Joy vs. happiness. Are they the same thing? And how do you bring more joy into your life every day? By being intentional about our joy! In today’s podcast, I talk with Erica Lasan about the difference between joy and happiness, how to bring more joy into your life on a daily basis and how, by doing this, our lives will change! This joy filled episode is going to rock your wellness!
Disclaimer: This podcast does not constitute medical advice. You should always speak to your doctor before changing your nutrition or exercise habits.
Continue the Conversation – Rock Your Wellness Podcast Official Facebook Group
Work With Me: Your Daily Journal – Wellness Reborn Intensive
Connect with Erica: Erica Lasan | JOYrney to Purpose | JOY Strategist
JoyGem Quiz: https://quiz.tryinteract.com/#/61bbaa2fc59857001897218e/q/1
Joy vs. happiness – episode Transcript
Lauren Chante 0:23
Hello rockstars! Welcome back to the show. As always, I am excited about every single episode, you guys know I’m easily excitable! But I also have like THE best guests so why would they be excited? And today we’re talking about joy with Erica Lasan and I am really excited about this conversation.
Lauren Chante 0:42
Those of you guys who have been following me, you know that I’ve really been on a journey this year with understanding the difference between happiness and joy and really trying to bring that into my life. I think sometimes it’s really hard for us as women to consider this conversation because we don’t have a lot of role models who are like. Who are women, who are in the little kid years and are dealing with all the things that we’re dealing with.
Lauren Chante 1:05
I’m so excited that Erica is here to talk to us today because she’s somebody that gets us! A little bit about Erica, she is a multi passionate entrepreneur, a wife and a mom on a mission to transform the world through radical joy. How great is that phrase Radical Joy! I love that.
Lauren Chante 1:05
You started with a jewelry line at age 13. If you guys are looking at her on the video, you can tell with her style obviously she would have a jewelry line when she’s 13! It’s like style is just oozing from her! She wrote for several outlets eventually producing content for various media publications including Ebony, Black & Sexy TV and MOM.com. Erica has built a career around creative expression and service for over two decades.
Lauren Chante 1:50
After being laid off in 2016 and an unexpected transition into motherhood, Erica looked to joy gems gained throughout her career to establish what she does now which is JOYrney to Purpose. Now, in her role as Joy strategist and creative consultant, Erica serves corporations and entrepreneurial women in learning how to create more time, energy and space to rediscover joy in life and business. Who couldn’t use that right?
Lauren Chante 2:20
Through her three step JOYrney Learning Process, Erica leads workshops, speaking engagements, community based challenges and coaching to build intentional daily habits around joy in every area of life. One feelgood thing at a time! Welcome Erica! Thanks for being here.
Erica Lasan 2:37
Thank you for having me! That intro was like “Is that me?!”
Lauren Chante 2:40
It is you!
Lauren Chante 2:47
Let’s just cut to the chase because this is gonna be a short and sweet episode. Why Joy? Why is jit unique and special and why is it different than every other thing we’re trying to chase?
Erica Lasan 2:58
Because joy is the anchor for really what we’re all looking for, right? When we think about the goals and aspirations that many of us have, success is the idea of what we’re chasing. But when you really boil down what success looks like and what it means to many people, it’s that opportunity to be peace filled, rfulfilled, having peace, feeling present, being present, having the things that you need to sustain you, yes. But also realizing that you want to feel good and enjoy where you are. Joy is the key to all of those things, right?
Erica Lasan 3:36
It’s not a matter of needing to have everything if you’re fully recognizing and embracing of the joy that you have at hand. So joy, it’s more than a feeling. It’s a tool it is value. It’s a resource that can be used and leveraged to really help you get to where you want to go, but in a way that feels good. So you’re more inclined to stick with it and do things consistently.
Lauren Chante 4:07
There are two things you said in there that I definitely don’t think of joy that way that I love. The first one was about how you don’t have to have everything to have joy. I’m not gonna lie but when I think of joy, I think of some 25 year old travel blogger standing up like the top of a mountain! Something with like! Someone who’s just travelled 120 countries, you know? I think it’s something that just is really not my life.
Lauren Chante 4:32
I don’t know if other people ever say that. When I first think of joy, I always bring myself to a scenario that’s very different then the married mom of three, with kids sitting in New York freezing my butt off right now! Like there’s no palm trees in this vision and palm trees are definitely part of my joy vision. Is that like a typical thing for people?
Erica Lasan 4:54
So yes, one of the things that I commonly hear from my clients, people that I work with, random conversations that come up around this subject is this idea of joy being in the future. Like I will have joy when I arrive at X or I will have joy once I have Y. In doing that you’re really putting off the joy that you have presently at hand.
Erica Lasan 5:17
One thing that you mentioned that kind of stood out to me is the idea of what your version of joy is. It’s really funny because a lot of times people have this idea of joy that may actually be misaligned from what actually brings them joy. But they don’t know because they haven’t fully explored joy with intention. So one understanding what brings you joy in your life is really important.
Erica Lasan 5:44
There’s also something to be said about understanding the fact that everybody’s version of joy is different. So you really have to be clear about who you are, what you want, and also the season of life that you’re in. The same things that brought you joy 10 or 15 years ago may not necessarily be the things that bring you joy now. So there’s a need to always constantly be engaging with the conversation of joy and the understanding of joy and who you are and what you’re doing and where you want to go in this active season. So joy is also something where you really need to be presently engaged in evaluating it and re evaluating it consistently.
Erica Lasan 5:44
So if that’s the case, it’s not that you have to look to joy in the future. You really have to look to your joy now. Because another thing is there’s no guarantee that you’ll even make it to the future. So if you’re waiting for a decade from now, for example “I’ll have joy when I retire” , this is something I hear that’s crazy to me. God forbid, who’s to say you’ll even make it to retirement. There have been instances where I’ve heard of people who make it to retirement and then passed away a week later.
Erica Lasan 6:49
Joy is yours for the taking now. The moment you get clear on that you can actually arrive at that vision that you may have with clarity. But you’ll also be able to do it in a way that’s more sustainable, more attainable, more feasible. In a way that feels good because you would have experienced joy throughout the process not just once you arrived at that result and that that matters just as much.
Lauren Chante 7:15
Oh, that’s so good. Erica! The podcast episode I released today, at the time we’re recording this, has a similar theme. It’s about how you we spend all of our time outside of the moment that we’re in. Thinking about the future moments and the past moments and that really robs us of so much because the future is not guaranteed.
Lauren Chante 7:37
I think that nobody wants to think about that but I heard this anecdote once. I think it was related to something crazy like life insurance. Where were talking about how people never want to invest in life insurance, because to do that requires talking about the fact that you’re not going to be alive forever. So people avoid it, right? I think that there’s a little bit of like toxic positivity to that model of joy, where it’s like the destination that you’re going to arrive at so it can almost feel frivolous.
Lauren Chante 8:05
I think as a woman and a productivity based society to focus on joy now but then when you realize that’s actually all you can do, it makes sense. It no longer becomes this frivolous thing. It’s like this is actually all you have. Everything else is this false sense of security. If you’re listening on the podcast you should see the face that Erica is making at me right now!
Erica Lasan 8:27
I’m like “Make it make sense”! It’s just because all you have is the present so you have to enjoy it. I mean you’re a believer, right? I’m a believer and I think of Ecclesiastes 3 where everything is meaningless. In the grand scheme of things, yes, everything is meaningless. Except for, this is where Solomon arrived, living your life, enjoying where you are, eating your food and enjoying your work. You know, like, eat drink, be merry, basically!
Erica Lasan 8:55
When you understand how your joy can help align you with your purpose then it’s no longer a frivolous thing. You recognize that everything that you do you get to do with intention. And it’s meaningful, right? But that doesn’t mean that it has to be done at the expense of your joy or it has to be done in a way that’s draining or overwhelming or work to the point where you’re burnt out. If that’s how you feel getting or acting on your purpose, you won’t want to do it anymore.
Erica Lasan 9:27
I feel like, as children of the most high, that’s not what he wants for us. He wants us to be rested, bountiful, you know? Happy! He wants us to live fully in the mission that he’s given each and every single one of us and that is our purpose.
Lauren Chante 9:42
Yeah, that’s so true. I’m thinking right now as past me and other people who may be in this position where people struggle with believing that life is meant to be joyful. Where it’s this belief that like life is just supposed to be hard or you’re always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Where it’s okay, things are good now but something’s coming around the corner, right? What do you say to people who are like that?
Erica Lasan 10:07
Oh my goodness, you got to operate with faith over fear. When I when I think of how we as humans operate, our decisions really fall into one of those two categories, right? If you’re not operating by faith you’re, by default, operating in fear. And that leaves you feeling bound. It leaves you feeling limited & hopeless. It leaves you feeling all of the not good things. The moment you choose to prioritize living in your joy, you’re able to tap into faith in a way that creates possibility. It leaves you limitless, it leaves you excited, it creates innovative and creative new ways of thinking about things and doing new things.
Erica Lasan 10:50
Then it gives you hope. So it’s, I think, that it’s something where it comes down to trusting. Trusting and understanding that your joy really gives you access to the things that you desire. And it’s not that it has to be heavy or hard. And things don’t need to be perfect in order for that to happen. Does that answer your question? I feel like I was just getting so excited!
Lauren Chante 11:18
We’re supposed to be excited! It’s rock your wellness! This is not a not excited show! So we’re good!
Lauren Chante 11:26
I think it’s easy for you and I to lean into that because, for us, our faith as Christians really gives us that faith & joy. Like biblically what God says about joy, right? I just want anybody who’s listening who doesn’t identify as Christian, listening to this conversation is still for you too. But you’ve got to go on your own journey of figuring out what do you need to hear and what do you need to believe in order to believe that life is meant to be joyful and meant to be abundant for you.
Lauren Chante 11:52
That’s just something that you have to go on. And like for us, obviously we took one path so I don’t know any other way to get there. But I do believe that that path is meant for you to walk on, to figure it out and to really embrace the fact that joy is meant for you.
Erica Lasan 12:07
Yeah, and I also think that if you, faith aside, looks at their life, there’s evidence of the fact that joy is present. In the moments where they actually committed to the joy first, seeing the results that were created in that time, right? Like I think life gets hard! Life gets heavy and it’s hard when we begin to feed into the things that aren’t light, right? You can feed either one of those things, the faith or the fear. You can feed the heavy thoughts or you can feed the light thoughts.
Erica Lasan 12:48
Whatever it is that you feed will become the thing that manifests. So if it’s something where you focus on the good, you are bound to attract more good. And yes, you can think about the bad things. We’re human, it happens. But you don’t give power to those things. The moment you give power to those things, you get carried away with it and it draws you so much further away from where you actually want to go. So I think first and foremost, realizing that you get to choose joy is really important.
Erica Lasan 13:18
Also understanding that whatever you give power to is the thing that ultimately creates and curates whatever your lifestyle is. So if you don’t feel joy in the moment right now and if you’re very heavy and you feel as though it’s not present, I would like to invite whoever’s listening to this to really look back at a time and a period in their life where they felt the most joyous. Understanding what it even took to create that environment for themselves or that part of their lifestyle. See how you can replicate whatever that journey was in the present and then kind of build from there and see where it goes. Once you get a little taste of joy, you’ll want to nibble on it and create a whole feast and your life will change.
Lauren Chante 14:02
I love that I was about to ask you like what is the first step towards seeking joy ? With what you just said, is that it or do you have something else to add?
Erica Lasan 14:09
I got a little bit of a plug here. I would say go take the JoyGem quiz.
Lauren Chante 14:16
Tell us about the JoyGem quiz because I love this. I love that you’ve taken joy and you’ve made it something that we can quiz because let’s face it, we all grew up with 17 Magazine! We love the quizzes. So tell us about the quiz.
Erica Lasan 14:28
The quiz is three minutes, it shouldn’t take any more than three minutes, it’s a three minute experience to help you really understand how you can maximize your joy in this season. And how to leverage that joy to create more time, energy and space for yourself starting now. And with this, and the insights that you’ll gain through your results, you’ll be able to understand what your strengths are how to charge your joy. If you take the quiz, I’d love to know what your JoyGem type is, too so please send me a message!
Erica Lasan 14:56
There’s also a curated podcast episode that speaks specifically to how you can begin to amplify your joy using the insights that were given. So it’s really meant to help you understand how joy can help your career, life and your relationships.
Erica Lasan 15:03
I love that! Where is that? Is that at your website, EricaLasan.com?
Erica Lasan 15:15
Yes, it is at Ericalasan.com/quiz
Lauren Chante 15:17
I’ll put that in the show notes for everybody and I’m gonna go take that because I obviously need Joy support over here.
Erica Lasan 15:27
I cannot wait to hear what you’re JoyGem type is!
Lauren Chante 15:30
Yeah, I love that and I think there’s so much beauty in the fact that you are actually offering people support and accountability for this. I think that it’s very easy as women, wives, mothers, business women to let this be something that doesn’t get attention. To kind of have this plant that needs to grow and just sort of shove it into the corner and take care of everything else.
Lauren Chante 15:54
I think that unless you have somebody in your corner, kind of reminding you “Hey, this is important. This was important to you. This was actually really super duper important”. This is actually the fabric and the foundation of every single thing you’re trying to do. It can be really easy to push it to the side and forget it right? So thank you for being you and thank you for doing what you do because it’s a really special mission.
Erica Lasan 16:17
Oh my goodness, praise God. I lam obsessed with this work. I just want everyone to feel good and especially entrepreneurial women. The moment you’re clear on what brings you joy, you get to do your business different. You get to have your relationships be different & you get to love differently. You get to be loved in a way that is most aligned with who you are and what you desire. It just really truly gives you access to freedom and you recognize that you don’t have to do things the way that the world wants you to do them but you really get to do them in the way that serves you best. So I’m very grateful.
Lauren Chante 16:52
Oh, that’s so good. Okay, if you guys want to keep in touch with Erica, she ‘s at her website EricaLasan.com. You can go and grab that quiz as well there. You can follow her on Instagram. I know I follow her on Instagram! Instagram.com/EricaLasan and she’s on LinkedIn too.
Lauren Chante 17:10
So no matter where you are, find her. Follow her, get some joy on your timeline, get some reminders because let’s face it, this is the type of thing that you want to be seeing in your feed every day. You don’t want to be seeing all the other crud that’s toxic and bringing you down. You need to curate your life with positive amazing people. So Erica, thank you so much for being here.
Erica Lasan 17:27
Oh my god, thank you for having me and chatting joy, ranting joy, raving joy with me!
Lauren Chante 17:33
Loving it!