What do you do if you want to be happy but you’re not?  How do you handle the idea that you should have joy, contentment, and even a smile on your face but you don’t? What do you do if happiness seems to elude you for some reason you are aware of or even a reason of which you are not?

It’s that time of year when we begin to gear up for the upcoming holidays and all of the festivities that seasons entails.  We will be bombarded by talk of happiness, thankfulness, joy, gratitude, and all the reasons we have to smile.

But I have to be honest with you.

While I planned a few months ago to talk about happiness, joy, and living with gratitude during the month of November, I’ve recently realized that this might not be an easy topic for me to talk about.

I mean — it’s the right season for that topic but maybe not the right season for me. I’ve been a little down in the dumps lately and talking about “all-things-happy” is hard when you are fighting to find joy for yourself.

So I almost canned the idea altogether.

But I shared my dilemma with my masterminds — a group of girls who have been on my team over the last year and formed the “brains” behind so much of what we prepared and planned for the launch of She’s Still There. They have been wonderfully supportive, chatting and tossing ideas around, meeting to cast vision, and showing up for all of the events surrounding the release of my newest book.

I’m so grateful that they let me bounce stuff off of them and verbally process the millions of thoughts that race through my head.

As I shared my “happy-not-happy” conundrum with these girls, I jokingly suggested that I instead share their ideas for fighting for joy, happiness, and gratitude when you’re not feeling it. I figured that if I was “dry” that maybe one of them would have wisdom I could borrow.

That joke turned into reality because the girls thought that idea was a good one. I mean, how better to share about happiness, joy, and gratitude then to to share with you what I’m currently discovering or rediscovering? How better to encourage you in your struggle then to share with you how I’m dealing with my own?

This week I chat with Elizabeth Moore. Elizabeth is a lover of people. She is naturally joyful, upbeat, and optimistic but has had walked through a difficult season when she simply couldn’t fake being fine. Instead of feeling like her normal bubbly self, she felt numb, sad, flat and even angry. But Elizabeth has wisdom to share from walking that hard road. She learned how to fight for her happy when it wasn’t easy to come by. Elizabeth and I chat about what happiness and joy is, what you can do when you don’t feel happy or joyful, and practical simple steps for rediscovering joy.

So for the month of November, we will indeed tackle the topic of happiness, joy, and gratitude and we will do it together. I’ll be sharing my revelations from my chats with some of the girls on my team as I engage with their thoughts and experiences.

My hope is that the topic for this month will minister to you deep down. I always try to share in my writing and speaking from a place of authenticity and transparency so that you know you are not alone. So if you are struggling to find joy as we quickly approach what should be a joyful season — I get it.

We can work on this area of our lives together.

Highlight from Today’s Episode:

  • The role parents play in giving their kids a foundation for joy
  • Practical ways to get out of a funk
  • Simple steps to rediscovering joy

Resources From Today’s Show 

 

 ==> Click to Tweet 

  • “Give yourself grace to feel.” Elizabeth
  • “Emotions should guide you not govern you.” Chrystal
  • “The parallel train tracks of joy and sorrow are always running side by side throughout our lives.” Kay Warren
  • “The people of God ought to be the happiest people in all the wide world! People should be coming to us constantly and asking the source of our joy and delight.” A. W. TOZER

 ==> General Links 

Let’s Talk!

After you’ve listened to the podcast, I’d love to continue the conversation. Be sure and leave a comment!

  1. Are you struggling with a lack of happiness and joy? If so, why is that?
  2. What are your thoughts about the differences or simularity between happiness and joy?
  3. What do you typically do to get out of a “funk”?
  4. After listening to today’s episode, what did you find most encouraging to hear?

Connect with me…

How to Listen to The Podcast

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You have been so great to join me on the journey here on the blog, I hope you jump right in do the same on the podcast!