A personal reflection on a year-long experiment of documenting weekly sources of joy. The author reveals the surprising insights gained from this simple practice, emphasizing the importance of human connection over material possessions.
A year ago, almost to the day, I watched an online video that suggested placing a small note inside a jar each week for a year would be an uplifting experience. It required you to write on each note something that had occurred that week that brought you joy. So began my “jar of joy” for 2024. Each Sunday last year, I reflected upon my week and added another folded memory to the jar. On New Year’s Eve, I reached in and read each note, and the evidence was indisputable.
Overwhelmingly what brought me joy in 2024 was connecting with people. Repeatedly I’d written about the joy of meeting, walking, travelling, and sharing experiences with others. Notably absent from the little coloured slips of paper were possessions. We bought a new car last year, but apparently that didn’t bring me as much joy as a friend teaching me to crochet a bag, or feeling elated my husband and son were spending a weekend away together. Wholesome, right? I would love to leave it here and change my name to Pollyanna, but I don’t want to be responsible for your unrealistic expectations should you be rummaging around your cupboard for a jar, paper and pen right now. You see, this was also the year my family, which includes my husband and three children all over 25 years of age, embarked on a mega trip overseas that included visiting extended family, walking in Spain and ending with a wedding in Greece. Equal parts intelligence and emotion, we are a family for whom the latter can override the first when we are together and put under pressure. Like the pressure of navigating airports late at night with little sleep and finding you are in the wrong terminal. The pressure of remembering every grievance you have had with your family since the dawn of time and choosing to relive the highlights in the middle of a 20-kilometre hik
JOY CONNECTION FAMILY TRAVEL REFLECTION
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