I’ve always been drawn towards joy, not necessarily because I’m a naturally positive person, but rather because I do tend towards the judgmental, the catastrophic, and the depressive. Joy and enthusiasm, I learned in my teen years were an antidote to the darker pits of myself. My old email sign-off, “Stay stoked,” was less of a “isn’t everything awesome” vibe and more of a reminder to stay pressed into the possibility.
In those teen years, I was a big fan of the central Indiana punk/hardcore scene because there were a group of bands, mostly of guys a few years older than me, that seemed to be navigating life through song with great enthusiasm that undercut the cynicism and melancholy of our region. Despite the sad weight of Midwestern life and the awkwardness of growing up, bands like Away with Vega and In The Face Of War, were harnessing playfulness, creativity, and community to cut through the muck.
A decade and a half later, I would find the punk band Idles and their album “Joy as an Act of Resistance,” and that title alone changed my life. I’m going to get that title tattooed on me at some point because it reminds me that leaning into joy actively works against the forces that try to bring me down—my illness, the oppressive tendencies of this culture, the cynicism of aging, people that are “against” me.
Instead I’m each day trying to reach my “joy quota,” an arbitrary barometer that’s more of a feeling than any defined measurement. Being aware of this feeling lets me check in on how I’m doing in creating a lifestyle and culture around myself embedded with joy. It signals that I’m full up on this invigorating force.
May I meet my joy quota today. May you meet your joy quota today.
Thank you!