What’s Bringing You Joy These Days?
I heard that question on a podcast recently as the opening question for the guest and it really resonated for me.
My immediate response?
Being present.
Fully present.
For myself.
With others.
When I’m in nature.
Fully alive.
Feeling it all.
I have had multiple experiences over the past few weeks of really dialing in and connecting with what matters:
- One of my dear friends is dying of kidney cancer. She was a bridesmaid at my first wedding. I hadn’t seen her in four years, but I drove two and a half hours each way for just a few lucid minutes with her. It was priceless. Her inner light is still radiant, even as she’s dying, and it was beautiful to witness. I cried all the way home, but I’m so glad I made the journey.
- I have a new group of friends who are fellow adoptees. We have been getting together regularly for meals and movies. The conversation is always rich and deep, and we find that we understand each other better than some other friends who have known us for decades. I feel like I belong with them more than almost any other group I’ve ever been a part of.
- I recently dined with a friend at Luminosa in Asheville, and we started chatting with Pam and Marty, a local couple who have been married for 55 years. Hearing their “meet cute” at a commune in Oregon in the 1960s was so playful and inspiring. We had so much fun with them that after dinner, we went downstairs and had drinks at the bar and kept the conversation going.
- I have been savoring the theater lately. Being a patron of community theater is such a joy. Our local Asheville Community Theatre just did their rendition of In the Heights and it was outrageously amazing. Theater has a way of taking you out of your ordinary life and transporting you to another world for a few hours.
- Books do the same thing for me—help transport me out of ordinary time for a bit—and I’ve been reading up a storm. Here are my summer reading recommendations.
I have also been allowing tears to fall as I grieve the end of my three-and-a-half-year relationship, miss my dad more than usual (even though he’s been gone for 32 years), and contemplate the state of the world right now. It’s a lot to carry—but I know we’re all processing so much these days.
So, to counteract the grief, I’ve been keeping a gratitude journal for a few weeks now. And for a few months, I’ve been texting with one of my brothers our three gratitudes for the week. It’s been a sweet way to stay connected and to get a glimpse into one another’s lives.
How have you been present lately? What is bringing you joy?
I always love hearing how you’re doing. Please comment and give me a window into what’s bringing YOU joy—I read every single reply and I will write you back.
And if you’re in the middle of a life transition and processing questions about identity and belonging or simply feeling the weight of being a lot of things to a lot of people right now—I’m here. Schedule a call and let’s talk.