Mental Health

Finding Joy In Smiling

May 25, 2019

Welcome to the Finding Joy series! Here I will be sharing activities that help me to find joy in my life despite whatever my current situation may be. My hope is that you can also find joy in your life. Whether it be through any of these activities I share, or hobbies and experiences that you love. Want more Finding Joy?

This month I’ve been talking about how my life is having facial paralysis. Check out the first post about my smile surgery here. Sticking with the smile theme I thought I would share the things that make me smile. Some of these are random and some have deeper meanings. Here are some of the things that keep me smiling.

What Keeps Me Smiling

Dance Fitness: If you don’t know how much I love this you need to check out one of my previous Finding Joy articles.
Movies: I have a few go-to movies that never fail to make me smile. These include Letters To Juliet, The Greatest Showman, and basically any Disney movie.
My pets: I have two dogs and two cats and they never fail to make me smile.
Crushing a Hard Workout: Nothing beats the feeling of accomplishment I feel after completing a tough workout
Anything that sparkles, especially if they are pens and notebooks: what can I say I love all things that sparkle and shine.
Listening to Boy Bands: I always have, and I always will love boy bands, it’s just a fact. I even did my bullet journal NSYNC theme this month. It just gets me smiling every time I look at it.
Spending Time With Family & Friends: I don’t get out much but when I am able to spend time with the people I love I can’t stop smiling. I’m very much a people-person so spending time with my friends and family is very important to me.
She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5: This song has quite a connection with me. As a young girl with facial paralysis hearing the lyric, “look for the girl with the broken smile,” really connected with me. I know that isn’t what the song is about but as a young girl I made that connection, so I’ve always loved this song.

It’s been fun reminiscing about everything that has happened since my smile surgery. I’m so grateful that I can now smile. It has taught me not to take the small things for granted.

Now I want to know, what makes you smile? Let me know in the comments below.