Happy Anniversary to us, friends! It’s been six years since the first post at A Wish Come Clear, so I recorded a video, What If You Stopped Making Yourself Miserable and Chose Joy?

Click here to watch the video on Youtube, or just press play and read the approximate transcript below.

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Hello! I’m recording this video to celebrate A Wish Come Clear’s six year anniversary. I started this blog in January 2011, and wow, I am amazed at all that has happened since then.

I’ve learned a lot, but one of the best lessons has been to focus on the energy of joy.

Whatever it is you’re trying to build in life, focus on feeling and sharing joy, and it will grow in ways you can’t imagine.

I Chose Joy

The reason I’m sharing this with you today is precisely because I have NOT always done it!

I have not always focused on the aspects of blogging that brought me joy.

For a long time I approached blogging in a competitive way.

I really wanted to succeed as a writer and grow this blog’s readership. I wanted to write a book and work with a literary agent and see my book published and go on a book tour and speak around the country!

And there’s nothing wrong with those things. I still have those dreams. I’m still working toward them. I still believe in them.

But the thing is, I went about striving for that success in a way that made me miserable.

I was pushing myself to check off tasks that didn’t feel like me, to guest post everywhere I possibly could regardless of whether the sites truly felt like a fit.

I was more focused on the metrics than the feelings.

Do You Know What It’s Like?

Can you relate? Have you ever found yourself striving for success in a way that makes you miserable?

Have you ever gotten so caught up in getting to your destination that you forgot to value your journey?

If so, then you’ll understand what I mean when I say that eventually it really got to me. I got upset. I got angry, because I was working so hard and still not seeing the kinds of results I’d hoped for.

In fact, it seemed like in times when I paid more attention to what felt right, the blog grew more.

For example, when I wrote posts about what was meaningful to me rather than what I felt I “should” be writing about, those posts got shared more.

It felt scary to trust that, but it happened time and again. When I tried to follow a formula – crickets. When I wrote from the heart – real response.

And there was another time when I consciously decided that I needed to take a break … and a major site shared an article I wrote on their Facebook page and a whole bunch of new readers joined us.

Have you ever had this happen? Ever decided to drop the agenda that was making you stressed and just go with what wanted to happen instead?

If you have, then you know how magical it feels.

What Would Bring You Delight?

So this year I am focused on the energy of joy. I looked at this community and asked, “What would bring me delight? What is a slog? And how can I do more of the delightful things and less of the not-so-delightful things?”

And these simple questions were so helpful, because they freed me to think differently.

What if I wrote shorter, more frequent posts so I didn’t put so much pressure on each one? What if I stopped trying to guest post everywhere and just focused on building a few relationships?

What if I got together with some of my very favorite writers and talked about their books and helped them to get the word out about their work?

When I considered those ideas, I felt so happy!

Now, of course, everyone is different, and those things may not make you happy. You need to check in with yourself.

Ask yourself, What do I really love to do? What kinds of work actually GIVE me energy?

What if I Chose Joy?

Personally, I really like writing, reading books, and talking with fellow writers. I like introducing my favorite writers to others, helping them get the word out about beautiful books.

So that’s why I’ve started a new video interview series called, “You Need to Read”.

How this will work is that about once a month, I’ll do a video interview with a writer I love and post it here on the blog. You’ll get to know them, and have a chance to win free copies of some really good books.

We already have seven (!) phenomenal guests lined up. That said, I’m open to suggestions, so feel free to suggest a writer in the comments section below.

Also, leave a comment and tell me one area of your life that feels like a slog, and add an idea about how you can bring in the energy of joy.

Happy New Year, and thank you for reading and listening!

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