It’s easy to be joyful when things are great… Everyone is happy, life is abundant, and joy comes naturally. But when a crisis hits, it’s easy to jump into fear, scarcity, and a whole bunch of other emotions that aren’t so joyful. Here are 8 simple tips on how to stay full of joy during a crisis.
Come from gratitude.
It is impossible to be in a space of fear or any fear-based emotion (anger, scarcity, frustration, crabbiness) when you are being grateful. Jim Stovall (author, Olympic gold medalist, and so much more) says it best when he talks about his Golden List:
“The Golden List is a concept and a daily routine I learned from my grandmother. Apparently on one particular day as a preschool child, I was expressing my dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs. My grandmother told me, “You can whine and complain all you want just as soon as you finish your Golden List.” When I inquired what The Golden List was, she told me that we needed to sit down and make a list of 10 things I was thankful for today, and then I would be free to complain and criticize until my heart was content.”
So simple and easy to do, making a Golden List at the start of each day will certainly bring you joy in a time of crisis.
Check out http://www.jimstovall.com/ for more info about Jim and all his greatness!
Give yourself grace.
I am typically a very driven, constantly-going person. My first day of sheltering-in-place, I was like “Tons of time at home! I’m going to get all these things done!” And I proceeded to make a huge list of every single project I ever thought I might do, both for work and for my personal life. Then I immediately fell into a giant hole of overwhelm and pouted for the rest of the week.
My friend, Susan Seay (coach, speaker, writer, homeschool teacher, and mom to 7!), recently shared with me the idea of “quiet stress.” We are all experiencing such weirdness in our lives right now, and yet we’re all trying to make some new normal out of it. It’s like when your computer runs constantly and never actually shuts down. It wears down the battery and the processor, and eventually your computer will overheat and shut itself down. We all have this new, background stress running constantly - trying to turn the crazy into a new normal. If we don’t give ourselves grace right now, we will eventually overheat and shut down too.
Take it easy with your long to-do lists, don’t schedule your day full of back to back zoom calls, and don’t “should” all over yourself when you arrive at the end of the day and you don’t think you got enough done. Give yourself some breathing room if you need time to take a walk, read a book, play with your kids and/or pets, and feel all the feelings that are happening right now.
Check out Susan’s website for amazing info, especially her podcast! http://susanseay.com/
Look for helpers.
My favorite Mr. Rogers quote is “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”
Even in the most serious of crises, helpers can always be found. The amount of love and compassion that is spreading through our community right now is immense and profound. Even in the scariest moments, it brings me so much joy to see connection and kindness bring a tightly-knit community even closer together.
Have a belly laugh.
Laughter is the best medicine, right? Put on the show or movie that you know by heart and still makes you laugh out loud. Go in search of funny jokes to tell people. Watch a blooper reel. Get on a call with that friend that can always make you laugh. Send someone some funny gifs. Do something that will make you and your loved ones giggle!
Take care of basics.
I feel like lots of people say this, but I’m going to say it too because it’s important! Take care of your basics. Drink enough water (half your weight in ounces every day). Eat food that nourishes your body. Get enough sleep. No electronics in bed. Shower. Brush your teeth. Do all the things that are good for your body and will help you to feel good throughout the day. It’s much simpler to be joyful when your body is joyful.
Get creative.
Do a project! Even if you’re not an arts and crafts kind of person, it feels great to be creative! And there’s tons of ways to be creative! Write, compose, choreograph, draw, paint, knit, sculpt, cook, collage, update your home, garden, make a video, arrange flowers, make origami… and so many more! When you’re in creation mode, you are definitely in a space of abundance and joy.
Pump up the jams.
Whatever music fills your soul, listen to it. Like every morning. Start the day filling up with your favorite tunes, and you will be ready to take on the day joyfully. Everyone is different and everyone finds different music uplifting and fulfilling. If your kind of music is made for dancing, get your dance party on. If you’re all about head banging, go for it (just don’t hit your head on your bathroom counter). If you prefer slow jams, be mellow and soak in the vibes. Music has a way of connecting to our subconscious and helping raise us up when we need it.
Problems = opportunities.
The true key to joy in times of crisis is the ability to step back and see where a problem actually becomes an opportunity. This crisis has given me the blessing of the opportunity to step out of a very full schedule where every day was basically just running from one calendar event to the next, and gain some vision. It has allowed me to re-examine what I considered to be “normal” and “right” in my day to day, and see if I still value the way I was doing things. It has allowed me to shift, and look for other services my business might offer and other ways I can be of value to my community. Finally, this crisis has given me an opportunity to grow as a person, as a community member, and as a business owner. Initially, having to stop everything I was doing and shut down all my momentum was extremely frustrating, but now I find a great amount of joy in having a new vision and experiencing the growth that is coming out of this. Being joyful is easy when you view problems as opportunities.
Hang in there! It’s a weird time and we will all have our ups and downs! I hope you find at least some small things that bring you joy each day!