Finding Joy In The Ordinary While Awaiting The Extraordinary

With more than two decades of experience as an oncologist, the last two years have been the most challenging - navigating the two C’s: COVID and Cancer.

Sifting through the rubble of the last two years to rebuild a joyful new normal, one must find a way to rehabilitate and reimagine hope.

Practicing curiosity and contentment while savoring the moments that build life’s experiences and avoiding cynicism can be a cornerstone for sustainable joy.

Can we build a new normal based on the lessons learned from the unprecedented upheaval enforced by the COVID-19 pandemic in many aspects of our lives?

The unintentional consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic was the Great Pause, which allowed many to reimagine success and the societal hyper-focus on efficiency and productivity as a metric of success. In the pursuit of success, we often find ourselves caught navigating through a maze of checklists of goals and tasks, unwittingly missing out on savoring the moments that make these experiences memorable and immortal. In doing so, we fail to celebrate the ordinary moments while awaiting the extraordinary, the viral, the Instagram- and Tweet-worthy.

Analogous to a cancer diagnosis, can one choose post-COVID-19 pandemic to rebuild a life rooted in joy?

Learning from my experience walking alongside my cancer patients, I have developed the Journey of Joy framework, utilizing the following principles:

1. Intention - Have an intention to seek joy.
2. Imagination - Imagine a joyous version of self.
3. Permission - Give yourself permission to be mindfully present while experiencing the moments.
4. Ownership - Reciprocate claiming and owning joy by expressing humility and gratitude to the people we owe it to.
5. Toolkit - Build a toolkit for making joy a permanent record of your story. Document, Narrate, Share, and Repeat.
6. Practice - Practice this framework daily to turn joy into an epigenetic signal for personal and professional transformation.

“Ithaka,” a poem by C.P. Cavafy epitomizes this journey of joy, which has inspired me to create the Mapping the Journey of Joy framework.

Access the Mapping the Journey of Joy framework by clicking the link below.

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