What Brought You Joy Today?

Joy, Mental Health and the Politics of Pleasure

With everything that is going wrong in the world and all the stress in our lives, when was the last time you really thought deeply about joy? 

It’s something that I believe is quite pivotal to therapeutic work. It’s important to talk about our challenges and pain, of course. But it's also relevant to talk about what makes you feel good, who makes you feel supported and what it feels like in your body when you’re at ease. When I start to ask these questions, my clients are often hesitant. In the kind of society we live in, even questions around joy can create pressure.

Have I cultivated enough hobbies? 

Do I have enough meaningful relationships in my life? 

Is my work-life balance right for me? 

But more than focussing on grand, consumerist acts of self care or big lifestyle changes, I’m curious about the ‘smaller’ things that make our lives meaningful.  

Is it listening to your body and allowing yourself a big stretch and sigh after a long work day? Or a morning routine of a comforting cup of coffee and a cuddle with a pet? Maybe, it's even smaller than that - maybe you found joy the briefest moment you spent noticing the trickle of sunlight spilling across your bedroom floor. 

It may seem frivolous to be talking about joy in times like these, but many activists have spoken about the politics of pleasure and rest being important to our social movements.  Who gets to access joy easily and whose right to pleasure is withheld?

In her photo essay on women at leisure, Surabhi Yadav brings to life the idea of ‘pastime’ as a feminist issue. Writer Sudipto Das writes about how Dalit-queer bodies are seen as sites of oppression and never pleasure. Tash Oakes Monger talks about joy being ‘utterly essential’ to the trans movement in their memoir.

We mould into being this newsletter with the same intention we bring to our sessions - to make space for the challenges and pain, while simultaneously holding space for joy. 

The Overthinker (by two self-proclaimed anxious therapists) is going to be a space for discussions about oppression, mental health and therapy, but is it possible to also make space for lightness and hope?

We’d like to begin by gently inviting our community and readers to ask themselves (and respond in the comments if you’d like to!) - what small thing brought you joy today?