I haven’t been getting enough sleep lately. I’ve been spending a lot of time on the road, and the road has plenty of surprises that can interrupt my sleeping patterns.
First there was a visit with my folks, then a few nights over Fourth of July weekend with a lot of friends and their tiny, loud children. A few nights I slept on a loveseat. A few more after that, I was watching a dog and a cat who hated each other — the cat used the late-night hours to tell me how much he hated the dog, although the dog didn’t seem to mind.
As Saturday rolled around this weekend, my biggest ambition was to sleep for 10 hours and then maybe take a nap. There were other home projects to take care of, too, but sleep was at the top of my priority list.
When Saturday finally arrived, there was little time for rest.
Johnathan and I needed to shop for office furniture, which certainly sounds like more of a chore than something worth waking up early for. On a cloudless Saturday morning, I could think of a lot of better things to do than looking at desks and tables two towns over.
Fortunately, I took a cup of Jittery Joe’s coffee out on my back porch before we set off for the vintage furniture stores in Statham. I love coffee, but I made a deal long ago that I shouldn’t drink it during the week. I have no real good reason for doing this, but when Saturday rolls around, that first cup of the weekend is pure joy.
Joy is exactly what I was looking for Saturday morning. Maybe it was the coffee, but putting the office furniture hunt through a prism of joy turned the whole morning around.
It wasn’t the joy of shopping or caffeine that had me smiling through that cup. Instead, I found joy over why we need these desks and tables in the first place. We’re moving into our first office this month, and a lot of new work on the horizon means that our Collective is growing.
There is plenty of joy to be found in growth, but we need to hold onto the joy of our daily grind and all the gifts that have carried us to this point. Joy for the possibilities ahead. Joy for having to take more Saturdays to go office furniture shopping in the future.
Joy can be found in our daily work. There is joy in checking something off the to-do list, joy in taking an unexpected lunch with our friends, joy in the wins both big and small. Joy in the relationships we have and the success our friends, family and colleagues find.
And, yes, even joy for a nice cup of coffee.
Joy is out there for us to find every day we have on this terrestrial ball. May we always keep seeking it out. If we can keep joy close to our hearts, just imagine how we can be a joy to those we meet.