Day 1 of the Joy Challenge : Develop Fierce Self-Love

Welcome to the 6 Day Joy Challenge!  Are you ready to refresh your sense of self? To remind yourself that joyful living is totally within your reach?

In celebration of launching the new and improved Joy Equation Course, I’m challenging *YOU* to start prioritizing joy in your life.  For the next 6 days, I’ll be rolling out a new step of The Joy Equation with 2 challenges: one writing prompt for your journal and one photography prompt to post online!  And if you want me to cheer you on — just use the hashtag #thejoyequation on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter. I’ll be looking for your posts this week and next!

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Writing Prompt

One of the most powerful posts I’ve ever written was a love poem to my own “enoughness.”

Grab your journal and write ode to your own “enoughness.”

If creative writing isn’t your jam — you can dive in by filling out these statements!

I am full of _________. I never  _________.  I radiate  _________.  I struggle with  _________.

And through it all, I am enough.

I am a woman who needs _________. I am a woman who wants  _________. I am a woman who accepts  _________. I am a woman who believes  _________.

I am a woman. And I am enough.

Sometimes I  _________. And sometimes  _________. It’s hard for me when  _________.  And my heart sings when  _________.

I am  _________ and  _________ and  _________  and _________.

I am always enough.

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Photography Prompt

A simple way to start embracing self-love is by recognizing and celebrating positive aspects of yourself. As an ambitious woman in a media-heavy world, you are probably ridiculously hard on yourself — continually policing your productivity, your appearance, your achievements and your willpower.

Let’s ease up a little, shall we?

I want you to take a self-portrait that celebrates something you love and value about yourself. Post the picture online and tell us, “Something I love and value about myself is…”

Here’s hoping you can recognize and celebrate the good/beauty/contribution you see in yourself without wishing it to be different, without negating its power, without comparison.

Use the hashtag #thejoyequation on Instagram/Twitter/Twitter so I can cheer you on, honey!

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MY PHOTO:

Something I love and value about myself? My dedication to self-care and movement this year.

I’ve been swimming twice a week (more or less) since February and I really love that although it is quite the commitment (secure childcare, drive to the pool, and jump in with all the fast men in speedos and old ladies doing water aerobics) — I keep choosing to make it. Even when I miss a swim or two, I hit the pool the next chance I get without beating myself up.

p.s.  If you want to expand this 6 Day Challenge into the full 6 week Pay-What-You-Can Course — we’re running the newly updated Joy Equation Course *LIVE* starting on Friday, June 12th.

And it’s the very last time The Joy Equation will be offered at the Pay-What-You-Can price!

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HERE’S WHAT I KNOW:
DEVELOPING FIERCE SELF-LOVE

Joyful living starts with loving yourself.

And there’s no way around it, babe.

If you want to make big changes or reinvent your world, you’ve got to cultivate a strong sense of self-worth, develop inner resilience, and practice kindness towards yourself without an agenda of improvement.

That’s why this first step of The Joy Equation is a call to action to start at the beginning — the very act of falling in love with YOU.

Even when it feels hard, even when the light is barely shining, even if you’re not sure you can do it.

All of the rest of it — connecting with your authentic self, defining your own success, nurturing strong relationships, cultivating powerful habits, committing to your own happiness — all of it starts with fierce self-love.

A strong foundation of self-love is the springboard for “more” and “bigger” and “happy” and “fulfilled.”

When you lack self-love, you may be hesitant to listen to your intuition, scared of making a transformation, paralyzed in the face of chasing a dream. You may spend time giving to others, but you’ve forgotten what it’s like to give to yourself.

When you care too much about what others might think of you, you’re not going to make the changes or take the risks that are necessary to put your brilliance out in the world or simply be comfortable in your own skin.

When self-love is absent, you may be letting self-doubt and a lack of confidence hold you back or hold you down.

You’re most definitely getting in the way of your own gifts and brilliance.

And honey?
The world is thirsty for your gifts.

Without fierce self-love your efforts to change or transform may

• Get lost in self-sabotage
• Easily overtaken by judgement, comparison or toxicity
• Dwindle out slowly when you hit adversity

And you and I both know, nobody wants that!

Are you holding yourself back from fully loving your current self? Are you waiting for something to change before you will be worthy for your own love?

It’s time to stop holding yourself back.

It’s time stop waiting.

Let’s celebrate you now. As you are.
In all your glorious strength and weakness, talents and quirks, victories and mistakes.

It’s time to start treating yourself as if you were your own best friend.

It’s time to start Developing Fierce Self-Love.