In Pursuit of Joie de Vivre

I was recently doing some writing and the phrase joie de vivre popped into my head. It wasn’t necessarily the phrase I was looking for, but oddly, it fit perfectly where I needed it and its presence in that moment had a very influential feel — an “aha!” moment if you will.  

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I struggle a bit with happiness. I’m a creative type and a bit of a dreamer so the day-to-day grind of the corporate world tends to catch up with me. Not living the life of my true self wears on my soul, and as I recently had baby #2, this is only exacerbated by the hormones of pregnancy and postpartum life that scream at me to stay home.

The History
When I found out that I was pregnant with our first child in October 2015, my pursuit for opportunities to work from home entered a state of urgency. At the time, it wasn’t so much about finding joy as it was about ending the drudgery of working in a soul-sucking career while forfeiting my child to a less-than-desirable care situation. Since that time, I’ve spent countless hours soul-searching (and internet scouring) for career options that would allow me to work from home in hope of providing greater personal satisfaction.

Since then, I’ve weighed and tested several options, none of which have stuck — too much time needed, additional training necessary, odd hours, no real interest. No joie de vivre.

Then I found blogging….
I’ve loved to write for as long as I can remember; I even obtained a degree in it. However, for a number of years after college, I quit. I simply didn’t feel inspired anymore so I stopped prioritizing it and the degree became nothing more than a résumé builder. But after our daughter arrived, my inspiration returned and I suddenly felt like I had things to write about again.

As she grew, so did the number of topics I wanted to write about. I originally started a small blog to compliment an Etsy store that I had created with a friend, but it eventually became apparent that my topics were no longer going to fit only into the crafty category, so when we found out that we were pregnant with baby #2, I started following ads that talked about monetizing blogs, I took a five day blogging crash course, and in August 2018, I purchased a domain and got to work.

Thus far, my blogging journey has been incredible. I’ve learned more about technology than I ever thought I would and — surprisingly — I’ve loved every minute of it. I’ve met some great people in the blogging community and received a lot of support from friends and family. In the past month and a half I’ve taken an in-depth blogging class, created a vision statement, and set goals to get me where I want to be.

So back to joie de vivre….
While I’m not able to stay home quite yet, I feel like I’m moving in the right direction. I’m finding greater happiness in the day-to-day, relishing in the moments I’m home with my family, and enjoying the presence of my co-workers a bit more as I grow my reignited passion for writing and continue my blogging journey in pursuit of joie de vivre.

I hope you’ll join me on my journey.

— Funky Crunchy Mama