When I think about joy now, it looks very different to what I once thought it would be. When I was younger, I think I imagined joy as something big. Something exciting. Something you chased or achieved. But these days, it’s much quieter than that. Softer. And, if I’m honest, much more meaningful. It lives in the little moments. The ones that are easy to overlook if you’re not paying attention.
Take the birds, for example. I never really noticed them when I was younger. They were just… there. Background noise. But now? I get so much joy from watching them. There’s a little one that I see often in the garden — I think it’s a wagtail — and it skitters about by the pool like it’s got somewhere very important to be. It’s honestly pure entertainment. I can stand there far longer than I probably should, just watching it go about its day.
And it’s funny, isn’t it? How we change as we get older. How we start to notice things we once completely ignored. Joy now is curling up on the sofa with a good film or series, a warm throw over me if there’s a chill in the air, and a cup of tea within reach. Nothing fancy. Nothing extravagant. Just that feeling of being completely content in that moment.
It’s the simple things. Like watching the cats and Luna first thing in the morning. Luna comes running down the stairs full of energy, and one of the cats is already waiting for her at the bottom, tucked behind the wall, ready to pounce. It’s like their own little daily ritual. And it makes me smile every single time.
Or seeing Myrtle stretched out on her back on the terrace when the sun is shining, soaking it all in like a proper little sun worshipper. Completely relaxed. Completely unbothered. Living her best life, quite frankly.
There’s also a different kind of joy — the kind that comes from being completely in the moment with other people. The unplanned, slightly chaotic, laughter-filled kind. I came across an old photo recently of me in the kitchen with Michael and our friend Michele, absolutely creased with laughter over something I can’t even remember now. And that’s the thing… it’s not about what was happening, it’s about how it felt. Those moments where you’re not thinking about anything else, not worrying, not overanalysing — just laughing, fully present. That’s real joy. Messy, loud, fleeting… and completely unforgettable.
Those moments… that’s where the joy is. Not in the big, dramatic highlights, but in the everyday, the ordinary, the things we might once have dismissed as insignificant.
And maybe that’s one of the gifts of getting older. Slowing down just enough to notice. To appreciate. To feel those small moments more deeply. Because when you really pay attention, they’re not small at all. They’re everything.
If you’re taking part in the A to Z Blogging Challenge this year, let me know in the comments so I can check out your posts. And if you’d like to catch up on the rest of mine, you can find some of them here: A is for Alchemy, B is for Becoming, C is for Cycles, D is for Disillusionment, E is for Energy, F is for Flaws, G is for Grumpy, H is for Hormones, I is for Intuition
This is something I touch on in my book too — that idea of finding magic in the everyday, and creating a life that feels good in the little moments, not just the big ones. If that resonates, you can find it on Amazon and if you google The Enchanted Midlife by Suzy Turner, you will also find it on numerous other online bookstores.
