Choosing joy with both/and in hard times

Let’s talk about both/and. About choosing joy when we aren’t feeling it 100%.

I’m in a great mood, full of joy, and optimism. Then, I was awash in grief and tears. Somehow, we tend to look at things as either/or.

Perhaps that’s not really the truth of emotions, or living with anxiety or mental illness.

It’s OK to be honest.

You don’t have to put on a “fine “ face all the time.

Because how can we ever live sincere, authentic lives with each other if we always pretend everything is great?

“I can choose either to be a victim of the world or an adventurer in search of treasure. It’s all a question of how I view my life.”
– Paulo Coelho

How do you choose joy?

The vast majority of my world is just in a super sweet season. There is growth and harvest and beauty. Like any healthy environment, there are also thorns.

When you live with anxiety or depression? Perspective is imperative.

It is draining, sometimes to constantly have to choose. Because your emotions sway and swing with it every breeze.

Because in the dark of night, they grip you and keep you awake.

In the day, everything can be beautiful, and then the stab comes. Without warning. And you just have to deal with it. Because that’s real life! But without perspective, hope is hard to come by.

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.”
– Marcus Aurelius

I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure– Psalm 16:8-9 (NIV)

I’m choosing vulnerability on this public platform because I want YOU to have the freedom to be vulnerable too- with each other! With the real-life people in your world!

When you become practiced at perspective, it’s a lot easier to ditch the either/or lens.

Experience has given us a wiser point of view- knowing that things change all the time. And that good things are coming that we don’t see, even in heartache. Everybody has a private pain.