If you’ve been around me or my blog long enough, you know that I have two mantras: best day ever and choose joy. Part of living the best day ever adventure is the knowledge that today could be my last day…so I want it to be my best day.

And how do I make it the best day? By understanding I can’t choose what happens to me, but I CAN choose how I respond to it.

I’ve been reading a lot about 100 happy days. It’s a movement on social media that encourages people to post something that makes them happy every day. The idea is to see that there is always something to be grateful for – and practicing gratitude is proven to lift our spirits and change our attitudes.

I love this idea.

But there’s one problem with it.

I’m not always happy. I wasn’t happy the day my dad died or the day I was diagnosed with cancer. I wasn’t happy when my dog ran away (like three of them) or when I found out my mentor lost her battle with cancer.

I wasn’t happy when my friend’s heart was broken or my daughter was dealing with a bully.

I’m not always happy.

But I do have joy.

You see, happy is something I can’t control. It’s an emotion that happens because of my circumstances. Joy exists despite what might happen to me. You see, joy is the deep rooted foundation I have because I know WHO is in charge and that He has everything in His hands. Joy is something I CHOOSE every day even when I’m faced with something difficult.

So, even when I’m not happy, I choose JOY. I choose to have gratitude and to see that I can continue on this journey because I have hope in Jesus.

For the last few years, I’ve been getting up every day and saying that TODAY is the best day ever – and in order to do that, I take the daily plate offered to me and choose joy.

I propose a different idea.

What about #100daysofJOY?

What if we choose a medium – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, your blog…and post what brings us JOY for the next 100 days?

One of my favorite bloggers, Ann Voskamp, talks about the benefits of gratitude. She wrote a book that has had a great impact on my life called One Thousand Gifts. Here is what she found in her research:

“Participants who’d kept a gratitude journal felt better about their lives as a whole and were more optimistic about the future … they were a full 25 percent happier than the other participants.

They sleep 1/2 hour more per evening, and exercise 33 percent more each week and

felt more joyful, enthusiastic, interested, attentive, energetic, excited, determined, and strong.”

I think that #100daysofJOY is like a gratitude journal online. It doesn’t always have to be pictures or posts about things that make you happy, just things that remind you to choose joy. People, places, and attitudes that provide reminders of joy and things for which we can be grateful.

Joy is the essence of gratitude – it bubbles up from a bedrock foundation of thanksgiving.

There are days when I have to be thankful merely for the basics: I can walk, I can see, I can taste, I can hear. On the hard days, choosing is a little more difficult. But I still always have a choice.

You can start the #100daysofJOY anytime you want. Just fill out the form below and begin. Share this post by clicking on the share buttons below and let’s get as many people on board as possible. Social media is full of negativity right now – people slinging political mud all over each other.

Let’s fill the internet with JOY.

Fill out the form below to join the JOY MOVEMENT. On whatever social media platform you choose, be sure to use the hashtag #100daysofJOY and then whatever day (Day#1) you are on…what a great challenge to see the JOY in every day.