To my fellow Texans –

After last week’s events, I hope your life is somewhat restored to normalcy. Meaning, I hope you have access to water, electricity, and life’s basic necessities. I think we, Texans, can agree that we are beyond grateful for warmer days ahead. To kickoff this week’s blog posts, I figured it was only appropriate to share 50 ways to find joy today. As I always say, let us not dwell in the bad, instead, let us find ways to move forward and somehow find the light through the darkness.

Below listed are 50 ways to find joy today. Want to know my suggestion? Pick three and run with them! I hope you find light, and ultimately some sense of joy, while implementing these ideas.

50 ways to find joy:

1. Pick-up the phone and dial grandma (or a loved one) to simply ask, “How are you doing today?”
2. Text your best gal pal (or guy friend) who you haven’t talked to in days (or months) and check-in with them. Just say, “Hey! I was just thinking about you. I wanted to say hi – how are you doing?” So simple yet a powerful action.
3. Go for a walk around the neighborhood WITHOUT checking your phone. Tune in with nature and immerse yourself in the beauty surrounding you.
4. This one goes hand in hand with #3 – during your neighborhood walk, pick a pretty flower off the ground to take back with you. Sometimes I don’t even pick the flower off the ground, I simply admire it for its beauty and think about the growing process. It sounds corny but whatever, it brings pure joy.
5. Surprise someone with a delivery of a favorite book. A good recommendation is, What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey because it contains short stories about her life and shares valuable lessons she took away from those experiences. Personally, I took away soooo many nuggets, and would go far enough to say, the book is a gift that keeps on giving.
6. Pick a drive-thru place and pay for the person behind you in line. This one always brings pure joy.
7. Facetime with your niece, nephew, or your best friend’s little one. Kids bring so much joy to one’s life; their innocence is something to grab on to. I love facetiming with the little ones in my life.
8. Speaking of Facetime, text your best friend right now and schedule a Facetime date. STOP PROCRASTINATING. One day we are here, and the next day, we could be gone.
9. If you are working from home, and have the ability to work from a local coffee shop, do it. You’ll be surprised by how much you can lift up your energy and mood just by changing the work environment.
10. Grab a piece of paper and write down your goals for today. In fact, if you are on a roll, write down your goals for the week. But you must remember one thing, keep that list handy to help you stay on track.
11. Smile sooooo big you make those cheeks hurt. You may even accidentally laugh after trying this one.
12. Tickle someone you know who is very ticklish because trust me, laughs are contagious.
13. Text the funniest person you know and kindly ask them to tell you a joke (or something funny).
14. Kiss someone you love dearly.
15. Go up to a loved one and simply hold them.
16. Play music and dance like no one is watching.
17. Write a love note to your spouse and surprise them by placing it inside their drawer, or sticking it to their work computer.
18. Tell someone you love them.
19. If you are blessed enough to have your parents, call them, and tell them you love them.
20. Again, if you’re blessed enough to have a dad, or father figure, text him, and thank him for the sacrifices he has made for the family.
21. If your mama was the head of the household, text her, and thank her for the sacrifices she made for the family.
22. Email a colleague and let them know how thankful you are to have them in your life. Perhaps they’ve recently helped you on a specific project and you have yet to thank them.
23. Congratulate someone on their latest accomplishment. Whether they received a promotion, changed careers, bought a home, etc., there’s always something to celebrate.
24. Speaking of celebrations, bake a cake for no gah damn reason.
25. Another way to find joy today is to volunteer your time.
26. Donate to an organization you believe in.
27. Laugh by recalling a favorite old childhood memory, or the latest funny meme.
28. Meditate for five minutes. Gabby Bernstein has great free meditational videos on YouTube.
29. Pamper yourself with a facial mask and wine (or tea).
30. Take a bubble bath while sipping on your favorite beverage from a wine glass just because.
31. Take a pen and write three things you are grateful for on a piece of paper.
32. Grab your phone, go to your camera roll, and send a text to the last person you took a photo with. In fact, send them the photo of you two and tell them you just wanted to say hello.
33. Tell a loved one (or significant other) three things you love about them.
34. Ask your significant other to give you a back rub. And if you’re feeling nice, return the favor, haha.
35. If it’s therapeutic enough, give yourself a mani. I rather pay for one because I suck at painting my nails. If you suck too, go get a mani, gf.
36. Write an encouraging letter to your future-self.
37. Write an encouraging letter to your significant other but write the letter as if they would open it one year from today.
38. Go to your text messages, and scroll all the way to the bottom, send that person your favorite quote, or bible verse.
39. Compliment a stranger.
40. Compliment your lover (or loved one).
41. Order Tiff’s Treats cookies and have them delivered to someone you know that’s going through a tough time.
42. Pull a prank on someone who can take it. Who else is childish like me?!? I loooove pulling pranks on the hubster.
43. Light up your favorite candle, turn on your favorite relaxing music, and enjoy your own company with a glass of wine, coffee, or hot tea.
44. Indulge in your favorite chocolate. or sweets craving, without any regrets.
45. Challenge yourself by taking a hot yoga class.
46. Go to the nearest public park and go for a walk.
47. Let someone cut in line, whether it’s at the grocery store, the chick-fil-a line, or the gas station, be nice and let them go first.
48. Buy a meal for someone less fortunate.
49. Find a GoFundMe account and donate to someone in desperate need.
50. Last but not least, something I do every single week, go to the grocery store and buy yourself flowers. Fresh flowers in my home always bring a smile to my face.

I certainly hope this list inspired you with ways on how to find joy today. Which of these 50 ideas will you try? I look forward to doing some of these today. It has been a while since I’ve surprised someone with Tiff’s Treats 😉