Today our Hunnies Lauren takes you through an exercise she discovered. that helps her acknowledge and appreciate joy in her everyday life. We hope you enjoy!

Finding joy – or knowing where to look for it.

I’m going through a mental health journey that I thought I should share. I haven’t taken a break yet since the pandemic hit. I am not sure I know how. Since the pandemic I started working – I mean maybe too much, I’m not sure. I have been feeling a lack of joy in my life, lack of apparent pleasure.

I am always in the state of mind that I can do more, that I can accomplish and achieve a more significant amount than what I already do. So, I always pursue and find myself work. When there is no work, I see a different path and create work for myself. I have this terrible mindset lately that what I have been doing is insignificant – not enough. Once I am done working on my accomplishments, I tell myself that is the time to celebrate – embrace joy.

Lately, I have realized that I had done a lot of work recently, so why haven’t I been acknowledging it or celebrating it? To better understand this problem, I wrote down everything I have been working on for the past 4 months:

List one.

-I had online classes
-Then I transitioned onto my first time choreographing and directing over zoom.
-After that, I started booking myself at least 3 modelling gigs a week – sometimes more.
-Auditioned for countless projects and proposals
-Received a Canada council grant to study clown
-Having to decline the Grant because of more travel banns
-Eunice and I made our first short film.
-I started networking with my student’s union to try and save my education for next year and am so grateful for all of the help and direction they have provided me.
-I’m starting rehearsals for my first film this week (which I am beyond excited for).
-On top of all that, I created a website & company with Eunice that we work and support every day.

Looking at everything I’ve written down, I noticed that I missed the little things I do every day, so I made a list for them too:

List two.

-I sing
-I try to call/message a friend (usually a cat meme)
-I talk with Eunice (she usually makes me laugh too)
-I dance around my kitchen (it makes unloading the dishwasher a lot more fun)
-I write for the blog
-I usually do some advertising for the blog
-Once a week have meetings with various professors and mentors regarding my development as a performer

Looking at the second list I made, I noticed that it was a lot more joyful. I reflected that I do work a lot every day, but looking at all the joy surrounding the work I do is very gratifying. One of my mentors always says, “Find the joy.” I think doing this exercise reminded me of that phrase because going through your accomplishments and looking at them – really looking at them, you can make time to appreciate them for what they are. Taking time to acknowledge your work, gives the work that you do more power. For the sake of joy and encase I missed anything else I decided to make a list one more time:

List three.

-Coffee in the morning
-Walking with my mum
-Second coffee with my dad
-Running around with my brother
-Seeing Sofia
-Listening to 80’s music
-Thinking about clown
-A nice cool breeze
-Sending and receiving a smile

The last list I made was very nostalgic. It was nice to read because it reminded me of the things I take for granted every day. Looking at this list makes me smile because I do have a lot of joy in my life; it may not be apparent all the time because of my schedule. But it is there.

I hope you found this blog helpful. Let us know if there is something you do that envokes joy in your life.