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While tucking away some Christmas cards, I began thinking about the word joy. When compared to fun, doesn’t joy sound a bit lofty? Somehow, joy sounds restrained, ordered and prim, while fun sounds active, spontaneous, and like you might even get your hands dirty.
I still think Joy is a lovely first name, though. So, Joy, if you ever read this, please don’t take offense!
I don’t think joy sounds lofty, it seems more internal and lasting. It’s a more complex state than fun. One can experience joy while experiencing sadness, a common situation when someone you admire or love passes away at a very old age.
However, one of the main reasons I can have a sense of joy about my life* is because I’ve had so much fun.
*Though I believe in the concept of joy it’s not a word I actually use much. I have had a great life but in an ordinary settings I would never say “I have a sense of joy about my life.”
I agree with your concept of joy, but the word itself – to me – has certain connotations that can seem pretentious, which is why I don’t use it in conversation often, either.
I think what sullied ‘joy’ for me are certain people I’ve met. Let’s call them kill joys. In fact, one instance in particular stands out in my mind now that I root around in the old memory banks: There was a little clique of people who used to come to my coffeehouse. Now, I think philosophy, spirituality and deep-thoughts are great and coffeehouses are wonderful places for epistemological debate, but a couple people in this group would act like they were so much more ’spiritually advanced’ than everyone else.
One time I made a remark about something being fun, and the main snooty guy piped up in this uber-patronizing way (I wasn’t even talking directly to him, mind you!) that while ‘fun’ was ok, he much preferred to pursue ‘joy’ in his life. Which, on the surface, sounds great. But in the context of his body language, tone of voice and general crabby demeanor tainted made it sound about as much fun as having a boil lanced.
Thanks so much for your comment, btw! ~Tui
Maybe joy is just a deeper thing. Joy can be unreserved–like the sheer joy of a dancing 7 year old. Joy could be taken so many ways. You can woop with joy, and woop in fun and they would be almost, but not quite the same.
Since I wrote the post, I’m now acutely aware of every time the word ‘joy’ creeps into my thoughts and speech. I like to mull over the word meanings, though, and connotations, whether personal or cultural, y’know? ~Tui