By the end of January, days are noticeably longer, and my attention turns to spring. To me, the wheel of the year has spun to renewal time, the season for reflection, self-evaluation, and resolutions for the new year. My resolve? Make 2023 a year of joy. 

Striving Without Joy

Generally, I love collecting and crunching data, as well as making lists and checking them twice. Don’t get me started about the wonders of a database. But, as I re-read my 2022 journals and reviewed my five-year plan in late January, I concluded that I just wasn’t into it. “In a strange mood—not even looking at goals and metrics at the moment—just taking in how tired I am right at this moment of driving myself, criticizing myself, and going against the flow.” What did I find weighing me down? “Schedules, timesheets, to do lists that I don’t do, [and] metrics over which I have no control.”

What Sparks Joy?

I’m in a rebellious mood and based on my recent experience with a three-year-old, I decided to let go of the conflict, at least for a while. I’ve started a list of Joyful Ambitions in my journal, which includes: “learn to tell the difference among sparrows” and “decorate pretty cookies.” Because, like many people, I tend to put off the things that interest me but have no obvious role in my work.

Yes, it’s the year of joy around here, with a focus on what I want to do on any given day rather than the masterplan. 

I’ve an inkling that joy can also be a route to productivity. In January I joined a short story writing support group and have written four drafts so far. And, despite the goofing off, my “real work” projects do progress, without a lot of self-guilting about the rate at which that is happening.

Make Joy an Intention

In 2022 I set Creativity as the yearly intention and some amazing things came about. With a joyful intention for the coming year, I already feel lighter, and that good work is coming. As often happens when you bring something to the front of your brain, I’m now stumbling across joy all the time. For instance, earlier this week on a Zoom call on writing career development, the facilitator cautioned us all to “Write what brings you joy!” Yes, I will do that. How about you?

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What brings you joy? How much time do you devote to it each day? I’d love to hear your ideas. Comment on the blog. Navigate to my website, click blog title, and complete the dialogue box that will open at the end of the post.   

If you enjoyed this journal entry, you might like to read about Grounding Yourself Through Writing.

I started this blog thread on the gritty details of the writing process over on my Facebook Author page, @kbkathylbrown, but think I might be better served putting it over here. If you’re interest in following my writing process in an informal way, you’ll find a few posts on Facebook that might interest you. You can subscribe to the blog from the website landing page (scroll down).

And Now a Word from Our Sponsor

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