Joy: overflowing with thankfulness and awe at daily lessons and gifted blessings…even in seemingly simple everyday moments and in stormy seasons. Joy doesn’t have to be loud and bubbly exist…it can also be a calm sense of contentment – not complacency…more like a steady river of gratitude that flows within and beyond ever-changing circumstances.

If you’ve ever been through any kind of challenge that brought you to your knees or tried to snuff you out, you understand how precious peace of mind and redeemed time are.

I hope this blog is an encouraging and refreshing place you to visit, sweet sister. Guys are welcome here too. We’re made differently but loved equally, so you being here is a blessing still. There’s a purpose for your life beyond what you have, know and do…but sometimes we forget or get offtrack.

You ever realized that when we make room in our life for joy it shows and shines through into our walk and work?

It was a big challenge at the time, but I was called to get purposefully quiet and start this blog in March 2013. For a while it had an audience of 1. Since then, it has reached readers in 100 countries, featured guests in 7 destinations and is noted as one of the leading Caribbean lifestyle blogs and websites to follow by FeedSpot. He is able, and thanks very much for being here.

‘Free spirit’ and “nature girl’ were words I heard a lot, until the speed of life changed and one day it was clear the pace wasn’t healthy. If you ever find yourself rushing to relax, it’s time for a self-examination, which is usually uncomfortable but always necessary.

When you love what you do, it can be hard to press pause sometimes. Life went from spending a lot of time in the studio, on the road, on planes and tour guiding to living on a farm in the countryside of Barbados for years, writing, gardening, cooking, hiking, managing 2 libraries and growing my faith.

During that time, I volunteered as a first-time food farmer with a charity for a year. It was so refreshing, peaceful, muscle-building and therapeutic after the high pace and volume I had started to get accustomed to. And it reminded me of inherent design.

Remember your beautiful design

Time freedom is beautiful, but how we use that time matters.

A healthy life rhythm. Working steady can be energizing but without purposeful pockets of rest, we would miss out on the refreshment. When everything is scheduled according to our limited understanding of time, we tend not to recognize some interruptions and encounters as heaven-sent opportunities to encourage, receive or give thanks for.

I’m thankful for a healthier pace and better quality of life that freed up more gifted time. Life looks different now but the lessons from that refining time remain and shaped healthier habits with more understanding and endurance.

Pace yourself well, sweet sister. You are not an ox, workhorse or robot and life doesn’t need to look impressive to others to be a gift. You are a living, breathing, perfectly-loved creation with a purpose. Because of that, there are distractions strategically placed along your path to try steal your joy, press a panic button, get on your last nerve, challenge your faith, and derail you from walking well, which none of us can do without daily help and gifted breath by the Most High. Keep on shining by grace every blessed day.

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‘Joy within‘ is on The ‘Top 45 Caribbean Lifestyle Blogs & News Websites To Follow in 2022‘ by FeedSpot.