I’ve felt a bit under attack in recent weeks, struggling to find my focus, my motivation and even my joy.

My lovely friend Kelly Smith at Mrs Disciple chose 5 joys as the topic for this week’s #FridayFive linkup, causing me to remember the ways I learned to choose joy this year.

5 ways I learned to embrace joy

Embracing Reading

I loved reading as a child but, somewhere during my adolescence, it became a chore instead of a pleasure.

After starting many books but not completing a single book since probably college, I read 5 books (plus a Bible study called Forgiveness-Unforgiveness by Erin Olson and most of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo) cover to cover this year.

They weren’t exactly light reading, in subject matter, either.

I started off with Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life by Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend, courtesy of my sister-in-law, then read and helped launch For the Love: Fighting for Grace in a World of Impossible Standards by Jen Hatmaker, Through Waters Deep by Erin Shafer and Out of Sorts: Making Peace with an Evolving Faith by Sarah Bessey.

This week, I finished The Fringe Hours by Jessica N. Turner of The Mom Creative, one of my incredibly talented For the Love launch team sisters. In her refreshing how-to manual for self care, Jessica helps readers identify practical ways in which they can prioritize their creative pursuits while maintaining their sanity.

One of my favorite tips from her book actually helped me make time to read it! Jessica suggests always keeping a book in your purse to take advantage of downtime, like waiting at a doctor’s office or in line at the grocery store.

I finished reading The Fringe Hours sitting in my car, waiting on a train to pass!

Embracing Writing

I set an informal blogging goal this year to post more frequently. When I started sending out email newsletters in April, I vowed to post at least once a week.

I found that the more often I wrote, the easier it became to share my heart through my words. Now, I typically write for my own blog several times a week and have made progress toward publishing books.

I also started writing guest posts for other bloggers and soliciting and editing posts from other bloggers this year, which has been a really great confidence builder and confirmation of my calling.

Embracing Community

This year’s theme was definitely community.

I always have a lot of ideas floating around in my head but I’m not necessarily so great at implementing them. My flood relief fundraiser was only successful because my community immediately rallied around it, supporting and promoting the shirts. We could not have raised $146,000 for central Texas flood victims without each of you!

As I recovered from the madness of this summer’s viral shirt sales, I found out that I was part of my Buda, Texas, neighbor Jen Hatmaker’s For the Love launch team, a group of women devoted to gracious sisterhood. The online and in-person community we have built is about so much more than that red book.

My most favorite part of Facebook now is our For the Love (of Writing) group of bloggers and authors. These ladies encourage, inspire and challenge me, daily. They give me Truth when I inevitably slip into self doubt.

They remind me, constantly, of my purpose and my voice. They are my tribe.

Embracing Teamwork

As a Type A firstborn, I like to be in charge. I do not like asking for help.

Yet, as my fundraiser took off this summer, I found myself needing to work with others and consult experts for advice.

I collaborated with my account manager and designers at Teespring to improve and expand my fundraisers. I collaborated with nonprofit leaders and media outlets to promote my fundraisers. And I collaborated with intellectual property and corporate attorneys to protect my fundraisers.

I learned a lot (the hard way) through this creative process and was so humbled to be serving my community on the same “team” with local celebrities like Ray Benson and Cory Morrow.

Embracing Rest

This year’s Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) theme encouraged us to “embrace rest.” Even though this summer’s fundraiser taught me the importance of rest, I knew implementing it would be a challenge, as I struggle with being still.

I’ve found rest in kid-free time with other moms twice a month at MOPS. Sometimes, I find rest while my girls are at preschool twice a week, although, in all honesty, I tend to cram that time full of exercise and errands.

This fall, I remembered how much easier it was to find rest before kids, during a much-needed, extended weekend in Boston with my husband.

Honestly, I find the best rest in yoga, in reading, in writing, in prayer, in hot tea and in going to bed early enough to get up before my girls rise so that I can start the day doing each of these things in quiet, refreshing peace.

How did you learn to embrace joy in 2015?

Let me know in the comments.

Want more joys? Check out our #FridayFive linkup here.

Love,

Lauren