JOy is the key to confidence
Joy comes from knowing your worth.
Confidence follows.
Discover the “joy baseline,” where you find joy in being.
This undercurrent of joy originates from believing you have value before work —
outside the context of what you do,
offer,
or give —
paid or unpaid.
This internal mindset — knowing your worth — grounds you on your job-search journey and beyond.
To find joy in “being,” consider your mere existence on this planet.
Your imperfect, raw human-ness.
Your limitless potential — even if you never tap into it. (Yup).
Your worthiness of dignity, love, and belonging, not because you’ve done something to earn it but rather because your life itself has value.
Joy exists before work. Before do-ing.
When you know your worth outside of work (paid or unpaid), when you believe you are valuable simply because you’re alive, you experience and are grounded in what I call “baseline joy.”
Just for a minute, forget about finding joy at work or through your job title.
Forget about sourcing joy at home in motherhood.
It’s not about your role.
Nor is it about how you curate and project yourself or how others perceive you.
It’s about your discovery in the value of life itself, stripped of any title or action.
Joy begins to take root when you realize (and believe) that you are worthy.
Of love.
Of belonging.
Of grace.
Just you. Laid bare.
You have value. Before work. Full stop.
When the titles, roles, and pursuits fade or change — when the kids grow up, when you get laid off, when your resume’s been rejected too many times to count, when you face illness, loss, grief — your joy remains constant.
If you lost it all, you still know and rest in your worth outside of your career, role, passion, outward projection to the world.
In a season of rest, quiet, and introspection, or of hustle and pushing through, or of profound loss and grief, this deep-rooted source of joy quietly sustains you.
When you’ve discovered this knowledge of your worth — in just being — you’ve tapped into baseline joy.
You bring the joy. Inside of you.
Along the way, the knowledge and reminders of awe and delight in your mere existence is what maintains baseline joy.