What Brings You Joy...?

I wonder what refills you. What brings you Joy?

A phrase that often resonates with me is: ‘you can’t pour from an empty cup.’ Recently, I have been speaking to a few people and have found there is a real sense of tiredness or exhaustion. As we emerge from the pandemic, many of us will feel tired from all that the past couple of years have held, as we have changed and adjusted, and we haven’t been able to do some of the activities that bring us joy.

Last week I was in Devon for the Easter Holidays, and it was genuinely a soul refilling time. It was pouring back into the cup. When I was on my Gap Year, my mentor challenged me to think about what filled me emotionally, socially, physically, and spiritually, visualising each one as a tank. Just like you wouldn’t let your petrol tank get empty, you shouldn’t let these tanks reach empty. This visual analogy has stuck, and I have reflected on the things and activities that can help refill each of these tanks, aware that they can often impact one another, making sure that the tank doesn’t reach empty.

Whilst in Devon, I was able to go for walks along the beach, look out to sea (something which seems to put everything back in perspective), spend time catching up with a couple of close friends and family, and take time to rest and just be. What refills us and brings joy will look different for each of us. However, it is important to identify those things and become intentional at building them into our routine. Whether it is going for a walk, journaling, reading a book, a cup of tea with a friend or going on a bike ride so that we can keep the tank filled up.

To finish, why don’t you: identify and write a list of the different activities which bring you joy and commit to doing one this coming week...

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