Get Small

I’ve been thinking about this a lot. And the boring truth is that joy is hard. It’s not T Swift tickets hard, but it’s not always on demand either. I can get out for more runs, and I can resist my sweet tooth, and I feel a lot better; I do. But joy? My dudes, joy is a Friday crossword. It can take real effort to crack it.

It’s winter, but my best strategy is still to get out from under my roof, move around, look up, and bask in the mystery of it all. It sounds really obvious. But for me, obvious doesn’t mean it’s easy.

I’m not very Type A. I have to stir up my own motivation, and I’m an easy victim of inertia. If you need to wind yourself up too, here’s a little breakdown:

Quick Start Guide

1. Engage your quads, use an arm for support, brace for the HR increase, and stand up. Congrats, that might be the hardest part.

2. Grab a jacket, give your plants a loving glance, and step outside. Bonus points for leaving your phone.

3. Now find a path, someplace with trees or other nature-y things around. I don’t want to hear how you’re not outdoorsy or you don’t drive a Subaru or you don’t love canned wine—everyone’s somewhere on the Patagonia spectrum. Embrace it.

4. Start walking, like the phoneless biped you were born to be. Don’t run, you can workout later—this is all about looking around and intaking data, not sweating into your eyeballs and tripping over roots.*

5. Look At Stuff. This is it! The important part! Look up at big trees, listen to things, feel the feels of moving through a magically imperfect space. Look down, don’t trip.

6. Relax. Just be there. This isn’t epiphany-creation (unless it happens), it’s good ol’ perspective realignment. Explore until you feel less like the center of everything. Explore until you feel just a little bit smaller.

7. It’ll work anywhere. A big trip to the mountains is great, but so is a local nature walk. Just try not to scan your to-do list or think about hamster-wheel stuff. That’s like turning the page without really reading it. Read it.

8. When you finally head back into the check boxes of life, you should feel more clear and optimistic about all the stuff you have to do, and more inspired for all the little things you want to do. There really is beauty in the little things, and I think it’s so much easier to see it when you realize you’re one of them.

Final Thought

Getting out and changing it up, it’s not hard because it’s physically hard. It’s hard because sometimes getting up is hard.

It’s hard to tell yourself that for 15 minutes I’m not going to be in a hurry. It’s hard to put the phone down. It’s everyday hard, which is lowkey the hardest.

We’re never told these are legit challenges. But they are. So feel them. Then do it anyway.

*I love trail running, I just spend a lot of time looking at the ground.

Bonus Joy Nuggets:

Pistachios. Exercise and eating combined! The best snack, joy in a shell.

Call your friend. Catch up, enjoy the afterglow.

Workout. Instant +30 mood points, solid creative reset.

Fruit. Replace midday binge with berries. Delish, no crash.

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