‘My Ode to Joy’ is the first in a series of Mental Wealth reflection pieces by our copywriting intern Raye Ebensteiner.
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I celebrated my 21st birthday in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. (Celebrated is a very loose term entailing staying at home with my [wonderful] parents and a bottle of delivered-to-door champagne). I imagine no one on the face of this planet even dreamt of facing the kind of year and a half we’ve all had. It certainly wasn’t the plan I envisioned for my 21st, or my up-and-down, here-and-there college experience that has been nothing short of abnormal.
Facing this pandemic, we’ve all come out different people. Different sides, facets, different dreams and fears have all formulated in sync with the unnerving day and age we’ve been living in. None of us imagined that we would find ourselves hesitant stepping into our welcoming family owned neighborhood coffee shop, or that we’d come to treat everyone around us like walking threats and be stripped of our common denominator: humanity. In that vein, we’ve felt beaten and betrayed, not by someone or something, but by the place we live in. And feeling unsafe in our own home has perpetuated and strengthened current or novel anxieties and depressions in our bodies.
“Yout Heart is beating and you are very much in love”
And here we are. We’ve made it another day. The sun is up. The coffee is brewing. Your heart is beating and you are very much loved.
I’m ending my junior year at Savannah College of Art and Design on the southeast coast of Georgia (A former Minnesotan to California resident now living in the south) and it’s been a whirlwind of crazies, momentous and then monotonous weeks. As the vaccines have rolled out (feeling fortunate enough to be Pfizer vaccinated March and April), friends have started rekindling and reconnecting and hugs are being shared and laughter is being heard. The spring’s seed of humanity is planted in new soil: soil of joy and gratitude.
The whole western obsession with finding happiness is great in theory. Because, yeah, let’s be happy. But we become caught up on the journey of arriving at happiness. There are those who think happiness lands in people’s laps with new material goods, some think others were just dealt a good hand of cards, and others think happiness is just an abstract, intangible ideal that never finds its arrival. I found myself in one of those categories, constantly searching for happiness as if I finally worked on myself enough, prayed enough, dedicated enough time to reading about time and space and the Universe itself, that maybe I’d just be “enlightened” enough to be happy. ...I don’t know, perhaps that works for a small minority of the population. Didn’t work for me but I’ll tell you what does. JOY.
FINDING, CREATING, SEEING JOY. That is something we don’t talk about enough. Joy is that spark inside our gut, heart, soul that jumps for a small moment and brings a smile to our face. It’s a small event inside our bodies that triggers a response of instant happiness and contentment. And a great thing about joy? Joy is everywhere. Prepare to embrace your silly, okay? Here’s the thing. Joy is using the nice china on a mundane boring Tuesday with no events and no one to entertain. Joy is that feeling climbing into a bed of fresh clean sheets. Joy is lighting that gorgeously scented candle. Joy is rose flavored ice cream. Joy is reaching for vanilla creamer for your coffee instead of having it black. Joy is really in the small, intimate and sweet details of our life. And the greatest thing about joy? Joy is the ingredients to the soup of a happy life. Incorporating what brings us a stupid, ridiculous smile even for ten seconds of our life is the key to a happy life. Stop buying white bathroom towels if you don’t like them and you’re just trying to appear like you’re “supposed” to be at thirty (society: “adult = boring”) if you really want the pink stripe towels. Why? Because every time you reach for one, you’re going to smile and think, “Yeah, I love those.”
Our lives are made up of these small moments and small decisions that impact the rest of our day. And our days make up the rest of our lives. You might not need the extra mug for your collection, but does it bring you joy? Then, you need it. Because you need joy; because we need joy. Joy is the necessity for our human journey to happiness.
Use the nice china. Not only will you smile, but your grandma will too.