I’m great at planning my weeks. I’ve also started planning by half-term instead of month or quarter, which has revolutionised how I feel about my progress.

What I’ve recently realised though, is that I also need to actively plan in some activities that bring me joy. And think more critically about the things I choose to say yes to. Because otherwise I’m just doing stuff and completing projects and not necessarily enjoying it all along the way.

But after I had this thought I realised that if I’m honest, I struggle with the definition of joy. Is it loud or can it be quiet?

What is joy?

Should I be looking for things that actively make me feel alive and that are obvious “fun” activities or should I be focusing on doing things that keep me calm and grounded, that I can enjoy quietly?

Which one of those is joy? Is there actually one right answer to that question?

I’m certainly drawn more to quiet calm joy than more active laugh out loud fun, or at least that is the kind of joy I currently make time for – but is that because of my personality or is it because I’ve just forgotten what fun feels like?

On reflection, I’ve come to the conclusion that for me, joy actually falls into three types.

There’s quiet (grounded) joy and active (fun, intense, exciting) joy. And there is also intellectual joy.

Quiet joy

For me this comes from time alone, walking, writing, taking photos, wandering around exploring new places, gazing at the sea. Observing life and collecting thoughts. Being creative in my own way.

I’ve got very good at incorporating these types of activities into my weeks, although I do still have to remind myself about it when things get busy. In fact you’ll notice that a lot of the posts on this blog so far have been about this topic.

Active joy

For me this is about things that make me feel alive, where I’m participating, where I feel something more intensely, activities that are fun and noisy.

These are activities I haven’t been as good at incorporating into my life or even discovering what they are.

I swim (but is that calm rather than exciting and fun?). I sometimes do other forms of exercise which I enjoy. The memories of the rush of completing a long run or a big walking challenge or a charity bike ride still linger in my mind from the days when I did those things. And I miss running.

I don’t do much dancing or singing, which are two things I also used to do a lot more often – these days I just listen to music rather than participate in it more actively.

Intellectual joy

For me this is being “in flow” and it’s something I experience in a couple of different ways, something that has taken me years to uncover and then define for myself in my working life.

Listening to someone’s idea and asking them questions about it, as I take their chaotic stream of thoughts, split them into themes, turn them into plans and create frameworks around them.

Or creating something myself – writing proposals, reports, slide decks, business blog posts and website content, repurposing existing writing to create something new, working with a designer to create graphics for social media or other communications materials.

What do you think?

I’d be interested to know. Are these the sorts of things that bring you joy too? What examples do you have?

Do you think that joy has to be active and fun, or can it be quiet and calm too?

Image by Joe from Pixabay