The Only Child Diaries Podcast
The Only Child Diaries Podcast
The Brochure on Finding Joy Despite Life's Best Intentions
What if the secret to happiness isn't complicated at all, but simply requires us to choose joy daily? After losing someone who was like a second mother to me, I've been reflecting deeply on how we navigate life's challenges while still maintaining our sense of purpose and happiness.
June has mysteriously become a month of pivotal moments in my life - when pets joined our family, jobs began and ended, and sadly, when loved ones passed away. This pattern of beginnings and endings prompted me to examine how we respond to both joy and grief. While supporting a friend through the uncomfortable process of making funeral arrangements at a decidedly creepy local mortuary, I couldn't help but consider how differently people approach hardship.
Some individuals face chronic illness, tremendous loss, or ongoing struggles yet maintain an inspiring positive outlook. Others seem determined to focus on what's wrong despite having their basic needs met. The contrast is striking and begs the question: what makes the difference? As a self-proclaimed "glass half-full kind of gal," I'm challenging you to evaluate your own life. If you're not enjoying most of your days, what changes might you need to make? Is it your job causing the most discomfort? Your relationships? Your living situation?
The reality that none of us knows how much time we have isn't just a platitude - it's a profound truth that should inform how we live. Every day truly is a gift, and recognizing this can transform how we experience even the most mundane moments. Join me as we explore finding joy amidst life's inevitable challenges, and discover why choosing happiness isn't selfish - it's necessary.
What brings you joy today? I'd love to hear your thoughts as we navigate adulting together with humor and light.
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Maybe you've guessed I'm a glass half full kind of gal. Welcome to the Only Child Diaries podcast. I'm your host, Tracy Wallace. Have you ever felt like you didn't receive the how-to brochure on life, that you didn't get enough guidance about major life issues? So did I. You don't have to be an only child to feel this way. In my podcast, we'll explore some of the best ways to better navigate adulting, while doing so with humor and light. Welcome everyone to the Only Child Diaries podcast. Today I'm going to talk about finding joy. Now don't stop listening.
Tracy:If you listened to last week, you know that I lost a friend, my husband and I, my family, my small family. We lost a family friend, really my second mother, and very quickly. She died on June 29th. And well, first of all, I just want to say what's up with June? June has for some reason, become a pivotal month in my life where there are a lot of beginnings and a lot of endings, and maybe you can relate to this this. But once Neliya went into the hospital, it was only a matter of a week plus two days, really, when she passed away. But one of those days, that week, I was thinking don't let her die in June, and I mean I knew she was going to pass away, but just because there's so many anniversaries that are in June. So June was the month where we got our horse, dallas. He came to live with us, or not live with us, but he became our horse. It's the day that we adopted Brownie, our dog. It's also the day that we brought Bubby, our cat, home from the barn. It's the day when I started the job that I have now. Also the day when I started my last job and it's the day when I started my last job and it's the day when I ended my last job.
Tracy:I mean not one particular day, but days in the month. It's obviously the day, one of the days, when Neliya passed away. For some reason I kept on my calendar and renewing every year the day Michael Jackson died. I don't know why I kept that, but he was a visible fixture of our lives. And then it was also when Gina, my friend, and Neliya's daughter, first daughter or last daughter, youngest daughter passed away in early June and Gina's father passed away no, his birthday, and I'm sure I could think of others, but there's just a lot of anniversaries, good and bad, in June, so I'm sure that there's some purpose to that. There's some entryway universal and not universal, but universe entryway and exit, I don't know, in June there's something about June, right, there's something about June, right. It's also when I think about it I'm not sure about the specific day, but it's also really when my relationship with Bill started. We had met in April but we didn't, you know, we just talked a few times and whatnot, but it's really the first time we spent time together and we really started our relationship in June, way back when.
Tracy:So good things and bad things, anyway, okay. So, finding joy. I've been thinking about this this week because there's just always so much going on, right, there's so many things that happen in the course of a day, a week, a month in our lives and in the news and around us, to our friends, our family, our community, and there's good and bad right being an empath like I am. I am an empath, empathetic person. It's hard sometimes when there's negative things that happen, like somebody dies, and this week I did go with my friend to the mortuary. I, I, she said she could go by herself, but I didn't want her to, even though it creeped me out.
Tracy:This is a little family-run, community-independent mortuary of sorts in the local town and, dare I say it, it is on the scale of creepiness, it's pretty creepy. I don't think that they've redecorated or refurbished it, maybe since the 70s. So the furniture, the walls, the paintings, everything is just old and kind of cluttered. It's a strange kind of setup, the way that the building is. I don't know that it started out as a mortuary per se. I'm not sure what it was. Maybe it was, I don't know. It's thinking about it. I'm not sure. I think it was probably a business, unless it was like, um, some sort of a, uh, apartment building. So I it's, it's weird, it's just, it's weird and it's creepy.
Tracy:I have my own creepy thoughts about these places anyway, but they were very nice. The people that we encountered, the living people that we encountered, were very nice and anyway. So I went with her to that because I thought she needed moral support and it doesn't necessarily bother me, it's not something I necessarily looked forward to, but anyway, irregardless. So I digress and I worked and did other stuff, but I think that there's always things right in the course of our days and our week. Say, if you think about your last week right, how many things brought you joy and how many things stressed you out or made you unhappy or made you think why am I here, what am I doing Right? So I'm going to offer up this challenge. Is it a challenge?
Tracy:I'm going to offer up this thought if you are not enjoying most of your life because, let's face it, you're never going to enjoy all of it but if you are not enjoying most of your life, you need to make some changes right? There's these periods of time where you're going to be experiencing a time, like my friend is now, where she lost her mother and she's not going to experience really any joy at this time. I mean, she might have these little moments here and there, but in general, this is going to be a time need to look at what is causing you the most discomfort. Is it your job? Is it your personal relationships? Is it your living situation? Personal relationships, is it your living situation?
Tracy:And you need to think about changing that, because I'm going to tell you why. Do you know why? I'm going to tell you that? Because we never know how much time we have. I mean, it sounds trite, sounds cliche, but it's true. It sounds trite, sounds cliche, but it's true. You never know how long you have. It could be. Yeah, you think you're young, you think you're healthy, but the universe doesn't always agree with that.
Tracy:I learned many years ago that every day is a gift and I know that sounds so hokey right. Every day is a gift. I've realized that because I've seen people, that I've known people that have gone suddenly right For whatever reason, and as I've aged, I've seen it over and over again. As I've aged, I've seen it over and over again. As I've gotten older, I've cherished every day more and more. Every day, I try to find something that, because life is too short and you deserve to enjoy it as much as possible, you're not going to enjoy everything. That's, that's just not. You're not going to enjoy paying your bills and you're not going to enjoy doing your taxes which, as a reminder, I need to finish those, but you need to find joy. So I'm going to get off my soapbox for now, but that's today's message, that's this week's message, and some people are just more adept at this. Some people you know, we've all seen it right People that have experienced terrible hardships.
Tracy:Maybe they've been through a traumatic illness, they have a chronic disease, they've experienced tremendous loss in their life, whether it be people or their house or their, you know, whatever right, smiling and inspiring. Right, because they're happy to be here and they're happy to have what they have, no matter what that is. And then there's other people who, for whatever reason don't you know, maybe they have things that other people don't have. Right, they have a job it's not the best job or the happiest job they have a living situation. I mean, you know, if you have a living situation and you have a roof over your head, there's a lot of people that don't have that. But sometimes people are just bound and determined to be miserable, no matter what, and it's hard for me to deal with that long term.
Tracy:I don't know what to do with that, because maybe you've guessed I'm a glass half full, kind of gal. Anyway, okay, I'm going to get off my soapbox now. So find joy, do what you have to do. Life's too short. Okay, every day is a gift. That's what I'm going to say. So I want to say before we go, before I go last week I did talk to you about the podcast interview that I did with a gal and I'm going to tell you what it is.
Tracy:I'm not sure exactly what the date is that it's coming out, but the podcast is called Lead From Within and the host is Michelle Thompson, and if you have a chance to check it out even before my episode drops, you certainly can. I think that she's very sweet. She's got a lot to say. She's up in Canada. She's been doing this for a while. She is an only child, by the way, I found out.
Tracy:I didn't realize that until we were talking for the interview, so I'm hoping to have her on, I guess, on my podcast at some point down the road, when I get things kind of sorted out here. I'm going to need to just take a day off and just do catch up on all my interviews, I think. But we had a great conversation and she talks a lot about emotional intelligence and Michelle is a registered nurse, ironically and she talks a lot in her podcast. She interviews guests every week and she talks about leadership in the workplace and really transforming work into a place of purpose and connection and creating workplaces people never want to leave. So you have to kind of applaud that, right, because there's a lot of workplaces that people can't wait to run out of, am I wrong? So I fully support her mission there we did. We had a great conversation and if you listen to the episode when it drops, it's not dropped yet, but if you listen to the episode you'll hear more about me, and she asked me some really great questions that I wouldn't have thought about asking me, so it was impressive.
Tracy:Anyway, more about that. I'll tell you more about the specific date as we get closer, but I wanted to share that with you in case you wanted to check out her podcast too. Well, folks, that's all I've got for today. I want you to go out there and I want you to find some joy. All right, that's an order. Next week we're going to tackle another topic together. I hope you'll join me. If you like this episode, please follow the Only Child Diaries podcast on Apple podcasts or other platforms you might listen on and consider rating Only Child Diaries and writing a review. It helps others to find us. Please share it with a friend you think might like it as well. You're welcome. Visit my Instagram page Only Child Diaries or Facebook Only Child Diaries Podcast. Thanks for listening. I'm Tracy Wallace and these are the Only Child Diaries.
