I am the green lanyard.

This weekend, I attended a women’s conference centered around the theme of Reclaiming Joy. Ironically, joy is something I often wrestle with—because leaning into it usually means stepping outside my comfort zone. And if I’m honest, events like these make me uncomfortable to my core.At the entry table, we were asked to choose a lanyard that signaled how open we were to communication:Red = “Please don’t approach me.”Yellow = “I’m cautious, but I’ll talk.”Green = “I’m here for it—come say hi!”Every bone in my body wanted to grab the red lanyard and blend into the wallpaper. But I’m in a season of growth, and reclaiming joy requires risk, so I forced myself to take green.Let me tell you—GREEN WAS HARD. I probably wished 20 times that I had gone with yellow or red instead 🤣. But growth is rarely comfortable. And in that moment, I realized that Joy isn’t just about happiness—it’s about courage. It’s about saying “yes” to the connection, the discomfort, the stretch that leads to something better.So instead of second-guessing myself, I claimed it. I walked into my office today and wrote this on my goal board:“I AM THE GREEN LANYARD.” 💚Because sometimes reclaiming Joy is as simple (and as hard) as choosing green when everything in you wants red.