There is a TV show that I Love to watch with my spouse, and there is a quote that I think is worth considering...
"Are you Joyless, Phillip?"
-Mrs. Frond, Bob's Burgers
Now, replace Phillip with your own name...
Are you Joyless in your Life?
If you say Yes, do not feel bad.
The Honest Truth is that the Majority of People are Joyless today.
There is a lot that gets in our way throughout our Lives.
Bills that Need to be Paid.
Constantly Increasing Costs of Living.
Debts that Stack Up.
Feelings of Inadequacy in a Social Media Fake World.
Struggling to Find Time, Energy, and/or Money to do what we want.
Responsibilities that Revolve around our Lives and our Family.
The Traumas of our Pasts that Persist, Stalking Us like a Predator looking at their Prey.
Losing a Sense of Identity among the Need to Check Things off Lists We Do Not Care About.
Fears that You will be Judged for the Things that You Do Enjoy.
I get All of these and More.
I've Experienced them in my own Life.
To Overcome these Sources is Not an Easy thing to Accomplish.
However, our Lives are "Meant" to be filled with Joy.
Now, maybe you won't "Feel" the Emotion of Joy every second of every day.
All Emotions Come and Go, and All Emotions have a Purpose.
You should Never Feel an Emotion "All" the Time.
Yet, if you "Never" Feel the Emotion of Joy at all, there is a Problem.
So, I Encourage you to go out and do something that Does bring You Joy.
It doesn't have to be Large, and it doesn't have to take a Long Time.
In fact, if you Feel a Little Joy "Every" Day, it will likely be More Beneficial than a Singular Joy that you "Rarely" Experience.
It also works better if that Joy has Staying Power that lasts Beyond the Moments it occurs.
Can you Carry the Joy with you wherever you go?
Does it have the ability to Bring You Joy in the Middle of your Tough Days?
These are the types of Joys that typically Help us Live Better Lives.
Why?
We can Bring them to Mind whenever we need them, and the Consistency allows you the have a Fresh Supply of Experience to help you Refuel your days.
Think of it kind of like Food.
If the Food you Rely on is something you can only get Once a Year, the Memory of that begins to fade fairly quickly.
As that Memory Fades, its Impact Decreases until the only Memory is that it "Did" bring you Joy, but you're unsure Why.
On the other hand, think of a Food that Tastes Really Good as You Begin Eating It, but by the End of Eating it starts to Lose Its Flavor.
At the End of this, you have Two Options.
Either you Stuff Your Face with More and you must Constantly "Eat" to Maintain the "Joy" at the Expense of Doing Anything Else (which is Unsustainable)...
Or you are Left with the Horrible Aftertaste that removes the Joy from the Experience.
There are many types of "Joys" that Fail to Produce a Lasting Effect, such as Social Media Doom Scrolling that you Forget minutes after you finish.
In Both of these Cases, people often find themselves Joyless in the Long Term.
What that Joy is for you may be different from other people, and that is alright.
For Instance, one of my joys is the TV Show, Bob's Burgers.
My Spouse and I have watched every episode, many of them quite a number of times.
We have this game we play where we will find perfect situations to Quote the TV Show at times when 99% of other people will have "No" Clue that we are Quoting the Show.
When we say that Quote, we get a few hits of Joy as we Recall the Episode that we enjoyed, and think about the Time we Spend Together (Plus, a bit of the Inside Joke that only we understand).
This tactic may not work for you specifically, and you may think I'm Strange for this, and that is ok.
It works for Me, and that is what Matters.
I also have Running that Brings me Joy.
I can think about the Last Time I Ran, or I can begin to Imagine the Next time I Run.
Both of these Bring me Joy.
I Run Daily, so I have plenty of Experiences that bring me Joy, and I continuously Build More.
Maybe this will work for you, and maybe it won't
What matters is finding what "Does" work for You.
What is something that works for you?
Can you get Joy from it Daily?
Can you get Joy from it Outside of the Act of Doing It?
Do Not Subjugate Yourself to a Life of Joylessness.
Find the Joy you can, and Take it With You Throughout your Life.