4053: Sometimes Life Sucks and You Choose Joy Anyway by Krista O'Reilly-Davi-Digui of A Life In Progress

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[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_01] This is Optimal Living Daily. Sometimes life sucks and you choose joy anyway. By Krista O'Reilly, Davy DeGee of a lifeinprogress.ca. And I'm Justin Malik. And we're going to jump right into today's post as we optimize your life. Sometimes life sucks and you choose joy anyway. By Krista O'Reilly, Davy DeGee of a lifeinprogress.ca. This is real life.

[00:01:30] [SPEAKER_01] Yet another sewer backup. Another friend in trouble. More financial stressors. A child going through a difficult time. Something's up in your body and it hurts. Dealing with disingenuous people. Ugh. Sometimes life sucks and you choose joy anyway. Should we wait until life is calm and perfectly predictable to live with joy? Do we permit life circumstances to control our every thought and emotion? Why do other people get to push our buttons and control our moods and behavior?

[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_01] We can decide that whether life is easy breezy or downright horrible to choose joy and wear it like a garment. We can decide to shift our thoughts and remind ourselves that though life feels rocky right now and we are walking through some unknowns, that sometimes life sucks and you choose joy anyway. When we choose joy, we are more easily able to identify the gifts of today. We have good, albeit simple food, to feed our family. We cannot make life perfect for our friend, but we can love them and offer words of encouragement

[00:02:28] [SPEAKER_01] and maybe some homemade soup. We have walked through financial stressors before and will come out of this season too, heart and mind intact. This challenging circumstance for our child permits us to come alongside and demonstrate our love and support for him or her in tangible ways. We have access to healthcare and fresh air and legs that permit us to get out for a walk or to dance with our child in the kitchen. And when we walk through hard times, we come up against a very necessary and amazing opportunity

[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_01] to practice resilience, to call on the skills we built around self-care and self-compassion, to be reminded of the powerful truth that we get to decide who we are and how we choose to be in the world. I'm not trying to downplay all your pain or the reality of your situation, nor mine, but I recognize that mindset matters. Moving out from a victim mentality matters. Practicing resilience matters. I've lived a near lifetime of chronic fear and anxiety,

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_01] and I've lived with deeply rooted joy, an unshakable rootedness that anchors me in the storm. Oh, it is not easy. My husband hears the stress in my voice, and those creases between my eyes seem a little deeper today. My jaw hurts because I was clenching all night. I must remember my splint tonight. My right arm and joints have flared up and hurt as they do when I'm shifting into a stress state, but I stubbornly, intentionally choose joy. And so can you.

[00:03:52] [SPEAKER_01] Sometimes it is easy to tell ourselves to calm down, that all is well, but our body has other ideas. No matter how much we will ourselves to chill out, our bossy brain takes over and starts yelling loudly, all manner of fearful and anxious thoughts, and our traitorous body follows like a hapless little puppy. Yet we can keep practicing in big or small ways. We can choose over and over and over who and how we want to be in the world. And we can choose not to quit when life feels hard.

[00:04:22] [SPEAKER_01] So what are some habits we can practice? Some practical tips to help us choose joy in these challenging seasons? Number one, do the work. When I was going through a really difficult time years back, my psychologist recommended Byron Katie's book, Loving What Is. I completely disagreed with some of her philosophy, yet found parts of it extremely helpful in shifting my thoughts to hope from despair. Number two, pause and just breathe.

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_01] Don't skip over this. If you're stressed out, chances are you are forgetting to breathe or perhaps breathing too quickly. Pull out your favorite essential oil and set a timer on your phone to remind you to physically pause a few times a day, ground your body, and take some slow, calming, deep breaths. Number three, reach out for comfort or social support. A text or phone call. A long hug from your partner. There's danger during times like these that you and your partner pull away from each other rather than pull together.

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_01] Or other healthy touch. Number four, go to bed. I feel like I say this over and over and over. There are so many people hustling out of necessity, working multiple jobs, just doing their best to survive, and sacrificing sleep for this. But there are an equal number of people thinking that staying up till 2 a.m. to work or watch TV is the answer. But sleep deprivation impacts your ability to think clearly and make wise decisions, to respond in a healthy way to stress.

[00:05:48] [SPEAKER_01] Number five, practice gratitude. Force your brain to see the good. If you're feeling incredibly anxious and jittery, I encourage you to use a journal like my seasonal mindfulness journals or app to physically write down the things you are grateful for rather than just thinking them. Writing takes more work and causes a bigger hard stop, which can help pull you out of your head into your body. A good thing. Number six, enjoy mindful activities like coloring or knitting.

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_01] Listen to music that energizes or read a book that inspires. Spending time watching TV feels easy, mind-numbing, and curling up with a good movie can be lovely once in a while. And The Office got me through a hard season of life recently. But TV watching is not always one of the best ways to unwind. And number seven, gentle movement like walking can help us lower stress or anxiety. We may feel we don't have time for this in really busy seasons,

[00:06:41] [SPEAKER_01] but walking, yoga, stretching, or even dancing with a local two-step group can boost endorphins and lower stress and anxiety. I'm sorry for the stress you are walking through. I wish you were not afraid, more alone, or in pain. I can also say it would feel far lovelier if my life were absent of struggle in this moment. But this is real life. And we can do this. And I believe there are amazing gifts that await us on the other side of the valley if we have eyes to see.

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_01] We can choose to face head-on the reality of our current situation. And even when life sucks, when we feel heartbroken or afraid or extremely raw and depleted, we can choose joy anyway. You just listened to the post titled, Sometimes Life Sucks and You Choose Joy Anyway, by Krista O'Reilly, Davy DeGee of alifeinprogress.ca. And I'll be right back with my commentary. Now, I don't know about you,

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[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_01] Thank you to Krista. I think this idea of choosing joy comes off differently when you know the author is actually struggling, because if, I don't know, they were in a really great situation in writing it, or some kind of guru who seems to have it all together, I don't think it lands the same. When Krista writes about jaw clenching, joints flaring up, and then choosing joy, it makes it feel a bit more achievable for the average person.

[00:09:34] [SPEAKER_01] And it can be easy to sort of wait for circumstances to line up before we feel happiness or joy, waiting for a certain stressor to resolve, for things to calm down a little. But her point is that that's not how it works. It's not what comes when everything goes right. It's more like something we have to actively practice choosing, especially when things aren't right. It's a discipline, really.

[00:10:03] [SPEAKER_01] So if you're struggling, hopefully this one can help. And the habits of sleep, movement, gratitude, reaching out to someone, it's not really groundbreaking, but proven to help, so definitely consider them. And with that, thank you for being here. You being here is what keeps me going every day. Have a great rest of your day, and I'll see you tomorrow, where your optimal life awaits.