The Difference Between Happiness and Joy

These are two headshots… both me.? 8 years apart.? I would say to the average person looking at them you would see happiness.? If you asked me 8 years ago “are you happy?” I would have said definitely yes!

I see a difference… and that difference is one I am happy, and one I am joyful and you can feel the energy I have emitting from the picture.

I may be the only one who sees it (the fun social experiment would be if I didn’t tell you which one was current)- but the one on the left is now.

Here is the difference between my life in these two images:

Then:?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

I was in a career I was successful in and I enjoyed.? I knew how to win, and I usually did.? I knew what success looked like, and I did that.? I was what most would have deemed successful.? Sometimes that success also meant I was bored, I knew how to win and that meant I wasn’t always challenged.?

Now:

I am working more than ever before… all on things that I am beyond passionate about!? In the full-time world, I get to help people live their dreams every single day!? I am challenged and almost never the smartest person in the room.? I also have two side hustles that I know have the capacity to change the world, and I will make an impact and leave a legacy because of at least one of them.? I also work somewhere that encourages and supports me, knowing that at some point these businesses may also be why I leave… and they LOVE that for me.

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Then:

I was in a relationship that was “fine”.? It wasn’t bad, it was just there.? We functioned as a family.? We had happy kids, and we were moving forward together.

Now:

I realize “fine” was settling.? Fine is never good enough.? The comfort was not a fire.? It was an apathy.? And that apathy was not healthy, nor right for me.? I am not someone who settles, and I needed a partner who would challenge me to be my best me.

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Then:

My friendships were not prioritized, as my kids’ lives were where my time was spent outside of work.? This was what needed to be done at the time, but they were so busy, I was so busy.? It was not necessarily what I wanted or needed for me.

Now:

My girlfriends are my such an important aspect of my life.? I can’t imagine not prioritizing them.? They fill my cup, bring me joy, and laughter.? We have been brought closer together through our shared passions for helping the other live their best life.? That is a beautiful thing.

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Then:

As confident as I was opinions mattered to me.? I worked so hard to please others.? I believed that sitting quietly was easier than pushing back in a lot of cases.? I towed the corporate line a lot of the time.? I believed that I could not always share honestly.

Now:

I speak out of turn regularly.? I say the sh*t that others won’t.? I am comfortable with people disliking me.? I am more comfortable when others are uncomfortable because I know there is change in discomfort.? I am prepared for people to not like me.? I am MORE than ok to not tow the line because disrupting the status quo brings so much more opportunity for world changing beliefs.? I am louder and prouder than I have ever been.

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The years from 2018 to 2022 were the hardest 4 years of my life.? Affairs, divorce, job loss, family mental illnesses, loss, financial stresses, moving, not prioritizing me, and tens of thousands of dollars realizing who I REALLY am.?

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I have always been happy.? That has never been an act.? I am now joyful.? It is elevated happiness.? It is felt deeper to the soul.? It radiates outside of me.?

If you look it up- happiness tends to be brought about by external factors, where joy comes from the inside.

My brand is built around happiness… so that is not leaving… but I can tell you I am living more joyfully than ever before!

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