Sprinkling Joy in Your life!

I know life can feel so repetitive with our busy schedules. The constant wake up, go to work, and come home and do house chores. It gets exhausting. And sometimes because those busy schedules take up so much time and space in our lives it doesn’t leave any room for actual you time and plain kid fun.

But there’s always a way to add a little spice to your life! You just need to know yourself well enough to know what to do to make life more playful and exciting.

For the most part, this month of December has been the same lazy day repeat for me. I just got out of a hard freaking semester. It was only difficult because of the way I felt not because of any of the classes. Throughout the entire semester, I just kept crying and I didn’t feel like I was fitting in where I was. Not long after I realized, I was extremely homesick.

I didn’t really get over being homesick, I kind of just dealt with it until I got home. Although those last few weeks I was at school, I made a key difference. You see, I don’t have a job at school. And I only had a couple of classes, so I had all the free time any student could ever want, yet I was never doing anything with my time other than staying at my dorm or going grocery shopping. However, I decided enough was enough. I got over the way I felt, and I pushed myself to drive thirty minutes from campus to hike.

This was a tough task for me. Being homesick made me feel really anxious being at school, and while all my friends were going on in their life (they were from there) I felt like I knew no one all over again. To clarify, I go to school out of state. So it was like I was a freshman all over again. And I dreaded the feeling. It felt as hard as it was in the beginning to make friends and to keep eye contact. I basically became my ten-year-old self again. Being as timid as ever.

This did affect my experience overall. And I was dealing with it all semester as a senior. Knowing this is what made me feel like I should already have my group of friends and have my life together. And to tell the truth, this was me being hard on myself. (As I tend to be most of the time.)

Back to the point, I made the huge step to go hiking by myself. I used to go everywhere alone. But for some reason, I couldn’t do it anymore. So I was very proud of myself for taking that leap. And that was the best decision I made for myself. I love hiking. Almost with a passion. Of course, hiking isn’t the same at my school as it is back home in California, but I did it. I allowed myself to have fun and enjoy my own time and space.

I sat there on the mountain completely in awe of the view in front of me. I could see the stretch from Tempe, AZ all the way to Phoenix. The cities backgrounds all being mountains. It felt calm sitting on one mountain watching everything move as I became still.

The risk I took for my own happiness (the casual risks of getting injured or robbed or worse). I meditated. I loved it. I sat there for over an hour listening to the wind, taking in the sun, and hearing other people’s conversations as they climbed up the path. I couldn’t zone them out. I found it interesting actually to overhear about people’s life and their day.

This experience brought back my confidence to go out and do things for myself. To allow me to take a break from the constant motion of reality. To have fun.

Be a kid, running up the gravel ground and not afraid of tripping. Jumping from rock to rock, letting the wind slap me fresh in the face.

This is exactly what I invite you all to do. Sprinkle in some joy for yourself. You deserve it. Just because you have a job, five kids, and a side hustle doesn’t mean you get to stop doing what you love and being a kid. Life doesn’t end the moment you get into the workforce. Or have a family. Or any other thing that might interrupt your inner child.

Let yourself have those small wins you never got to celebrate. Bring yourself joy by leaving yourself a slice of your favorite pie after a long day’s work. Take a walk, skip around the park. Play with dogs or any other animal. Whatever it is, no matter how big or tiny, leave those surprises for yourself throughout the day.

It can truly change your perspective on life. Life is too short to always be so serious about everything. We’re only human and need those breaks to just be simply what we are. Loving, fun creatures. I don’t know if anyone else would call us creatures, but I just did so I can’t take it back now.

Have a beautiful rest of your day lovelies! <3

Cheers,

Juliette