Joy As Essential: Staying Engaged Without Burning Out

Truly, it’s a challenging time to be aware. The news cycle, the suffering, and the issues we face in our communities, our country, and our climate are overwhelming, and appropriately so. How do we survive this? How can our nervous systems keep going at the level of activation current events seem to demand?

Finding joy is more important than ever, for ourselves and for the world at large. I’m not suggesting we bury our heads in the sand, but maybe stick our toes in it. To stay engaged, we have to recover and allow for rest, and what is more restorative than joy and play? A nervous system that never gets to settle can’t sustain the work this moment asks of us.

Here are my suggestions for savoring the life we have, so we can stay in the fight for progress and peace.

Notice nature. Take a walk outside, listening to the birds instead of a podcast. What do you smell and hear? What are you drawn to touch? Let yourself connect with your surroundings.

Practice a craft purely for the joy of creating. Let go of the outcome and tune in to the process. Meet the emotions that come up with curiosity and warmth. Frustrated that you can’t thread the needle? Notice that, and ask what’s needed now. Humor? A breath? Take the moment.

Talk to strangers. The person next to you in line at the store. The pedestrian pausing to take in the same blooming tree in the park. Make a connection, because it matters. Loneliness is rampant in our increasingly polarized and digital world. Refill your human battery by connecting with others, and let that moment live on.

Joy isn’t a distraction from the work of caring. It’s what makes that work sustainable. When we let ourselves rest, play, and connect, our nervous systems get the chance to settle, and we come back with more to give. So this week, pick one of these and give it a try. Notice the birds, pick up the needle and thread, or say hello to the person next to you. Touch grass. The world needs you awake, and it needs you well.