Joy without an Agenda

Go to school, get good grades, get a job, work hard, save your money, buy a house, raise a family, and die.

Life’s instruction manual in a nutshell.

Like most instruction manuals, this one sucks. It’s boring, especially if you consider yourself an ambitious or driven person. It leaves no room for creativity, freedom, or exploring a new path.

We’re judged if we decide school isn’t for us, or if a 9-5 sounds like a prison sentence. They tell us we’re destined for despair if we don’t abide by the instructions. So, we follow the manual until misery sets in. Then we toss the manual and “wing” this thing called life.

But guess what? We like instruction manuals.

Instructions are great if you have the right set. That’s why we utilize mentors, hire coaches, explore alternative forms of education, read books, and tap into spirit. My instruction manual includes all of the above, with spirit leading the way.

During a spiritual reading, I asked for further clarification on this next stage of my career. I was hoping for a strategy (during the previous reading, I basically got a whole social media strategy), but instead I got this:

“Joy without an agenda.”

Yep, one vague ass sentence. Thanks, spirit guides.

Hearing that should have been music to my ears. Instead, it sounded like this: Just have fun?! Just be joyful?! NO AGENDA?! NO PLAN?! Are you insane??

But then I sat with it. Why is “joy without an agenda” so insane? Didn’t we go into business for ourselves so we could feel joy by disconnecting from the soul-sucking corporate world? Didn’t we want to feel joy by sharing our God-given talent with the world?

If seeking and feeling joy brought us here, why are we kicking it to the curb now that we’ve arrived?

I am challenging myself to follow this new set of instructions.

Today, it felt joyful to eat breakfast with Onyx, even though my partner offered to handle breakfast so I could get some work done.

My coaching client was intuitively led to follow joy, too. Instead of focusing on her metrics during our session today, we did some creative brainstorming instead. It allowed me to take a trip down memory lane and geek out on some common interests we didn’t know we shared, which was so much fun!

Then I had some quiet time at my desk while Onyx napped. Instead of forcing myself to “work”, I followed my joy and made a batch of wild mushroom soup. A recipe I love, but hadn’t made in years because no one else in the house likes mushrooms. Oh, and 20/20 was playing in the background because I love cooking to true crime. Justice makes the food taste better.

After that, the WiFi went out (Los Angeles and rain = the wifi will go out), so I busted out my journal and did some writing.

Being in a state of joy brought unexpected clarity.

I know exactly how and when I want to relaunch my mastermind. Spoiler alert: there will be an in-person retreat. I know what I’m posting on social, my next craft project, and I know which trash TV I’m tuning into tonight ... the new season of ‘Love is Blind.’

I’m gonna keep rolling with the “joy with no agenda” strategy and see what transpires. Are you tapping into joy today, or are you riding the struggle bus?