How Making a Joylist Made it Easier to Relax - Plus an Invitation!

If you struggle with taking a break or relaxing, this might be for you.

I’ve written before about my difficulties relaxing, taking time for my self, and about resting and not feeling guilty about it. When I shared about this, it seemed I wasn’t the only one who struggled with these things.

A couple of years ago I read Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee and since then have slowly been changing the way I look at things, and seeking ways to make space for more joy in my life. It turns out that all of these things have become connected in a really lovely way.

Leading into this summer, I decided to make myself a Joy List. Unlike the common ‘Bucket List’ that you hear about (they seem a bit too morbid to me) a Joy-list focusses on becoming aware of the things that bring you joy and then encourages you make time for more time those things.

Well, that’s what I hoped anyway.

Here is a snapshot of my Joy List created early July.

My list included things like spending time in my hammock, listening to old music, playing cards, sending more mail, and picking fruit.

The whole process of first brainstorming and thinking about of what brings me joy and then creating my list was brilliant. I am not sure about you, but I think it can be really easy to get up everyday and just doing all the ‘things’ that need to be done. This exercise helped me think about how I was currently spending my time, and how I might be able to make a bit more time for the things that bring me joy.

I then decided to create a spread in my sketchbook and illustrate my list. I doodled and tried out some new art materials (hello Tombow Brush pens - where have you been all my life?) and chatted to my friends about what I was doing. I wasn’t aiming to create a frame-worthy finished product, but instead to have fun and get the ideas down. The whole experience took me an hour or so and to be honest - was very joyful indeed!

I suppose I should have started by explaining what joy actually is. In Lee’s book (which I highly recommend) she shares that joy is different from happiness: “Happiness is more of a broad evaluation of how we feel about our lives over time, whereas joy is much simpler and more immediate,” she explains, “It’s an intense momentary experience of positive emotion, one that you feel in your body. It makes you smile or laugh, or it gives you that feeling of wanting to jump up and down.”

Yard sale finds, more time with friends, making and sending art, and spending more time at the beach.

So, I made my list and then the summer flew by like it always does. The strange thing was that I really did make more time for the things on my list. I went to yard sales almost every single weekend, I read and evened napped in my hammock, I purposefully drove down backroads with my kids - just to see what we would find. It was as it making the list gave myself permission to do these things in a way that I didn’t before. I’ve struggled for a long time with slowing down, taking time to relax, and seeing success in completing ALL the tasks (even if I was bone tired at the end of the day). Instead, I slowed down, did less busy stuff, and darn-it went to some brilliant yard sales!

As we move into Autumn, I’m thinking it’s time to make an Autumn Joy list. Or, an Autumn Joy - Something. I’m not 100% sold on the word ‘list’ since to me it seems like things you MUST do versus things you’d like to do. Hmmm. (If you have ideas here, I’d love to hear them).

What do you think?

Fancy making one with me?

I’m going to host a live session on Tuesday, September 26th at 11am (EST Time) to put together an Autumn Joy List. I’d love for you to join me.

Maybe you need some creative time, maybe you need to brainstorm what really brings you joy, or maybe you just want to make time to invite more joy into your life.

What’s gonna happen?

We’ll meet live via zoom, brainstorm things to put on our joy lists, and then get to work making ourselves a beautiful visual of our Joy Lists. Then we’ll catch up at the end to share and chat about what we’ve made. *You do not need to be an artist to join this, I’ll be sharing tips and ideas to make yours lovely no matter your artistic ability!

Who can join?

This is for folks who are in my paid Substack Studio. You can join via the button below (it’s $5/month - like buying me a coffee).

When will you get your Zoom invite?

On Tuesday morning. So make sure you join my paid membership in time (you totally could join just for this and then hopefully stick around, no hard feelings).

Looking forward to seeing you then!

Julieanne