8 Comments
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Kim Cross's avatar

Thanks Laura. What does battling pressure of chasing joy look like in your life?

Laura LeBleu's avatar

Beautiful story, Kim, and whooooooo boy can I relate!

Annie G's avatar

What was your psych up album?!

Kim Cross's avatar

The Joshua Tree, by U2. I think it aged well… still works for me!

Dottie Turner Leatherwood's avatar

Uplifting and so applicable to everything we do in life. Thank you!

Kim Cross's avatar

Glad you saw the utility. These skills are so practical (especially the breathing exercises, which I may go into in a future post).

Susan Bruns's avatar

What an amazing story, Kim, and so needed in our world today. Somehow we get it into our minds that we are not entitled to joy as we work toward our goals, but joy is our birthright. Thank you for this beautiful story to remind us.

Kim Cross's avatar

Thanks, Susan! Joy is a hugely motivating factor for me these days, especially in active and athletic pursuits. It’s the only purpose of river surfing, and I love that there is no other purpose. When the winter wave went away (for construction work on the wave shaper) I was so sad, and desperate for another source of joy. A surfer friend taught me to surf-skate. (A type of skateboard that simulates the carving motion of surfing.) I don’t care that it’s slightly ridiculous to be learning to skateboard at my age. It’s my new backup joy-source.