10 ways to find joy in this season

Hey lovely people! I don't know about where you live, but in the UK, we are back to being in lockdown, and this got me thinking! This season of Covid-19 has been quite difficult for so many reasons. And me being the optimist and half glass full type of person, I thought it would be a great idea to think about how we can find joy in these times! I know this can be hard, so I have decided to come up with 10 ways that you can find joy in this season!!! Please try these things out and let me know how they have helped you.

1) Start a thankfulness journal. This is something that I started doing for the month of November, and so far it has been very powerful. In a time like this, it is even more important to remind yourself of what you already have, and what you are thankful for. The time you put into writing out what you are thankful for really changes your perspective and I guarantee that even doing this simple activity will bring you joy.

2) Put more time into self-care. During lockdown, self-care is something that I have had to learn how to get good at. My mental health started to suffer, so I knew that I had to change something, and I realized that I don't really take care of myself as much as I probably should. The Bible tells us that we are fearfully & wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14) but I wasn't looking at myself in that way, so I started to look into how I could self-care more. Now this looks different for everybody, but for me, I knew that I wanted to take more time to spend with Jesus in my day to day life, so I started doing a daily quiet time schedule and this really helped! If you want a good Bible plan to follow, message me on the IG! I also did more face masks, painted my nails, gave myself time off my phone for a day or two, and put more time aside to spend by myself. Giving yourself more time is so important and I promise you will start to see a difference in your joy if you spend more time doing what brings you joy. Maybe it's doing that thing you've always wanted to do, or finally painting your nails after 6 months. Whatever it is, make sure you remember to self-care.

3) Make a new habit and stick to it. Scientifically, it takes 21 days to create a new habit. And let me tell you, habits are even more important now because we already have so much uncertainty in our lives. Habits show us mentally that we have things in our lives that are stable and things that are routine. Obviously, make sure that this habit is a good one, one that is glorifying to God, and one that brings you joy! This could be starting a new workout routine, starting to read the Bible every day, praying every morning before you wake up, etc. For me, a new habit that I have started is to workout 3 times a week. I know that this habit is good for me because I am looking after my body, and it brings me joy because I know I'm trying to keep healthy without going overboard!

4) Don't leave the community. This one is so important, especially in the middle of lockdown. There are so many ways that you can get involved in the community! This can be joining a Church online service, face-timing your friends more often, creating a Netflix watch party for you and your besties, going on a walk with somebody, and being in God's nature, etc. Just because we are in lockdown doesn't mean that you should mentally & emotionally isolate yourself from the outside world. In fact, it's even more dangerous to do that now, especially when it comes to your mental health. So just try it. Challenge yourself to stay in community and you'll thank yourself later :)

5) Pray honestly. In this season and every season, to be honest, it is so important to make sure we are praying. Prayer is so powerful and in my experience, it definitely works. Jeremiah 29:12 says, "Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you." God is listening, and you can tell Him anything and everything. In this season, one thing that I have found so powerful is the gift of honesty. I am the type of person that likes to bury how I feel. I have so many emotions sometimes, and the fact that I have to confront them sometimes scares me, so I just hide them. But that is so unhelpful and so damaging for your mental health. God cares for us all so much and He wants us to be completely honest with us. He already knows how we feel, but prayer is so special because it means that God wants to hear from us. Every single detail. Yes, He already knows, but He wants to communicate with us. You know why? Talking about how we feel actually is a very big help! Communicating out loud, by writing, or praying in your head actually gets you to process your feelings more than if you just didn't. Prayer is SO powerful in so many different ways. Try praying honestly! Let it ALL out, and I promise you will start to see the joy in this practice.

Now that we have got the most important ones out of the way, here are 5 more things you can do in this season that will bring you joy. These ones are more lighthearted :)

6) Listen to Christmas music! I just did this, and my serotonin is immediately up :)

7) Take a day off social media, or go through your followers and unfollow those people who bring you down. This can be so powerful. The Bible teaches us to be careful with what we take in and to guard our hearts. We all sometimes follow people or accounts that are bad for us, so sometimes it's important to take a few hours to unfollow those accounts.

8) Have a dance party in your room by yourself or with somebody else. This one is very fun and I love doing this. Stick on your favorite musical tunes, or favorite playlist and just dance like nobody is watching- because they aren't! :)

9) Stick some worship music on. Ahhh, worship music is my favorite thing to listen to. I immediately feel the presence of God and I feel at home. Some of my favorite albums at the moment have been "To love a fool" by Cory Asbury, and "Revival's in the air" by Bethel Music. I love having worship music on in the background all day long- this is guaranteed to bring me joy.

NOW, THIS is the ultimate way to find joy ;)

10) Turn to Jesus.

Jesus is the ultimate source of joy for me. I always think of it like this: The lighthearted things I talked about above, yeah they are great, and they will definitely make you feel happy, but happiness is only temporary. If you are looking for long-term happiness, you should forget about it, because it doesn't exist. Joy exists though! And it comes from a man who died on a cross for you, about 2,000 years ago! His name is JESUS! If you have a relationship with Him, you are guaranteed to have joy in your life. Even in seasons that feel crappy or disappointing. Now, this joy won't always feel like you've just won the lottery, but this joy is eternal, and this joy is the comfort and peace that get's you through every storm and through every season knowing that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. And I don't know about you, but that definitely sounds better than winning the lottery ;)

If you don't know Jesus, why don't you pray a simple prayer and invite Him into your heart! Or if you have any questions, shoot me a message on the IG, @melisaannbaydemir :)

All the love & wishes for you to find joy,

Melisa xoxo