3 Ways to Keep the Joy-Stealers From Winning the Day
Here is the scenario:
You wake up feeling fantastic. In fact, you even woke up before the alarm went off, slept like a baby, and you are not groggy or tired at all. Your coffee tastes extra delicious today and, wow, you look great in your outfit! You are thinking, “Did I lose weight?”
Fast forward to your drive to work. My goodness, you really caught every green light, and they played your favorite song on the radio! Today is going to be a wonderful day, you can feel it in your bones.
You get to your office humming your favorite song excited for what the day will bring, then look around and you see them — the Joy-Stealers, lingering around watching your every move. They can take the form of a quick series of events that go wrong in the office or someone giving you that cynical side eye like, “Why are you so happy?” You quickly say to yourself, “Ignore them or what is going on, I’m not going to let this negative vibe get to me. This is going to be a good day.” Sound familiar? I am sure at one point in our career, we have experienced this type of situation, or it is happening to us right now.
Joy-Stealers! We are minding our own business, yet they always find us. They cannot just leave us alone. Isn’t it weird how sometimes the very moment we feel immense joy, there is equally someone or something hanging around that wants to take it away from us? It is like the universe plays this weird game with us and I sometimes wonder if it is a test. If so, since we are imperfect humans, then most fail. We bamboozled into the sphere of negativity. We are so quick to dismiss the good things in our life that make us happy if they accompany a little bit of a struggle or, better yet, if others are negative and do not understand or approve of our reasons to be happy. We start to second-guess ourselves and believe the hype, or should I say, “their hype.”
It is high time we stop letting outside influences rob us of our joy. Life is hard enough and it is rare to experience those special moments, so why not hold on to them and ride the wave. Those occasions when we do encounter this feeling can be a powerful driving force towards better relationships as well as increase our productivity in whatever task we are tackling.
Instead of just giving in to the dark side of negativity, what if we put up a fight? Let us talk about three ways to not only keep that joy but spread it with all those in our vicinity.
- While experiencing this euphoric feeling, what if everyone we came in contact with got a little bit shared with them? We flip the script. Instead of allowing our joy to disappear, we turned it up a notch and influenced them to be more like us. If it is a series of events that are robbing our joy, we can remind ourselves, “This is just a temporary situation and things will change. They always do.”
- Protect your energy and create a protective shield! When we allow something to steal our joy, it changes our energy. It changes the way we see things and how we interact with others. Create a protective shield with an opening to share joy. What I mean by this is creating an imaginary shield of armor that keeps out all the unfavorable energy. You see, it is a mindset. It is telling ourselves that we understand that things do not always go the way we want or expect them to go, and we cannot control other people’s behavior … but what we can control is ourselves and how we present ourselves. We must be strong enough to not allow situations and or others to wreck our peace and take us into their world of dismay. At the same time, we must in the middle of all of this, be able to allow our light to shine through and share our joy with others.
- Remember, we are there to help our customers. When our customers come into the office, they are coming to get answers from us. They need help with something, and they expect us to fix their problems. We are there to provide a service and to give our customers our best. If we are entangled by Joy-Stealers, then our happy demeanor changes and the atmosphere and energy shift. Once this happens, we will not be able to help them in the most productive way. We just cannot serve them in the correct way. We do not feel our best, so we cannot provide our best. We have allowed whatever or whomever to win the battle and steal our precious treasure and bury it. We remain with feelings of irritation, frustration, and underwhelming to say the least. Our clients feel this and react to it. People buy on emotion, and it could cost us closing that deal, closing that treatment plan, fostering team and patient relationships, and/or dropping that bottom line.
Recognize it is a mindset. It is the right mindset. It is what our businesses need, and it is what we need. Will the Joy-Stealers go away? I am sorry to say, “No.” They have always been here and always will be. They are lurking around every corner waiting to destroy our spirit, but it is up to us to not let them in. Do not let anyone take your joy away. Stay in the zone and be the best you can be for yourself and your customers. Guard and protect your joy!
If you need further assistance on protecting your joy, feel free to reach out to me.
Denise Williams-Jones