I just had the most incredible conversation with author
about something we all desperately need right now: joy. Not the fake, toxic positivity kind - the real, deep-in-your-gut kind that shows up even when life is absolutely falling apart.Jess has been through it, friends. Terminal cancer diagnosis for her mom right before COVID hit. Her husband's devastating motorcycle accident that left his face completely reconstructed. Ten surgeries. Countless hospital nights. The kind of trauma that would make anyone want to curl up and never come out. Single parenting while grieving.
Jess discovered that joy was there the whole time. Not happiness - that floats up in your eyebrows and disappears when you finish your ice cream cone. Joy lives in your gut. It's involuntary. It's deeper. And it will literally hang out with your trauma, your fear, and all your metaphorical alligators without flinching.
As someone on a self-discovery journey myself, this conversation completely shifted how I think about what we're actually reaching for when we're trying to heal. We're not trying to eliminate the hard stuff (though that would be nice)- we're trying to make space for joy to coexist with it.
This is what I wish every woman knew:
You don't have to muscle through everything.
You don't have to clench your way through life.
You can write yourself a permission slip to experience joy even when everything feels uncertain and scary.
Joy isn't something you have to earn or deserve. It's not reserved for people whose lives look perfect on Instagram. It's a constant companion that's always there, waiting for you to stop wrestling with life long enough to notice it.
The most profound thing Jess said was this: "Joy is the resistance." When everything around us is pulling us toward fear and anxiety, choosing to make space for joy - even tiny moments of it - is an act of rebellion.
So here's your reminder, beautiful: Take a breath. Notice what joy feels like in your body. Stop apologizing for moments of laughter during hard times. Trust that joy will show up if you stop trying to control it into existence.
Sometimes the most radical thing you can do is simply allow yourself to float.
LYLAS
- S
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