26: How to Create More Joy in Your Life: Happy Habit Series

Joy isn’t just a bonus—it’s a must. In this episode, we dive into why joy is one of the most important happy habits you can build into your life, especially as a busy woman juggling motherhood, work, and everything in between. I’ll walk you through how joy impacts your mindset, boosts your energy, and strengthens your confidence—plus how to create a personal “joy bucket list” you can return to any time you feel disconnected or depleted.

We’ll talk about simple, repeatable ways to practice joy daily (even in the chaos), how joy and confidence are deeply connected, and why choosing joy is one of the most powerful promises you can make to yourself.

What You'll Learn:

• Why joy is essential—not optional—for well-being
• How to build joy into your daily life with intention
• The connection between joy and confidence
• Real examples from my own joy bucket to inspire your own

If you’re ready to feel more aligned, more energized, and more like you again, this conversation is for you.

🎧 Tune in, take notes, and let’s build strong women...starting with joy.

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Transcript

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Hi, I'm Laura Orlando and welcome to the Build Strong Women podcast. I believe as women that we are the role models for the next generation of girls. So how do we become the best role models for these young girls? We work hard to become the best version of ourselves, whatever that means to you. It's not easy. It takes work. It takes learning, trying new things, falling down and getting back up again. But that's what we do on the show. We dive deep into how we can grow on the inside. We will learn from women that are on the same journey as us. Just trying to become the best version of themselves. Let's learn together, build our confidence, learn to love who we are so that we can teach the next generation of girls to grow up to be strong and confident women. Hi guys and welcome back to another episode of the Build Strong Woman podcast. My name is Laura and I am so happy that you're here with me tuning into this week's episode. Today we are diving into another happy habit. I just like to break down these happy habits, kind of explain why I created this framework for creating more alignment in my life and just helping me follow through on the promises that I've made to myself. So today we're going to be talking about something that we all want more of. This is a bucket that is so important But we often feel really busy or overwhelmed to actually... get any of this or to create any of this in our own lives. And that bucket is joy. I feel like joy is one of the most important happy habits that we have, but it takes intentionality to make it happen. Because we get so overwhelmed and our lives are so busy, that is really the last thing that we follow through on. So this isn't just a wouldn't it be nice kind of episode. It's a real deal. Let's make this happen conversation for joy. Because I believe that if we want to be these strong women who are modeling for the next generation what joy looks like and feels like, we have to be intentional to build that into our daily life. So the first thing we're going to do is we are going to talk about why joy even matters because let's be honest, life is full and as women we are doing all of the things and we're supporting everyone else and somewhere along the way joy has become optional, especially if you're a mom, especially if you have a busy career in your life. We think of it as like a luxury. or something we'll just get to do someday when things really slow down and honestly that's never going to happen because joy isn't just this fluffy thing that we do on the weekends it becomes the fuel for us and that's what we have to remember joy fills our emotional tank it helps with our mindset it shifts our mindset joy gives us energy to show up with love for our family for our friends it helps us handle stress better and it just makes us feel more alive inside so we have to prioritize adding more joy into our life and being really intentional about it. So when we practice joy intentionally, we're not just creating a better life for ourselves, we're showing our family, our daughters, our sons, our friends, our communities, that joy really matters to us. It's something that we need in our lives. So I created these happy habits and One of the happy habits obviously is joy, and that's what I'm talking about today. So happy habits are just this personal... go-to list that you can come back to that help you follow through on the things that you know help you feel good so you know that so we all know that joy feels good in our lives but you have to figure out what sparks joy for you what makes you feel good what helps you reconnect with yourself and these aren't like big extravagant things they're small doable and they're repeatable that's what you need to remember about happy habits they're small they're doable you can do them many times during the day or many times during the week and they're repeatable All right, so you have to make a list of all the things that bring you joy. What would be in your joy bucket list? So for me, in my joy bucket, I love to listen to podcasts. And even if that's doing laundry or taking a walk, I love to listen to my favorite motivational podcasts. Another thing is I love drinking my morning coffee in some peace and quiet and working on my journal. That brings me joy. Just sitting outside in my backyard and just like listening to the birds or even talking to my husband, that That brings me joy. Reading a few pages of a book that I love. You know me, I love that nonfiction. I love reading books and learning more. I love listening to music, especially my favorite songs. I also love hanging out with my kids and, you know, we can watch a show together. We can watch a game. We can play cards together. The point is, these are things that I intentionally choose to do because I know they make me happy. I can't wait for joy to happen. I can't just force myself to go in the backyard and sit outside and listen to the birds and have a nice quiet morning. I have to make space for it. I know that working out makes me feel good. And yes, that's part of my movement bucket, but it also brings me joy. It also is part of my mindset bucket, but it makes me happy. So I have to create space for it. So the world will always pull us away from joy. And that's what I want you to understand. You'll be like, So stressed, overwhelmed with laundry, the kids always need something, there's always an email that you have to check, a bill you have to pay, somewhere you have to go, something you have to do. I totally get it. But if we want more joy, We have to fight for it by practicing it. We have to fight for it by making a list of all the things that bring us joy and actually follow through on them. And you know what? I can really tell a difference when I don't follow through on some of the buckets or the happy habits that I have in my life because I just feel blah. And that's what I don't want to do. And this summer, I am being so intentional about following through on the promises I made to myself. Last summer, I felt like garbage and I knew why It was because I wasn't doing the things that I know that helped me feel good. And you know, honestly, I didn't even know what felt good to me. I had no idea. So I had to be really intentional about it. And sometimes we have to be intentional. I know that might sound really weird, but we have to be intentional about planning joy in our lives. Because I know for me, I would just do laundry. I would clean. I would do all this stuff in the summer. And I wouldn't do anything fun. I have to make it a conscious effort to go and... intentionally choose joy in my life. Even the simple little things, even the simple things that I do every single day, like my morning cup of coffee, it brings me so much joy. Writing in my journal brings me so much joy. Doing this podcast brings me joy. I have to be intentional about doing it though because everything can pull me away from it. And here's what I've learned. The more intentionally I choose to have joy in my life, the more it shows up. and it becomes a habit. It becomes a way of life. And like anything, it's a muscle that we have to strengthen. We have to be intentional about it. So what I want to tell you today is don't wait for joy to find you. You have to create it. You have to choose it and you actually have to do it and practice it. And what I want to say is that there is a deep connection between joy and confidence. We often think of confidence as something that just happens when we look a certain way or we achieve a certain goal or we finally just get it all together, which never happens. But in our own journey, in my own journey, in the stories that I hear on podcasts or books that I read of so many women, that confidence isn't about achieving. It's really about aligning yourself. And here's the connection. When you choose joy or you're also choosing yourself. You're choosing your well-being. And every time you take a step towards what lights you up and what makes you feel good, whether it's stepping outside to breathe in fresh air or having a great cup of coffee or calling a friend or being with your kids and listening to music or reading a book, whatever it is to you, remember, it's all about you and what brings you joy. No one else. When you are really intentional about choosing those things, you're reinforcing a powerful message to yourself. You're doing these things because you want to, because you matter, because you think joy is important. And you get to feel good even if the world around you is completely chaotic. You get to make this intentional choice to bring some of that joy in your life. Another thing that always brings me joy is at the end of the night using my face products and washing my face and knowing that I'm using these clean products that make me feel good. That brings me joy. And when you do that over and over again, all of these things that we're talking about, you begin to trust yourself more because you know that you can bring yourself joy. You start to believe, hey, I keep showing up for me and I can keep showing up for me. And that's how we build self-esteem. And that's all part of making a promise to yourself, creating these happy habits. And one of the most important happy habits is joy. But they're all important. Movement, mindset, joy, they're all important. Peace, connection. You have to kind of add a little sprinkle of all of these into your daily life so that you can feel aligned with who you are. And that's where our confidence grows. Once we start trusting ourselves in who we are, we don't need any outside anyone to make us feel better. We don't need someone else to make us feel better and feel good inside. We can create our own joy. We need to understand that's the first step is understanding who we are and making a list of all the things that we know that light us up. You know, go through each bucket of the happy habits. I have done that at the beginning where I'm like, okay, what is... forms of movement that help me feel good what makes me feel most aligned same with my mindset what helps me with my mindset is it saying affirmations is it journaling same thing with joy write down all the things that bring you joy from little things to big things and i think the little things are the best because you can add them in every single day whatever brings you joy you need to keep on doing that and here's what i notice when i intentionally create more joy in my life it changes how i feel about myself i smile more i want to go out and do things more. I feel lighter, more grounded, more aligned. And when you feel good about yourself inside and out, your energy becomes magnetic. Not just because you're like trying to be this pretend happy person, because you are truly rooted in what brings you joy, what brings you peace, what brings you happiness. And that's what real confidence is all about. It's not loud. It's not being perfect. It's quiet and strong, actually. It's being comfortable with who you are. And that is the whole goal. And we're not always I'm always going to feel comfortable within ourselves. I totally get it. So if you're looking to grow your confidence, don't just ask, okay, what do I need to fix about myself? Sometimes I think, you know, people want to make promises. They just want to fix everything. Ask yourself, what could bring me joy today? What can I add just a little bit more of that's going to fill me up and make me feel good, make me feel more aligned? My goal in life, I always talk about trying to be the best version of myself and all the things that I do in my life. Okay, is this going to make me feel like the best version of myself? It's really about what makes me feel good, what makes me feel aligned, what makes me feel just happy inside. I just want to feel happy. And joy can look different for everyone, and especially in different seasons of your life. And different seasons... in the year. So in the wintertime, you might be noticing that cozy candles and warm tea and a good book snuggling up next to the fireplace, what brings you joy. And right now in the summer, it could be long walks with your kids outside or the sunshine or just being on the back patio. The point is joy isn't a one size fits all and it is all about you. It has to do with no one else but you and what makes you feel good. So I hope this episode was helpful for you in just trying to figure out what brings you joy and the importance of finding more joy in your life because it is a habit that you need to be intentional about, especially as we get older because there are so many things being thrown at us and we have to be intentional about doing things that help us feel good. So I want to end this episode with an affirmation like I do every episode. So that affirmation is every day holds tiny moments of joy and I'm choosing to notice them. I hope you have a wonderful day. Thank you so much for being here. If this episode was helpful in any way, I would love for you to share it with a friend every share means so much to me share it on social media whatever way you can it really helps me grow and reach as many women as I can so thank you so much for being here and I will see you on next week's episode thanks so much for spending time with me today on the build strong woman podcast if this episode spoke to you would you do me a favor and share it with another woman who could use a little encouragement and confidence today and don't forget to check out the show notes for any resources I mentioned I have tools to help you grow Keep your promises to yourself and show up as your best self. If you want even more support and inspiration, head over to graciousadventures.com or come hang out with me over on Instagram at Gracious Adventures. Until next time, keep showing up, keep doing the inner work, and most importantly, keep believing in yourself. And I'll see you on next week's episode.