We often treat joy as something that happens to us. It arrives unexpectedly, lifts us for a moment, then leaves. At our latest She Leads Change taster, “Finding joy as a leader”, we discovered it is also something we choose.
We began by asking what joy actually is. One woman described it as smiling to yourself because you are doing what you were meant to do. Another said happiness is a state, but joy is an energy: sometimes a kapow, sometimes pink fluffy cosiness. Someone else noticed that saying things out loud to others makes them more real.
We defined leadership widely: leading a team, a family, a day, or simply yourself. Think of geese flying in formation. The leader is not always at the front, and every position matters.
Jo Kaye led us through a hot air balloon exercise, listing what lifts us and what weighs us down. The helium was walks, singing, swimming, baking, good sleep and the right people. The sandbags were the laundry, reports nobody reads, other people’s negativity, and above all the “shoulds” and comparison. The insight that landed was that attitude often matters more than the activity. Even a sandbag can ground us.
We shared practices too: noticing glimmers, the tiny moments that tell our nervous system we are safe; turning a morning run into a search for beauty; letting the autumn leaves remind us that hard things change too. And remembering that the living happens on the climb, not at the summit.
Everyone left with a decision. Mine was to work at ending comparison.
Leading From Within, our next cohort, starts on 3 November, and places close on Friday 23 October. Our spring cohort begins in late April 2027. If either feels right, get in touch for a chat. We would love to hear from you.