joy tidbits
In March 2020, I created a new website, giving my blog a new home.
I started publishing a quarterly small joy newsletter for email subscribers.
This practice has been sadly neglected, but I hope to return to it as the year rolls along.
My writing of the past year has been, at times, quite heavy for solid reasons, but there is a time when lightening up can be helpful and necessary.
It might be a change of pace to spend the week sharing some joyful tidbits within my days.
At one point in my writing journey, I told my parents I would experiment with writing 300-word posts. Occasionally, my dad would mention he had read my latest post and enjoyed it. He would add, when did you say you would start writing those 300-word posts?
These pieces will be shorter but, alas, not that short.
My last post was one of those pieces of writing that I felt an immediate wave of overexposure once I pressed publish. But thanks be to God, I was met nearly immediately by responses letting me know I was not alone and ushered into bearing witness with so many of you who have been walking with feet firmly planted in joy and sorrow. Thank you for your support and for honoring me with your tender places.
My first joy tidbit is doing something to raise the level of the mundane.
I started drinking coffee again after a five-year break during the pandemic. Once we spent our mornings together without the perpetual mad dash out the door, it became a sweet ritual to enjoy with Carl. This new habit quickly turned into two cups with all the needed accouterments.
Earlier this year, I decided it would be nice to drink one cup of coffee a day. This was not for any virtuous health reasons but for enjoying a solitary mug, savoring it, and making it last instead of essentially bypassing the first serving to get to the next one.
A few weeks ago, I rediscovered my milk frother, and with the addition of a new-to-me creamer passed along to me by my mother, my one cup a day coffee has become a tidbit of joy, adding a lift to the ordinary. Oh, the joy of foam.
What can you add to your days to create a little joy nestled among the ordinary?
Add a few new washcloths to your end-of-the-day skincare routine.
Light a candle and place it on a safe counter while you clean the kitchen.
Make a playlist of songs played exclusively when doing a dreaded task.
How can you infuse joy into your day and life?
