

Moving forward, I will be sharing tips and ideas on how to cultivate more JOIE DE VIVRE in your everyday lives here on the blog, as well as Instagram and YouTube. So, make sure to follow!