Choosing Joy

One of the big things for me this last year has been making the right choices for me and my family. For actively choosing to be happy and spread happiness and live as much as possible in the here and now. I read a lot of blogs, they have replaced my magazine habit and are a lot cheaper and every now and then I come across a blog or a post that really touches me. Lil Blue Boo is one of those blogs. I have followed Ashley for over three years. I comment occasionally and have also been though a molar pregnancy and the subsequent issues that she is going through, but although this touched me, it is the phrase “Choose Joy” that really has reached out in to my soul and tattooed itself on to by brain.

When you have been though illness, challenges and life changing events like I have, it can be hard not to keep looking for the next big thing. The next issue that is going to come and kick your feet from under you and leave you firmly planted in the mire on your arse. I can tell you from experience this is no way to live. The anxiety that comes with daring not to enjoy the good times for the fear of what is round the corner, the concern that it is only pay off for the next debilitating event. Sometimes it seems that we are given with one hand and then taken from with the other.

There have been times when I have screamed at the top of my lungs to an empty beach “why me? What have we done to you? Why do I have to pout up with all this shit?”. There have been times when I have had to lock myself in the loo to hide the tears from my boys, haven’t they seen enough suffering in their short lives?

Then I read a blog like Ashley’s and it reminds me that life is all about choices, not just the ones we actively chose to make, but the ones we chose to ignore too. It is my choice to make the most out of each and every day, to believe the universe will provide and that we live everyday, not survive it, but enjoy it. That I am going to chose joy. That I am going to embrace my family and journey with them ever forward and yes I might be scared, but I will always travel my path with dignity, my husband and boys by my side and a heart filled with optimism and love.

I am going to try and live in the here and now and watch my children with their joyous abandon and let its infectiousness rub off on me. I am going to make time for my husband and our marriage and I am going to enjoy reclaiming some me time and finding some inner peace amongst the white noise of everyday life. I am going to do one thing everyday and do it well.

I am choosing joy.

15 thoughts on “Choosing Joy”

Cass@frugalfamilyc May 6, 2012 at 7:41 pm

Lovely post Jen x x

eggdipdip May 6, 2012 at 7:56 pm

I love that: Do one thing every day and do it well. It’s a good, solid mantra to have and one I think I’ll try to live by too. Thanks for sharing Jen x

Gillian May 6, 2012 at 9:23 pm

Oh Jen, what a heartfelt and moving post. I love the sound of choosing joy, every day. It sounds as though you have been through an awful lot. x

becky May 7, 2012 at 8:17 am

You have made me smile x

notsupermum May 7, 2012 at 9:13 am

What a fantastic post, love it. So glad you are choosing joy x

Mette May 7, 2012 at 10:23 am

Great post. When I got MS I don’t know what I thought… But when a lady in the ward I was admitted to too

( http://oddparent.blogspot.com/2012/02/day-i-think-i-met-my-guardian-angel.html )

said to me. “we are given what we can handle” it all made sense to me… So what if I can’t walk that well, have a walking stick and a wheelchair! I’m alive. Worked for me to think like that. Yes I have days when having MS sucks but don’t everybody have bad days….!!

http://oddparent.blogspot.com/

Mama Syder May 8, 2012 at 2:04 pm

This is the kind of blog post I love to read Jen. Such a lovely message! I’ve been in that situation too where I’ve screamed on an empty beach, the pain unbearable. I decided back then to live everyday as happy as I can. I soooo love that ‘Choose joy’, brilliant! Popping over to Lil Blue Boo now for a read, sounds like my cup of tea x

mum of all trades May 8, 2012 at 9:13 pm

A very positive outlook, we need more of this everywhere!

Kelly May 9, 2012 at 3:41 pm

I do love this post, and the fact that like me you are trying to make a conscious effort to do one thing well each day. I have been trying to follow your lead all week and choose joy too. I have had a better week than usual, even with the challenges that it has presented.

test1234 May 10, 2012 at 12:07 am

This design is spectacular! You obviously know how to keep a reader amused. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Fantastic job. I really loved what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!