A Birthday Dance to Remember

Why You Should Make More Room for Joy

My daughter’s 8th birthday was yesterday and it was EPIC. Not because of the Parisian theme or the mini cups appetizers. It was how present and in the moment everyone was even the adults. There is one particular moment that stands out to me. We put the shutters down and turned our guest office space into Club Eiffel (cheesy, yes but I’d do it again). It was pitch black and we gave each of the kids a couple glow sticks. My 10 year old was playing our family’s favorite french song as I was ferociously twirling my daughter on the dance floor while crazily waving glow sticks and singing terribly at the top of our lungs. Pure joy and gratitude is all I felt and it’s my prayer that I remember the moment (and the feeling) forever.

Click the picture below for the song we danced to

It got me thinking about joy and how much of it we as adults experience in our daily lives. When is the last time you threw caution to the wind and let a moment of happiness wash over you? That you were so lost in it, you forgot about your to-do’s and time sneakily slipped away from you. Where were you? What were you doing? Who were you with?

I challenge you today to make an appointment with joy. To do something that lights you up or to maybe try something completely new even if it feels silly. You don’t have to carve out hours. That dance with my daughter was less than 5 minutes and I’m still feeling the effects of it this morning. I might have looked silly to the parents or other kids in the room but I was having the time of my life.

Forget about the naysayers and the peanut gallery. You only get one life so make sure you are making time for regular pockets of joy. My hope is that you get addicted to these micro-doses of happiness and meaning to the point where you’ve made it a daily habit. You’re one intentional step away from a more fulfilled life that you can’t wait to wake up to. And I love that for you, friend.

Will you take that step today? Say yes to you and let me know in the comments, what is one joyful thing you’re planning to do!

Live and be well,