✨ Joy in Hard Times: 6 Ways
You don't need to buy anything. We have joy at home.
🎉 Happy Friday, Friends!
Last week, I shared some ways you can stand in solidarity with Minneapolis following January's public execution by ICE agents. What a sentence!
So this week, I'm sharing some sources of joy in a world where you might feel like you have to search for it. These are 10 things that have been helping me get through this season.
- ✍️ Write a physical card or letter for your loved ones. I've been writing lovely notes to my bestie and my brother, as I mentioned in last week's edition. The physical act of handwriting a note of love and friendship is something that can help you get into your body and say what you mean in a more personal way. Handwriting and paper choice go a long way!
- 📖 Join a book club! I'm enjoying my book club with some local business owners and friends. We recently read One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, a very important book. The first few chapters are definitely sad and filled with all the horrors of the genocide in Gaza. But there is something essential about talking with others about the horrors and not looking away, especially when these institutions desperately want us to.
- 📻 Check out the I Hate Bill Maher podcast - I listened to the host, a Canadian comedian, on another podcast and immediately knew it was for me. He watches every episode from the beginning of the show - February of 2003 -before the invasion of Iraq, after the 2000 election and 9/11. It’s hilarious and frustrating and there’s so much casual racism, fatphobia, misogyny and homophobia, but you can draw a straight line from 2003 to Trump in 2026.
- 🐰 Help a friend with pet care. It’s always lovely to help care for pets when their owner is away. While I do get paid, I don’t do it because the rent is due (even though it is!). I do it because I love animals, with their personalities and quirks. I’ve been caring for two special female cats for a few years, so we have our little morning and evening routines - pets, food, brushing, photo shoots, or just letting them be. I’ll put on a podcast or some music and tell them when their person will be home (however many sleeps it is before they return). It’s a special bond and I’m grateful for them and their human companions' trust in me!
- 💿 Listen to Bad Bunny's Album of the Year. I didn’t stay awake to watch his Grammy win live, but when I watched clips the following morning, I cried. I’ve loved his music for awhile, but this album is everything, musically and politically. To be alive in these times with some of the most breathtaking art is truly a gift!
- 🎸 Listen to some 90s alt rock! Sorry, that's just what we old folx call it. Here's a playlist if you don't know where to start:
- Counting Crows - Rain King
- The Wallflowers - One Headlight (The entire album was produced by T Bone Burnett. I mean, come ON!)
- Filter - Take a Picture
- Mazzie Star - Fade Into Me (the whole album is perfect)
- Blur - Song 2
- Nirvana - The Man Who Sold the World (David Bowie cover)
Next time, we’ll discuss important 90s R&B. 😀
I hope this list helps inspires you to find joy in a new place. Once you start looking for it, you might realize that joy is easier to come by than you thought!
With you as we find reasons to celebrate,
Dana