Life causes joy like pressure forms diamonds

Life can be, and often is, hectic. The simplest things can become the biggest obstacles which turn an ordinarily calm event into something incomprehensibly frustrating. Everyone has those moments. They are the Achilles Heel to the mood and positivity of our days. But regardless of the hardships, irritations, and “downers” that surround daily life, there is joy.

But what is joy? Webster defines joy as “the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires.” Essentially, it is a state that overcomes the negative, or even outright rejects its arrival in someone’s life. Definitions aside, it is the moment that everyone strives to obtain and experience.

Joy could rightfully be considered one of the “great mysteries” of life. It surpasses all that is physical by “lifting up” the person from within. It is the floatation device that saves from despair. Joy maintains and sustains whatever beauty there is in the world. It is the recognition of good, and it is through that inward acknowledgement where good is exalted.

And joy doesn’t need to meet a certain criteria to be experienced. Joy comes in many forms at varying degrees of depth. Discovering that the grocery bill is far less than what was anticipated is often a joyous occasion. Finding a lost item that was thought to be gone forever is enough to make one’s year. Even hearing a beloved song on the radio during a long car ride can revive and rejuvenate. Maybe, though, there’s a time in life where joy seems impossible to grasp. Maybe an item that was lost was a precious gift or heirloom. Perhaps, instead of an item being lost forever, it’s someone’s good health, or even someone.

It’s in these moments that joy seems unobtainable anymore, and that it feels like a fictitious concept. And that’s okay. It’s okay because joy doesn’t go anywhere, it only waits for people to find and welcome it again when they’re ready. That’s where joy has the opportunity to shine the brightest - to overcome the brutal bitterness behind loss, anger, and hopelessness.

More often than not, people will be reminded of key moments which brought about joy in the first place when they need it most. The sound of a certain bird tweeting in the distance, the smell of a favorite meal, or that one particular configuration of clouds in the sky at a certain time of day. Yes, it can be quite specific. But that speaks to how effective joy is, and most importantly, how personal it is.

As the Christmas Season approaches faster and faster and a new year looms over the horizon, find the joy amid the chaos in life. Savor time. Savor each little moment that life provides. Choose to live day by day, then take that a step further and live hour by hour. Even in that there is joy - that being the joy of existence and the promise of getting to experience what will or may be.

It may be borderline cliche now, but time passes by far too quickly as more things continue to demand nearly all hours of the day. But it’s often the little things that make the greatest impact - where the best memories are formed and where life can be truly experienced. So just take a moment to stop and breathe. Joy is all around, it just needs to be found.