Are you scared to be happy?

No, it’s not a trick question. I am honestly wondering if I am the only one with this fear or not? I was standing in the kitchen this afternoon. I just had a couple of clients. I blew off the snow in the driveway and now I am jamming out in the kitchen to Bruno Mars and cooking dinner. I have had a most lovely regular Tuesday that I have had in a while.

As I stand, stirring dinner on the stove top, singing to the dogs and dancing a bit. I realized just how genuinely happy I was feeling! Isn’t that wonderful?

Except, just as quickly as I recognized this feeling of joy, I was like “Oh this is scary. I better not get to happy, I might jinx myself.” Then as I began to recognize this joy sabotaging behavior, I had just put myself through, I stopped. Thinking to myself some more. “What the heck am I doing?! No. I choose to take this joy back, right this minute.” So, I did. I allowed myself to be really gosh darn happy as I cooked and danced.

Then I thought to myself. “Am I the only person who does this? How many of us sabotage our own joy out of fear of being let down? What IF bad news comes later? That’s life. For this exact moment in time, it is okay to enjoy your life!” I am thankful that I noticed this behavior as I could have easily slipped into wondering thoughts of ‘what ifs’ instead of appreciating the moment of joy I had been blessed with.

It’s not like I don’t have any problems, but at this moment, I don’t have anything ‘bad enough’ to derail my well-deserved peace. It was almost as if this feeling of joy was uncomfortable! I never have thought of myself as an unhappy person. I like to stay positive. Yet I have not been allowing myself to truly feel free of worry or concern for some reason or other!

It’s as if I had been so stressed out that I just accepted this thinking as my way of life and “this is just how I feel now.” When my moment of happiness came out, my inner worry wart was quick to smashed it like a mosquito that had just disturbed my summer hammock nap.

I want to know, does this happen to you too?

Now that I have seen this peculiar behavior, I fully intend to change it for the better. This is what they mean by living in the now. Now just happens to be a perfectly lovely ordinary day in which all is okay in my world. I am so thankful for this blessing and the relief that I feel when I allow this joy to flood into my soul.

This big ol’ full moon must have allowed me to release the block/barrier I didn’t see that I had. I can see now that it was preventing me from truly allowing joy into my life. I am thankful for the opportunity to see so clearly and now this should allow me to grow in a positive way. As an energy worker I know that if you are scared to allow joy in, why would it show up for you?

I must not allow myself to associate happiness and joy with and uncomfortable feeling of panic! (Insert high five to my face… Duh.) But like they say, admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery. I am hoping to allow my happiness to flow so large that it becomes contagious to everyone I encounter.

Let’s try an experiment together, shall we? Just how long can you and I hold on to the feeling of joy and happiness? How many hours will we allow ourselves the indulgence? Do me a favor and do not be scared that your joy may shine in some one’s eyes. If they are your friends and love you; they will be happy for your happiness.  Also, they may just be scared to be happy too?!

I love it when life sends me lessons through joy!

Please post and share your smile with the Adventure Sisters in the comments down below! We would love to see our comment section full of joy today!

Wishing you an abundance of joyful blessings with no strings attached!

Love to you all Adventurer’s!

With love,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

https://emyminzel.com

@EmyMinzel

Follow the Adventure Sisters on Facebook!

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Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

https://stacycrep.com

 

Just Dance!

It seems to me, somehow life snuck up on me and I got older, my gray hair is showing, the laugh lines around my eyes seem to stretch out further every year. My body acts differently then I am used to, but it still works fine and for that I am thankful. I love the person who I have grown into, my views on growing older have changed since you know, now I am old. The best part of growing older is learning who you really are inside and being confident to stand up for yourself and your beliefs. This may be just my opinion, but I really am enjoying the journey into midlife. I am in my early forties and I am finally able to really embrace the uniqueness that makes me; me.

I had a random thought that moved me to write about a topic that I haven’t participated in since the last wedding I attended. Dancing! I have found one thing I do not enjoy about growing older is the lack of dancing. I love, love, love to dance and now that I am too old to go clubbing on the weekends and attending concerts is difficult because ticket prices have gone astronomically crazy since ‘back in my day’. (Insert old fart saying here) So… it got me wondering, how do I keep the music alive?

I love to jam out, let my soul get all tangled up in the music so it moves me until my hair is wet with sweat, I am out of breath and need to rest before I can start dancing some more. Now the only time I work up a sweat is when its summer, I am in the garden or I am on the treadmill. That’s not okay with me. I need to figure out how to find the right atmosphere for shaking my tush because that’s something I still like to do!

There are plenty of people much older then I, who enjoy or even compete in swing dance or any kind of dance they prefer. Why is it that I can’t seem to find the right venue, time or people to want to dance with? I used to run with a fun rowdy crowd that loved to find local bands or concerts where we could go dance and have tons of fun. This no longer happens because they are older too, kids, jobs, time, good excuses but still excuses not to dance!

Dancing is not a priority in most peoples lives, there are plenty of things that top the list for good reason. I am finding after years of not dancing until there is a wedding it seems there’s no longer opportunities to dance in my adulthood, and this has bummed me out. Dancing is good for your body mind and spirit connection! It is scientifically proven that our bodies and brains react to the music in positive ways and we all know we need more exercise. I find it almost impossible to be cranky when I am dancing don’t you? This may be why I crave it so much???

I think it makes sense to dance MORE when we age so we can add more joy, music, exercise and entertainment to our lives, because this is when we need it the most! Growing older is not a bad thing, we just tend to be more in our heads then our bodies. Just thought I’d let you in on that secret. We don’t have to give up everything we enjoyed because now we are adults. So, don’t believe the hype if that’s what you’ve heard. It’s more than okay to still shake ya rump even if your over forty.

At times when I find I don’t have to have anyone to dance with my husband doesn’t dance, and my girlfriends are busy. I just remind myself “You can’t make others do something they don’t want to do!” that doesn’t stop me from wanting to dance! I choose to take full responsibility to fulfill this need in myself. I choose to take the opportunities of alone time that I am blessed with to turn up the Bose radio and get down in the living room/kitchen at any random time, or even while I am tidying around the house. Because why not?!

Dancing relieves stress, the music pumps up your chakras and basically flips on your happy switch. Its hard to misunderstand, bicker or argue with others when you are dancing,  because dancing unites us and brings all walks of life together. I believe there is power in letting loose and dancing so I am bucking the norm’s of aging letting my freak flag fly and choosing to shake my badonkadonk and rock out right here in the kitchen.

I chose to dance any chance I can get. In fact, There’s a dance party for one in my house today! I hope you find time to let your hair down in the way that brings you joy!

OOOhhhh HOOoooo shut up and dance with me!

Here is a link to a song that never fails to get me moving, I hope it helps you too!

https://youtu.be/6JCLY0Rlx6Q

Wishing you an abundance of joyful blessings,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

https://emyminzel.com

@emyminzel

Follow the Adventure Sisters on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/BWCAdventureSisters

Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

https://stacycrep.com