I feel like there’s a 12 Days of Christmas joke I could be making here, but I can’t quite flesh it out. Ah well. Our question today for the 31 Days of Goal-Setting is, How are you doing in terms of joy and fulfillment?

Surprised by this question? You shouldn’t be. I almost wish I had made this question the last of our goal categories because it’s tied to all of the other aspects.

Joy and fulfillment are important, both intrinsically for us as people and practically because if you are pursuing a bunch of goals that don’t ultimately satisfy you, well…what’s the point?

I do want to draw a distinction between joy/fulfillment and momentary happiness/comfort. Pushing ourselves to take on a stretch project, be more considerate of our loved ones, or going to bed at the same! time! every! night! may feel decidedly uncomfortable at times. But is your life overall moving you in a direction of more joy and fulfillment? That’s the question to be considering.

The biggest obstacle between me and and joy is fear, which I suppose is not uncommon. (The other day I read something about “high rejection sensitivity” and went, oh. Oh, yeah, that’s me.) I need to learn how to handle my fears, one way or another.