The first time she read this term, she was in love instantly
The literal translation can be “Joy of Living “
The joy of living can be different for different people and that is a beautiful thing!!!
For me, the meaning of this term has changed with each passing decade.
As a child, the classroom bell after a long school day would fill us with joy phew another day is done!
Playing dodgeball, skating, and dance practices all were something to look forward to, she doesn’t know about you but for us in India in the late 80s and early 90s, the screen time was limited to weekends only that too with the whole family so yes that too was something to look forward too and get excited about.
The next decade was all about college and career choices, so what was her Joie the vivre daydreamed most of the time not kidding here, she has always had a very vivid imagination, and youth is filled with aspirations and dreams apart from that she loved languages and literature learning French was something that filled her with joy and yes you would always find her in the library, deeply immersed in a book those were the days where the internet was an alien concept the black and white screen didn’t capture her fancy.
Moving swiftly forward to her first job as a cabin attendant with a domestic career. Oh, that was something else the first taste of financial independence plus the travel bug. She was in seventh heaven, mind you she is talking about 2005 things were very different back then. She was living her dream aviation jobs were not as stressful as they are today. But even during that time one thing did not change, her love for the written word, though now she didn’t have the time to be in a library, she always find a book with her this flying phase lasted three and a half years and she was ready for her future responsibilities.
Well everyone wants to be taken seriously she guess, so she chose a serious upgrade to a Safety and Emergency Procedures Trainer life was indeed busy, full of trainees, colleagues, and lots of learning it was a joy to see the young trainees getting their wings to fly.
And her ambition of climbing the corporate ladder was sky-high but that’s also the time when she could see herself becoming a part of the stereotypical rat race. This is the time when she felt the seriousness of life creeping in slowly. She was an adult with lots of responsibilities and aspirations, but she was losing her joie the vivre.
Her dad passed away around this time and that shook her deeply. She was too busy with her life to address that her family needed her, her spirit was deflated and she knew she had changed overnight.
That is the juncture where she decided she want a full life, not only a shining career but everything that life has to offer and she is grateful that she had the option to leave that career behind.
She was 32 when she had her son, and you can imagine, her cup of joy was overflowing. She was in the seventh heaven once again and in a way, her life got a new purpose. Incidentally, that is the time when she caught the nutrition/ health bug. Health research became her new hobby and all the information that was available excited her to no end within two years we moved to Qatar, and life got interesting once again. We were interacting with people from all over the world, travel became easier for us and travelling to new places and experiencing new cultures gave us a new high.
Cut to 2017, she experienced severe health issues and again she was researching like a mad scientist everything about health and fitness. That is the time her priorities changed and she started looking for a new career because deep down in her heart she would always be a working woman … She understood that brings the ultimate joy to her soul.
2023, here she is, working on her health coaching practice plus content creation because this time she is not going to settle for a career alone but create something that would give her the time and space to nurture her family too at the same time.
So, her friends, this was her life so far, believe her, she had her share of trials and tribulations as anyone else learnt some deep lessons there!!
What constitutes her joie the vivre these days? well she has plenty of options to choose from
Creating content
Writing
Getting her 3 km run in
Meditation practice
Spending as much time as possible with family and friends
Where are you on this journey today?
Where ever you are she sincerely hopes you are chasing it with all your heart
“They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.”
― Tom Bodett