Why Joy Is EXACTLY What You Need Right Now

It's the secret sauce in a world on fire. And it's how we win.

Feb 16, 2025

We are phenomenally resilient beings — you and me — and this human race of ours.

We get up, even when we are down.

I can never quite explain this human steadfastness, even as I marvel at it, but it exists as certainly as the shallow breath we each take in this moment, the air moving in and out of our lungs without conscious effort, but effort nonetheless.

Both of us would be totally justified—totally justified—if all we did was weep, our circles of sorrow rising up up up into the grey sky, the contrails of ache and agony and anger drifting from the chimneys of everyone's lives and filling the sky with end-to-end clouds.

Because the world can be a very sad place.

*“Stop it, Lisbeth. I’m already worried about running out of biscuits. Don’t add to it.”*

Still we get up. We persist. We resist. We exist.

Why?

That’s a Good Question

I can no more answer this question for you than I can answer for my dog when I ask, "Who's a good boy?" — and he looks at me with those big eyes like I am the stupidest and kindest person on the face of the Earth. Of course, he’s a good boy. Duh.

And I could be both the stupidest and the kindest person, but I am likely neither. I'm just another soul trying to find the path home, lost in the brambles and the briars, licking at my wounds when I should be looking at the map and figuring out where to go next.

Yeah, I might not be so good at reading these things.

But I Know This Much

I know what gets me up in the morning.

Joy.

And not just joy.

Joy and the unabiding belief that joy is available, that it is present, that it exists and can be hugged tight like a baby fresh out of the bath, swaddled in soft towels and love.

There he is. *Can’t you just tell how good he smells?*

Joy feels good. Joy smells good. Joy is good.

And I believe joy is possible for all of us, no matter what has happened in our lives or is happening now — no matter our aches, our sorrows, our losses. No matter what shoe drops next. Joy is still possible.

Also — here’s the kicker — if we have joy, we can share it with others and help them find joy, too.

Perhaps it is not too much to say that joy is the Earth's greatest renewing resource, capable of powering more than buildings or cities or countries or continents.