Where do you find joy?

How do we spend so much of our lives “Doing what we want to do” but never really doing what we want.  I just made a pie chart via O Magazine of my life and how I spend my time.  I have 6 hours everyday to do whatever I want.  I can choose to spend them cleaning, doing dishes, watching tv shows.  Or, I can choose to dream bigger… go surfing, learn another language, or do something wonderful.

I have gone a long time not willing to admit this, but I have finally come to this conclusion. I have to work to live.  No matter where I am in this world, I can never escape that responsibility.  That doesn’t mean that I have to live for work, but I realized something awesome and scary doing this practice.  Whatever I spend my time doing in that 5-6 hrs of my day where I am not working is what I am spending my life doing.   Am I really spending it the way I want to?  Am I spending it in a way that is beneficial to myself and others?  Do things that I spend my time on actually make me happy?  Will they make me happy in the future?

At the end of my week, I always say, “What did I even do this week?! I didn’t even have any time to do what I wanted! I was so busy doing what other people wanted me to do.”  I am truly blessed to have those opportunities. I would choose to do them anyways, but my reasoning behind doing them is wrong.  I shouldn’t be doing things to please other people.  I should be doing what I feel I should do, and sometimes that means saying no and not doing anything at all.

So, answer yourself these questions and try to fit them into your daily routine.  See if there is anything unnecessary that you can replace with something that fills you with joy!

• I could blow an entire rainy afternoon ______________
• What I was a kid, I used to love ________________
• I’ve always wanted to become really good at ____________
• If I could do one thing every day of my life, it would be _______________
• I can lose track of time when I’m ________________
• Nothing clears my head like ________________
• Nothing clears my head like ________________
• When I’m feeling drained, all I want to do is ___________________
• I feel most connected to my body when I’m  _______________
• In my daydreams, I imagine myself ________________
• I get a shot of energy when I ________________