If you’ve followed along with me this year, you know it’s been a tough one. Starting with the death of my baby brother on February 5, we had three deaths in the family in two months, also losing my nephew (brother’s middle son) and my niece’s husband.

Grief is a strange thing. You see, there’s no checklist to follow, no right or wrong way to get through it, and for the most part, I find it’s something you just have to walk through yourself. I’ve always been able to bound back from losses in my life, but somehow this one was just different. Maybe it’s because my baby brother was the last of my living immediate family, so it truly feels all alone. Maybe it was just the tsunami of losing 3 people in 2 months that was just too much to deal with. Ot maybe it was just different because sometimes that’s how life is. At any rate, this one wasn’t an easy bounce back. I spent a few months simply watching Netflix and taking naps. I finally had a conversation with my doctor about how this was not working and I thought I needed some help. And so she started me on some medication. It’s worked, or at least helped.

About a week ago, I realized that I haven’t had much joy in my life lately. Even the things that normally bring me joy, I just stopped doing them. Normally I read 125-150 books every year. Since February, I have read zero!

it’s time to reclaim my joy! I have started reading again, I plan to do a book club next year, and I’m watching every day for things that bring me joy. Here’s the thing about joy. It isn’t always some big happening. Sometimes it’s just a picture of his kids sent to me by my nephew. Sometimes it’s an afternoon visit by a friend who just came to spend a little time with me. And sometimes it’s my husband bringing home two boxes of snowmen that he got at an estate sale and thought I would love. (He’s right, by the way.)

I’m planning for the new year, with a new word of the year, so stay tuned. And if you want to come on that journey, then you’ll want to be in my community!

So tell me, what brings you joy? What kind of things do you maybe also need to reclaim in your life? Let’s find it together!