Letting Joy Lead The Way

This is going to be a chaos of a text, so buckle up.

I don’t have much to say this week, but this one realization: let more joy come into your life.

But how do you do that? From first-hand experience, thinking harder is not the answer. It’s all about feeling and intuition. Searching for delight by only using your intellect is like having a compass without knowing where you want to end up. There’s not much use in knowing where north is when you don’t have a destination in mind. And like the poles, glee feels magnetic, yet can’t be intellectualized.

I believe everyone already knows what they enjoy to some degree, but it’s scary to pursue it. Failing at something you love is much more painful than at something you don’t care much about. But that pain falters in comparison to the agony of not pursuing what brings you joy. It’s probably because joyfulness is thought of as childish in adult life. Some degree of pain is required, otherwise an activity is frivolous. Joyful pursuits can also cause pain, but it’s a pain you’re willing to bear. You might even look forward to it! Yet there’s this romanticization to bearing pain just so you can say you suffered for it. We act as if there’s some price for suffering waiting at the end. Martyrdom seems noble, until you realize it’s also a status game: “Look at me how much I’m willing to suffer!”. The people who endured great suffering for a greater mission didn’t think about martyrdom, they thought about accomplishing the mission. In their pursuit, they found joy.

In the end, it all comes back to following your fear: what lights up your being like a thousand stars, but induces the terror of the darkest of nights? That’s where your true north lies, pointing to your destination of adventure and euphoria.