Holding Onto Joy

This month's message is a bit longer than usual, because it is hard to know what to say right now. So let’s try something new. 

If you are anything like me, every year you make resolutions to lose weight or exercise more. Maybe you made it through January pretty pleased with your progress, but as time passes it becomes harder to motivate yourself. You’re not alone. Almost 80% of resolutions are surrendered by the third week of January. What if we strive to recommit every month? Thoughts about our future selves are processed in the same part of the brain that processes thoughts about strangers, we don’t know that person yet. But if we reintroduce ourselves to this future self through visualization and intention setting every month, we have a better chance of staying the course.

I surrendered alcohol, caffeine, sugar, and ultra processed foods on Christmas Day. In hindsight, maybe I should have gone one at a time, but so far I only caved once with a rescued artisanal donut that I REALLY wanted/needed. My last intention setting journal was beautifully designed and used a lot of curse words. It was perfect for that moment in my life (and I still have pages of cursing motivation on my office wall). This year I ripped the plastic off of last year’s “Oprah’s The Life You Want Planner” that I never started. I have missed a couple of days, but the weekly intention setting and reflection is helping me be honest with myself as I move into a new year that has major challenges ahead (like moving after 11 years in our home) and life changing opportunities.

I am a queer woman living with multiple disabilities. I am also raising a transgender teenager who is facing the threat of losing the medical care that has saved her life. The best way to describe our current household mood was summed up in a short video I saw of an Elmo puppet saying he’d discovered a new emotion. Elmo then starts flailing and screaming “WTF?!”. We have undocumented friends who won’t leave their homes for fear of deportation. On a smaller scale, our daily avocados will likely be too pricey for us soon. It is scary out there for people who have their eyes open and care about humanity and our planet. So how do we find joy? Or even just stay sane?

I am anticipating the end of 2025 feeling like there’s not much to celebrate. That planner will likely sit mostly empty. I am sure I’ll have resumed my favorite entertaining theme of “cake no plates.” Since I am a planner, I am trying to combat the end of year sadness. Each day, I write a happy, proud, or joyful experience from that day on a piece of paper and put it into a jar. Currently the jar is also holding packets of cocoa, but eventually it will be filled with moments of joy that will remind me it wasn’t all bad. 

There are 1442 days left of this administration. What are some things you can do to ensure these days don’t steal all your joy or sanity? If you’d like to share with our LIAC community, write back. Include a photo, drawing, or song and every month we’ll share these acts of resistance with each other. Together is the only way forward.

In Faith and Service,
Laurice Grae
Executive Director
gender pronouns: she/they
pronounced: LOR-ris GRAY