Finding Joy With Jen

I’ve pretty much always had an artistic side. I grew up doing live theatre productions throughout high school and college. I loved crafting, crocheting, sewing, writing, and cooking. All of it brought me great joy. Somewhere in my adult life, I started to lose some of that artistic expression. I was growing my career and focusing more energy on work. I started on a fitness journey and dedicated a lot of my free time to the gym. And the more time I gave to work and fitness, of course, the less I was able to give to creativity. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not unhappy that I was able to shift my focus and grow my career and start to create a healthier lifestyle, both of those things are very important in my life. But, lately I’d found myself missing that creative outlet. I no longer had any “passion projects” or even any creative hobbies really. It’s not that I’d lost interest in those things I once loved, but I no longer made them a priority. I no longer gave them life. And in doing th...

How different the world would be if we all woke up every day with a perfect life. A body we love in perfect health. More money than we could ever need. All of our personal relationships healthy, loving, and supportive. A fulfilling career. No worries in sight. But life isn’t perfect. It’s actually pretty far from perfect for myself and most people. For most people there is always going to be some kind of struggle. The struggle can vary from person to person - it could be to keep the bills paid or get your weight under control or a wounded relationship with your spouse or any number of other things. But chances are, life will not be without struggle. So how do you create joy despite the struggle? You have to change your perspective. If you get caught up dwelling on your struggle, focusing on how unfair life is, letting yourself be victimized by your circumstances, you will never be able to find true joy in life. Instead, you have to start focusing on what you DO have. You have to be...

Every January, my gym sees a crazy surge in attendance. It’s filled with people who are in a “New Year, New You” mindset and show up ready to work up a sweat! They have their fitness goals in mind and have sworn off anything remotely resembling a carb. Then, every year by about the beginning or middle of February, it’s back to just the normal crowd. Sadly, many of the folks who set their new year goals already give up on them in the first 4-6 weeks. This happens in many different aspects of life - maybe you said you were going to quit smoking, or maybe you said you were going to start recycling, or maybe you wanted to spend less time on your phone or tablet and more time being present with those around you. So you set your intent, and give it a few good days. But then what? You get busy? You get stressed? You had a bad day at work and just need one cigarette? You decide it’s too much effort to separate the recyclables and not worth the time? You’re waiting on an email or a text so ...

If you are striving for a happier life, you must start with compassion. Let’s face it - people are not super friendly and kind all of the time. There are some days where it feels like everyone you come across is being a jerk. You can’t control their behavior, but you can control yours. If you’ve ever worked in customer service, there’s a 100% chance you’ve gotten a pretty ugly tongue lashing over something that isn’t you’re fault. It’s probably been over something relatively insignificant and easily fixable. So imagine you’re there working, and someone is yelling at you. It would be easy to get defensive, maybe serve up some “tone,” and mirror that person’s angry energy. But what does that solve? And how does that make anyone feel better? It doesn’t solve anything. So, we practice compassion. We let this angry person vent their frustrations, we calmly and genuinely apologize that something didn’t work out, and we let them know that we want to help fix the problem. Most of the time, t...

I have one of those personalities that folks either really love and gravitate to, or really can’t stand. I’m  always super positive, cheerful, friendly, I have a campy sense of humor (love a good dad joke!), and I really try to avoid negativity and drama. I tend to see the best in people and don’t often get overwhelmed by a tough situation. But I wasn’t just born this way, it didn’t come natural. It is a lifestyle choice that I make. I choose to be happy. I choose joy. Every day. I have found that some of my greatest joy in life comes from helping others find their joy. Talk about a win/win! It’s my hope to help you discover ways to find more genuine happiness in your own life.  I’ll be providing insight on a wide range of topics designed to help you find more joy in life.  Some will excite you, some will challenge you, and some may even feel uncomfortable at first. But if you’re looking for something more meaningful in life, I hope you keep an open mind and try some o...