Choose Joyy Podcast
Based on the mood and habit tracking Joyyful Planner, the Choose Joyy podcast is focused on self alignment for those who struggle with anxiety. Through these unpredictable times, we’ve all experienced moments of self-doubt and uncertainty. By making a conscious effort to choose joy daily, we allow ourselves to heal and grow into the path destined for us. Join me weekly to unpack, affirm, and choose joy.
Choose Joyy Podcast
Chels Chats 101: "Silent Release"
Welcome back Joyyful Babes! Step into the chatroom as we read and discuss YOUR messages from the text line!
This episode introduces "Joy Check"—a weekly reflection question to carry with you. This week we're asking: How have your friendships changed as you've gotten older, and what do you value most in a friend now? Share your thoughts with us on Instagram @choosejoyypodcast or X @ChooseJoyyPod. Remember, we're building more than a podcast here—we're creating a community where authenticity leads to healing.
Don't forget to text us to be featured on the next episode of Chels Chats!
Visit www.choosejoyy.com for more
Hello and welcome back, joyful babes. This is your girl, chels, and you are tuned in to a special Chels Chats episode where it's just me, a mic and your messages from the Choose Joy text. Fam, first of all, I just want to thank you all for being here. You didn't have to hit play, but you did, and I don't take that for granted. Today we're just going to dive into what's been on everyone's minds, hearts, yeah, and we're just going to unpack that. I'm going to read a few of your texts because, listen, y'all keep it real and I love that for us. I am human, just like you, unless you're an alien out there, me up, but I am still working on consistency and discipline. We're on this together, but your girl is trying, your girl is trying to give you all content. Yeah, get this community going, keep this community going. So, again, please send in your texts, please respond. Let's yeah, let's kick this off and do the summer right, all right, let's just dive in.
Speaker 1:First text goes I want to choose joy, but I'm battling depression. Where do I even start? Okay, so we're starting heavy. It makes me pause almost, because I know the feeling the kind of tired that sleep just doesn't fix, the kind of low that doesn't have a name but you know, is there. And I just want to say first, I'm proud of you for even saying that out loud. There's power in naming what you feel and where you are Choosing.
Speaker 1:Joy doesn't always look like smiling through the pain, and sometimes it's simply choosing to stay in the fight, choosing to text a friend, choosing to get out of the bed, choosing to pray, even when the words don't come out easy, because God knows your heart. And that is choosing joy. So don't let anybody tell you that it's only for the sunny days. It's for those days of recognizing hey, I'm actually not happy, I'm actually not joyful per se. So you even recognizing that that's something that you're struggling with and then reaching out to bring that to a community, to talk about it, to get it out there in the open, to poke the elephant in the room, that is your start. You've already started. Okay, you're already on your journey. So, yeah, keep going. All of those little nuances, all of those little life choices are, in fact, choosing joy. It doesn't just mean putting, slapping a smile on your face and ignoring the fire around you. Okay, I think I feel like I kind of answered that. Okay, here's another one that came through last week. Actually, I thought I was healed until I saw them again. How do I know I'm actually moving forward? Okay, y'all, give me some heavy hitters today. Okay, well, you're also not alone in that. No one's ever alone in this community. I'm sure, if I haven't experienced it, one of you have. Or you're never alone for one, two, two.
Speaker 1:Healing is not linear. We've talked about this. It's not a straight line. I know that we love a clean before and after story, clear, cut and dry. But healing it's messy, it's layered, multi-layered, and anything could really trigger your healing process, because it's a process. It's never over, it's never done, it's never finished.
Speaker 1:A song that you hear in the grocery store, old photos or, like you just said, unexpected run-ins, okay. But here's one thing Just because you felt it again doesn't mean you're back at square one. It just means that you're human, your heart still feels. Okay, you still have emotions. It just means that you're human, your heart still feels, okay, you still have emotions. It also means something deeper is surfacing, and that's an opportunity to give that part of you more attention, more grace, more space and recognize where you are, where you want to be.
Speaker 1:We're not robots, and I wish that society and social media would stop pushing that and portraying that as if oh, okay, I recognize I have an issue, I recognize I have a problem. Okay, I cut the problem out, I'm all good now, all better. Like no, that's not how life works and that's definitely not how the healing process works. Like I told y'all, like I'm trying to stay with my thing and like some weeks is good, others it's not. Y'all didn't even hear from me for a month. Like we're all trying, we're all on our independent journeys and we're just trying to get better, even if it's just 1%. Okay, it might not be 50%, it might not be 80, but at least I gave one and you just have to show up. Half the step is showing up and congratulations, you did it.
Speaker 1:Okay, this next one, I feel it too much. Okay, I have been in the same job for four years and it doesn't bring me joy anymore, but I stay because it's stable. Am I wrong for wanting more? Listen, comfort is not the same as peace, and I know that it's easy to get the two intertwined. Stability doesn't mean that you're stuck either, but it can mean that you've stopped dreaming. I mean, let's be real. It's hard to walk away from something that pays the bills, even if it's slowly draining your spirit, honey, because at the end of the day, the lights need to be on, that water needs to run, babes, that rents, the bills need to be paid, but at the same time, you're allowed to want more, more fulfillment, more alignment, just more life in your life. And that doesn't mean that you have to make a reckless move to make a real one. Start exploring, start asking questions, start honoring your own voice, because it's whispering for a reason.
Speaker 1:That doesn't mean I would never give somebody the advice of Just dropping a job, cold turkey and going to the next one. Now, if that is what God has called you to do, then by all means go forth and do it. However, that's just not the type of person I am personally. Me personally, I would look and explore into things that you're actually interested in. Go to a career fair, maybe. Put your resume back up on linkedin, indeed, whatever, what have you, um? Explore your options, um, and see what's out there. Never know, like maybe you'll hear something back, maybe you can transition. I feel like that would be a smoother transition, more realistic transition, because, like I said, or like I always say, life is about balance and I get it dream and dream big.
Speaker 1:But for me, I'm a bit of a realist and, realistically, not all dreams be paying the bills and that's not the most important thing in life. But, baby, I want y'all to eat, I want y'all to sleep, I want y'all to live peacefully. Okay, okay, okay, this next one. I'm scared to fully trust God. I say I do, but I keep making backup plans in case he doesn't come through. Hmm, but I keep making backup plans in case he doesn't come through.
Speaker 1:Honestly, so many of us live in that tension of fear and faith. But here's the truth God can't bless your plan B if it's rooted in your disbelief in his plan A, like you don't even believe that he's going to do what he said he was going to do. Faith is the plan. It doesn't need a backup plan, because faith without a backup plan isn't recklessness, it's surrender. That doesn't mean that you don't steward what's in your hands, but it does mean you stop trying to rescue yourself from what God is using to refine you. Ask him what are his plans for your life. Allow him to show you. You know, like, what is the point of even asking God or giving God your plans, if you're just gonna make your own, if you're just gonna do what you want to do anyway, you know, like that's not trusting, that's not truly trusting. Faith without works is dead. So, yeah, you gotta have faith. You also gotta put the work behind it and sometimes that work looks like fully letting go, fully trusting. Obviously it's gonna be scary, you know, but ask god for strength, ask god for guidance and wisdom and understanding, and he will give it to you. Okay, I can't remember if I said that that was gonna be the last one, but no, this next one has to be the last one. Oh my gosh, I was gonna save it till next, our next episode, but let's go ahead and handle it now.
Speaker 1:Okay, how do you forgive someone who hurt you but still plays the victim? Oh, my goodness, clock it if you could be in my and what's crazy is y'all. I got this message two weeks ago, but this is really something that's just been on my mind for months, months, months. So let's just keep it real. It's hard, it's frustrating, it feels unfair, because not only are you carrying the pain of what this person did, but now you're also carrying the frustration of watching them rewrite the story like they're the one that was wronged. But here's what I'm learning. Here's what I'm learning sometimes the most powerful form of forgiveness is silent release.
Speaker 1:Forgiveness isn't pretending it didn't happen. It's not waiting for them to admit it. It's not giving them that access again. Because forgiveness is you choosing freedom over bitterness. Even that's what they still choosing. Okay, and I know that that might not feel as satisfying, because obviously we're human. We want the closure, we want the honesty. We want them to say you were right, I messed up, I'm wrong, cool. But some people are just never going to give you that because they were never honest with themselves to begin with. So here's the truth Forgiveness is about protecting your heart and protecting what you got going on, not preserving their reputation.
Speaker 1:You're not excusing them from what they did. You're excusing yourself from the situation. Okay, you're excusing yourself from the cycle of replaying it, rehearsing it, reliving it, so you can let them perform for the crowd if they want. Okay, god saw what they did when no one was watching. And guess what? You don't have nothing to prove, you just got to live free in that. Okay, that's another thing.
Speaker 1:Prayer, prayer always helps, always works. Pray, pray, ask God to help you release the fence. Okay, not because they deserve anything, but because you deserve peace. Okay, so release it, let it go. Okay, let it go. Let bygones be bygones, and yeah, but I definitely want to chat more about that, um, on our next episode, because, yeah, we, we got some things to chat about, y'all, we got, we got some things to chat about.
Speaker 1:And before we wrap up, I just want to invite y'all into something new that I'm doing for the chels chat segment. It's going to be called joy check, where I give you one question to sit with during the week. Okay, are y'all ready? And I need to hear your responses, whether you dm us on our instagram page at choose joy podcast, you text us through the link, um, or you reach out to us on twitter x sorry, I still call it Twitter you reach out to us on X at Choose Joy Pod. I'm going to give you your responses. Okay, you ready?
Speaker 1:This week's joy check is how have your friendships changed as you've gotten older, and what do you value most in a friend now that you didn't in your younger years? Okay, so send your responses and your answers, since your comments, questions, dilemmas, concerns what have you. Um, if this episode spoke to you, do me a favor and text your favorite part or send it to somebody that you love, because we're building something real here. It's not just a podcast, but a space, a safe one. Okay, um, until next time. And remember joy is not the absence of struggle, it's choosing to rise above them. Okay, love y'all, be gentle with yourselves and, as always, choose joy. See you next time.