Joymapping 101
JOYMAPPING: AN ORIGIN STORY
About a year ago today, I found myself writing a list of mood-boosters on the back of a ripped-out piece of notebook paper, hands greasy from a bodega sandwich and legs a bit damp from the picnic table’s early-September dew. My friend Channing and I were meeting up to honor Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
Despite how cliche it may be, I’ve often found myself taking the opportunity of a new year, Jewish or otherwise, to reflect on the year’s past. What would I want to remember? Who was most important to me at that time? What brought me joy, or distress, or relief? For about 7 or 8 years, I would sit down around January 1 and write a long letter to myself to answer these questions, chronicle the years’ ‘firsts,’ who and what was top of mind for me, and what I hoped the next year would hold. Throughout the years, my handwriting would bend or curl, slant or glide across the page. Some people would cycle through quickly, like a TV show character that never made it past their guest appearance, and others would reappear year after year.
Once finished, I would stuff the thick package of lined paper into an envelope to be opened that following December. But somewhere around the 8th month of the pandemic in December 2020, I grew tired of this annual ritual. I found it both taxing and at times painful to reflect on the year’s past, as anecdotes of firsts would often be traded for lasts. The New Year’s letter felt more like a statement of grief than the proclamation of hope it once was, and so I all but abandoned the exercise. When each plan so carefully crafted fell from possibility, it didn’t seem all that exciting or realistic to continue to imagine what was next, for the pages were written in pen and the last few years have required more edits than ink could bear.
It should have been no surprise though, that in early September 2021, I found myself back with the notebook pages and colorful pens. This time, I was building something more hopeful and imaginative than those reflective entries of years’ past. Truthfully, I didn’t really have a choice: having left law school just a few days prior, I found myself without a plan that stretched a semester, a year, or 3 years’ times. I would have to create what my future looked like, and what happiness meant to me, from scratch.
And so, the act of Joymapping was born.
Armed with Channing’s 48-pack of felt pens in pastels and earth tones, paired with my recent affinity for self-help books and mental health Tiktok, we decided to use the Jewish New Year as an opportunity to shed the old and make way for new.
JOYMAPPING: HOW (AND WHY) IT WORKS
A Joymap contains three essential components: mood boosters, looking ahead, and the big picture. In times of hopelessness and a lack of a vision for your future, it’s easiest to ground yourself in the mood boosters, the things that can bring you joy in a matter of minutes. For me, my mood boosters were made up of accessible, often free activities that can make your day just a little bit better: listening to music, getting fresh air, walking by the water, or cooking a new recipe.
The second portion of a Joymap can feature activities and events you’re looking forward to. In my original Joymap, I kept my sights on occasions near (in the next week or so) and far (in the next few months). I relied on both goals or activities I had scheduled for myself, like a concert I had bought tickets for or my plans to start attending a certain type of workout class, but also natural events I could be grateful for with little-to-no-effort required on my end at all— the leaves changing, the weather cooling, and spending time with friends.
After allowing myself to feel both excited and hopeful about what lay ahead in the next weeks or months, I found myself in a better position to imagine and re-imagine what I might want for myself in the long term, and to consider those big picture themes for my future. From my Joymap’s big picture brainstorm: fulfilling and secure relationships, learning to balance, regular exercise, and finding joy in my work.
What’s special about the Joymap, we learned as we continued to fill our pages with colorful doodles and decorations, is that each activity builds on the next. After listening to some music, taking a long shower, or catching up with a friend, you’ll likely feel better enough to be able to have some clarity about what comes next. Psychologically-speaking, it’s easier to build on the momentum of small acts of joy, and doing them day after day results in more mindful habits and a persistent increased mood.
Building momentum also means setting goals, short-term and long-term, big, medium, and small, so you have something to look forward to and make the habits feel like they have a pay-off. Without the structure of school, its academic quarters and semesters, grades, sports teams, and extracurriculars, this lack of a consistent opportunity to achieve (academic or otherwise) leaves us feeling unmotivated and untethered. As Meg Jay, PhD in Clinical Psychology and author of Defining Decade, synthesizes, there is significant data to support the impact goal-setting can have on our mood.
“Even simply having goals can make us happier and more confident—both now and later. In one study that followed nearly five hundred young adults from college to the mid-thirties, increased goal-setting in the twenties led to greater purpose, mastery, agency, and well-being in the thirties. Goals are how we declare who we are and who we want to be. They are how we structure our years and our lives. Goals have been called the building blocks of adult personality.”
Hustle culture may have led us to believe that goal-setting and goal-achieving must come in the form of promotions or raises, beating your average mile time or completing 50 workout classes. In repurposing often toxic ‘New Year's Resolutions’ or metric-based goals instead as a pursuit of joy, we can reimagine the ways in which taking stock of our past, present, and future habits and aspirations can lend themselves to increased feelings of meaning, purpose, and peace.
JOYMAPPING: A DIY GUIDE
Grab some art materials.
You can probably make a Joymap on your computer, but there’s something more meditative and cathartic about putting pen to paper. If doodles and color aren’t your thing, you can certainly opt for a more simplistic Joymap in the form of a 3 column table. Essentially, all you need are some writing utensils, paper, a bit of time, and maybe a friend to encourage you along the way.
Begin with your mood boosters.
This should be easy, and you can fill your third with as many as you want (I would start with about 3-5). Mood boosters will look different to everyone — and could range anywhere from painting your nails to doing a 10 minute stretch or even Facetiming a friend. Mood boosters can be as high-achieving and goal-oriented as going on a run or working on a long-term project, but often such activities can feel difficult to embark on, and the stress about beginning, or more likely not beginning, such an endeavor might leave us feeling guilty. Starting with something as simple as going on a walk outside is enough to make an impact. The point is not that it will make us feel good enough for the entire rest of the day, week, or month, but that it’s an easy way to boost your mood.
Start looking ahead.
What are you excited about in the next week? How about the next month, or three months? If nothing comes to mind, start with something as simple as the changing of the seasons, your favorite holiday, a gift for yourself or a loved one you’ve been saving up to purchase. You can look forward to things both metaphorical and figurative, or even concrete dates set in your calendar: the show you bought tickets for, the dinner with a friend you haven’t seen in a while, a trip home, a workout class you signed up for, or a goal, big or small, you’ve set your mind to accomplish. If your looking ahead looks a little light, start building it out by making plans you can look forward to. Is there a trip you’re wanting to take? Text a friend about making a plan to do so. Is there an artist you’d want to see? Check if they’re performing near you at any time this season. Is there a new restaurant you want to try? Make a reservation for a few weeks from now.
What’s the big picture?
Your big picture can be vague, or rooted in time (what do you want to work toward in the next season, the next year, the next 5 years?). If thinking that far ahead brings you stress, then skip the calendar restrictions because this is your Joymap. The most important thing is that it represents some of your long-term goals and what you imagine your life to look like should everything go better than you can currently imagine.
On your own Joy-rney
Once you’ve filled your page with present-minded mood boosters, a few things you’re looking forward to, and your aspirations and themes for your big picture, feel free to embrace the project whichever way makes sense to you. Hang it on your fridge for daily inspiration or tuck it away in the depths of your desk drawer, share it with those close to you or keep your Joymap private. However you choose to approach this exercise, I hope it leaves you a little more hopeful and full of joy than when you found it.