Looking for joy in all the wrong places?
- Kyle Snyder: Live on Purpose
- August 16, 2021
- 1464
“We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.” —Joseph Campbell
“I’ve been looking for love in all the wrong places” are lyrics to a classic country song. Sadly, it is so true in today’s world of one-night stands, no comment and no-responsibility culture that we live in. There is nothing wrong with going out on dates to get to know a person, but the morality of the person doesn’t have to be compromised. I am all for waiting on God, but sometimes God is telling us something, and we are not moving.
I think for many of us, joy is the same way. The search for joy ends up being a fruitless one because we listen to too many people who tell us what brings it to them, and we think if it brings it to them, maybe it will bring it to us as well. Some people get joy out of working on cars, but I can’t. Not only does my cerebral palsy keep me from doing things that take fine motor skills, but I wouldn’t have the foggiest idea what I was doing. A few years ago I thought they still made carburetors for cars.
Joy is a very personal thing. What brings joy to one person might not be good for another person, and it also works the other way around. People often tell other people what to like or what to enjoy, but one will never know unless they try it for themselves. I was even told not to write, that I would never make it as a writer. However, being a writer is more than making money. For me it’s about helping people and giving people hope to face tomorrow. My columns go where I am not always able to go, and that brings me great joy.
I would describe joy as a deep well of happiness within us. Sometimes things happen to us that rob us of our happiness, but joy is much more stubborn than that — it doesn’t disappear when things don’t go our way. Joy keeps people from falling to pieces when things disappoint us. People who don’t handle things well have very little to no joy in life. It is not hard to find out what brings us joy. If we find it to be difficult, then we are overthinking it because it is there in what we love to do.
When I was in high school, people always asked me what I wanted to do when I graduated. When I said I didn’t know, they would always follow that up by asking me what I enjoyed doing. That is a very loaded question to me, because if I told them I enjoyed singing, which I enjoy very much, that would not pay my bills, unless people would pay me money to quit. Stacey, my wife, is the only person who likes to hear me sing, only because she knows I am happy when I sing. I sing because it brings me joy, not because I am good at it.
We think in terms of money too much in our society. We get a job to take care of ourselves financially, but we do what gives us joy to take care of our soul. Think about why you get out of bed in the morning and what puts fire in your bones. That my friend is where our joy lies. So why did you get up this morning?