A Heartfelt Share About Messy Joy

It's time for a heartfelt share.

If you've been reading this newsletter for a while, you know I haven't been posting them very frequently in recent weeks.

Life has been filled with excitement: book-related photo shoots, lining up some really sweet speaking engagements, and more media interviews... all while preparing for both of our kids' weddings (our son gets married next week and our daughter gets married in 2 months!). 💍

In the midst of it all, I was interviewed on a pretty special podcast called "Raising Healthy Families." It's put together by two organizations you may know of that support families with young kids, KIWI Magazine and MomsMeet.

The episode just went live this week and I was so excited to share it with you, because we talk about cool things like:

• How to choose joy for ourselves and our families even when the world feels dark & scary
• How to stand up to the guilt that tells us we shouldn’t do things that make us feel good when we should be doing things for our families
• An unexpected and super fun solution for burnout
• The importance of checking “making myself happy” off my list… and how!
• How to feel better and let it overflow to our families by filling up our joy buckets
• How to help someone who’s overwhelmed get to a place of joy
• Can joy and pain coexist?
• Is it ok for our kids to know when we are hurting?

I planned to post it yesterday.

And then I received news of a dear friend's death.

Wow.

It was so unexpected.

I'll be honest, last night, it hurt so bad, all I could do was curl up in a ball and cry. It got to a point when I couldn't even talk.

The thought of sharing a podcast about joy seemed out of the question and entirely inauthentic.

I needed to allow myself to feel the pain before I could even consider welcoming joy back in.

Can you relate at all?

Maybe you're in a season of pain and confusion right now.

I want you to know that I understand. I'm here for you, and so is The Joy Bucket family.

And, because it just might help you, I'm going to share the podcast.

Just click here to listen.

Even though the focus was on families with young kids, you don't have to have little kids at home to benefit.

Heck, my kids are getting hitched and the "how to help someone who's overwhelmed get to a place of joy" part really helped me this morning.

Please listen and tell me what you think.

And before I sign off, I have three requests:

 1️⃣ please consider who you can share this newsletter with. Someone needs this.

2️⃣ if you are a praying person, pray for my friend's family. Please.

3️⃣ share your joy. The world needs it now more than ever. Trust me on this. 

I'll be honest, I'm still hurting, but at times like this, I'm especially thankful to be able to have messy joy.

Hugs and hope,

Robin

Joy To The World Coaching.