The Joy Blocks
The first step in making your path to joy clearer - figuring out what’s blocking it.
If you’ve ever felt like joy is just out of reach - even when things should feel good - you’re not alone.
Most of us have habits or patterns that quietly get in the way of joy without us realizing it.
I call these Joy Blocks.
They aren’t flaws. They’re simply protective responses - ways we’ve learned to cope, focus, or care for others. But sometimes, they end up sidelining our own joy.
Below are the six most common Joy Blocks I’ve identified. Once you can name yours, you can begin to shift it - and open up to more moments of ease, connection, and real joy in your daily life.
I’ve created a quick quiz to make it easier for you to get a sense of what’s blocking your joy,
so if you haven’t already…
For more information on each of the blocks - read on!
Your Joy Block is Presence
"I’m here... but not really here."
You’re doing a lot - but joy feels just out of reach. Not because you lack joy, but because your attention is always a few steps ahead (or behind).
Your mind might be busy planning, replaying, or scanning for what’s next. Even in calm or beautiful moments, it’s hard to fully land there.
🔑 What could help: Gently practicing being where you are. Joy doesn’t need a big event - it lives in the ordinary moments, too. And presence is the doorway.
✨ Tiny practice: Pause for 10 seconds today. Feel your feet on the floor, take one breath, and notice one thing you enjoy. That’s it. That counts.
Your Joy Block is Personalisation
"I’m not even sure what brings me joy anymore."
You’re not alone. Many people lose touch with what lights them up - especially after years of focusing on others, being practical, or doing what’s expected.
Right now, joy might feel more like an idea than a felt experience. That’s not your fault - it’s just time to reconnect.
🔑 What could help: Exploring joy without needing to get it right. Notice what colors, sounds, or textures feel even a little energizing.
✨ Tiny practice: Make a “joy curiosity” list—anything that sparks interest, even if it seems silly or small. No pressure to act, just notice.
Your Joy Block is Perspective
"Is this really joy?"
Joy might already be in your life - but it’s wearing a quieter outfit than expected.
If you’ve been waiting for the big, dramatic, or highly “Instagrammable” version, you might be overlooking the quiet kind: the one that shows up in laughter, stillness, warm hands, and moments you don’t post online.
🔑 What could help: Redefining what joy looks like for you—and honoring the small stuff as real and worthy.
✨ Tiny practice: Tonight, name one ordinary moment that felt even a little good. That was joy. Let it count.
Your Joy Block is Prioritisation
"Joy comes after the list is done."
You’re a go-to person. Dependable. Productive. But somehow, your own joy ends up at the very bottom of the list - and the list never ends, does it?
You might believe joy has to be earned or timed perfectly. But the truth? You deserve to feel good even before the list is done.
🔑 What could help: Practicing putting yourself on your own to-do list. Not later. Not after. Now.
✨ Tiny practice: Schedule 10 minutes of something small but joyful this week - just because you want to.
Your Joy Block is Perfection
"Joy needs the perfect setting—or it doesn’t count."
You might be waiting for the ideal moment, the perfect vibe, the clean house, the well-behaved kids, the completed list.
But joy doesn’t need a filter. It can grow in the mess as well. When joy depends on perfection, we miss it altogether.
🔑 What could help: Practicing receiving joy in the middle of real life - unfinished, unpolished, and fully human.
✨ Tiny practice: Let one thing today be good enough. Celebrate it as if it were perfect.
Your Joy Block is Permission
"Can I really feel joy right now?"
You might not struggle to feel joy - but to trust it, allow it, or stay with it.
Maybe you feel guilty enjoying life when others are hurting. Or maybe joy feels too vulnerable, like it could vanish any second. But joy doesn’t mean you’re ignoring the hard. It means you’re letting something good exist alongside it.
🔑 What could help: Giving yourself permission to hold both - joy and grief, pleasure and uncertainty.
✨ Tiny practice: When a good moment comes, whisper this to yourself: “It’s okay to feel this, too.”