Episode 40: Finding Joy in Every Season of Life | Sarah Kuhn | Creator of Year of Joy
Sarah Kuhn knows that joy is more than a fleeting feeling. It’s a daily choice. As the creator of Year of Joy, she has made it her mission to help others see and create joy in every part of life, even in hard seasons. From her small-town childhood in California to building a successful career in corporate retail, Sarah’s path has been shaped by her Christian faith, curiosity about the world, and a determination to stay rooted in gratitude. Sarah shares how a New Year’s Eve decision to change her Instagram handle to Year of Joy became a personal commitment to live more intentionally. She opens up about the challenges that led her to redefine success, the role spiritual practices have played in her growth, and how she blends positivity with realism in her day-to-day life. Whether you’re chasing a big dream, navigating change, or simply looking for more light in your routine, Sarah’s story will remind you that joy can be found anywhere—if you choose to see it.
“Joy is not just a feeling. I want to look at everything and see the joy in everything whether it’s the good or the bad. You can’t be happy all the time. Happy is very instant. It’s a short, short feeling. Joy is completely different.”
-
Norwalk, CA
Netflix
Chino, CA
Christian
FIDM
Los Angeles
Nordstrom
South Coast Plaza
Buyer
Planner
California Mart
Palm Desert
Vegas
Magic Trade show
San Francisco Tradeshow
Drapers & Damon
Irvine
Max Studio
Pasadena
Skate Industry
Orange County
The Sunny Show Podcast
Tony Robbins Podcast
The Angie Lee Show Podcast
The Gold Digger Podcast
Rachel Hollis’ Rise Podcast
Rachel Hollis Made For More Documentary
Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope Podcast
Joyce Meyers Podcast
Buddhism
Islam
Mariner’s Church
Kenton Bayshore
Psychics
Tarot Card Reading
Palm Reading
Refinery 29
Horoscope
Utah
Long Island Medium
Catholic
Positive Affirmations
Renne Colvert
Can I Pet Your Dog Podcast -
Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters
00:00 Meet Sarah Kuhn
03:20 Growing Up in a Small California Town
07:10 From Softball to Fashion School
12:15 Career Pivots in Corporate Retail
17:45 Faith, Spiritual Curiosity, and Daily Devotions
23:50 The Decision That Started Year of Joy
29:15 Finding Joy in Difficult Seasons
35:40 Why Happiness and Joy Are Different
40:25 How Travel and New Experiences Shape Perspective
46:00 Practices for Staying Grounded and Grateful
51:30 The Future of Year of Joy
Joy is not just a feeling. I want to look at everything and see the joy in everything, whether it's good or bad, because you can't be happy all the time. Happy is very instant and it's just a short feeling. Joy is completely different.
That's Sarah Kuhn and this is The Powerful Ladies podcast.
Hey guys, I'm your host, Kara Duffy, and this is The Powerful Ladies Podcast where I invite my favorite humans, the awesome, the up to something and the extraordinary to come and share their story. I hope that you'll be left, entertained, inspired, and moved to take action towards living your most powerful life.
Sarah Kuhn is a creator of Year of Joy, a platform to encourage everyone to be intentional and adding more joy to your life, and actively seeking and creating as much joy as possible. On this episode, we talk about the hard times that led to her searching for her own joy and happiness, the importance of her Christian faith, and the words of encouragement for anyone out there who feels like their life has lost its spark.
Welcome to The Powerful Ladies Podcast. Thank you so much. Let's start by introducing yourself to the audience and what you're up to.
Alright. My name is Sarah and what I'm up to these days is I work a corporate retail job right now. And I also am slowly starting to brand myself as a year of joy,
which is part of the reason why I was so excited to have you on here because I think everybody wants to have at least one year of joy, if not every year be filled with joy.
And before we get into Year of Joy, let's break down your story from like zero to 18 or 20. Like just tell us where you grew up. What it was like,
me being born all the way until I was. Going into eighth grade. I grew up in a city called Norwalk. I went to a small private school. When small.
Like my fourth grade class was four people.
No.
Yes.
That must have been amazing from an attention level though,
right? Yeah, it was great. Like my mom worked at the school. My, my brother went there. I was there from preschool all the way up until sixth grade because then the school closed down because there's not enough funding.
And then I played, I was in sports, I played softball, I played volleyball, I played basketball, all that kind of stuff. Growing up I had a really good childhood. My mom was able to stay at home with us for the most part. She worked at our school while my dad, he was, he's an elevator engineer.
Yeah. So that's what he does for a living. And what does an elevator engineer do or electrician like? He fixes and improves. He fixes and improves all of the elevators. He actually works all of Los Angeles. Wow. Yeah. So he works at all of the Netflix studios and all of that kind of good stuff.
So it's cool when you like, hear stories and stuff. Yeah. From baby to like, how old are you in eighth grade? Like 13. 13 ish. 12. Yeah. I grew up in Norwalk and because I went to a small private school when my school closed down, my mom wasn't really thrilled with the school system.
So I ended up going for seventh grade. I ended up going to a junior high called Griffith in Downey, and it was a little bit better. But let me tell you, it was such a cultural shock for me because I went from being in such a small school that where I knew everyone. Yeah. And I didn't know a single soul.
And so during, I think during those years of your life, you go through so much like growing and so much transition that like, I was like, I didn't know what to do. Yeah. Like I, I don't know. So I didn't really have any friends in seventh grade, anything like that. And then we moved, so we ended up moving out to Chino.
And that's where I pretty much was raised for the rest of my life, I guess you could say. Yeah. Yeah. So then I went to, I started all over in a new junior high. Yeah. In eighth grade trying to find friends and do all of that stuff. So it was a little rocky, a little I had a little bit of a slow start.
Yeah. But I ended up finding a group, a good group of friends, that I'm still friends with till this day, which is awesome. That is awesome. I loved growing up in Chino. It's like a small little, it was a small, little like dairy town, so there was like tons of dairies and, cows and like going in high school, like we went to like dairy parties where you would go like cow tipping and all of that stuff.
But we always growing up, my mom always installed our faith. Like in cheese and stuff. And so I've been. I've been a Christian since I was, I got saved when I was in first grade.
How do you get saved in first grade? Like when you're six? How do you even know what that means, what that is?
I think I remember growing up, like in my actual class, like my teacher asked do you believe in Jesus Christ? Do you believe like he's your savior? And all this? And I wholeheartedly believed that, yeah. And I still to this day, I may have not always walked the walk.
But at the end of the day, I knew he was like my Lord and Savior. Yeah. I knew that. So I feel he's always kept me safe. Especially when going through different transitions of life, right? Yeah. Okay. So going into high school so seventh grade I was in a new school, eighth grade new school.
Ninth grade, new school. Yeah. So I learned how to become social.
And I was the type of person that I was like, I had different multiple friend groups 'cause I was friends with everyone. Yeah. And I think because of the fact that I had to do so much growing during those three years of my life to where it, I was just, I was like, okay, let's be friends.
Like I'll be friends with you and just making friends everywhere. Yeah. And then from my freshman year, all the way up until. I was 25, I dated my high school sweetheart.
And he was my first boyfriend, my first love. At first I wanted to become a flight attendant. Very glamorous.
Yes. I wanted to become a flight attendant, and then September 11th happened. Yeah. So I was like, okay, I better reshift my focus. Not because I was scared to fly, but because everybody was laying people off. So I'm like, all if I'm gonna get a job, I need to figure this out. Yep. So I ended up going to fit, which is actually in LA Yeah.
And which is the fashion and design. Yeah. And fashion institute. Design and merchandise. Yeah. And I absolutely. Loved it. And that's what brought me to like where I'm at today in my actual career.
And your actual career is that you are a buyer for a large like skate action sports retailer?
I'm a planner. Planner, so I work hand in
hand with the buy buyer.
Yes. Do you wanna explain what a planner is for the rest of the world out there?
Sure. So what a planner does, like a merchandise planner is the buyer will buy the product, but the planner essentially holds the checkbook. So she will tell them like how much money they have to spend by month forecast sales, manage their inventory.
That kind of thing.
Yeah. For everyone listening behind the scenes of every retailer that you love, there's all these roles that don't exist in other industries and. You break it all out because it becomes so overwhelming when you look at how many lines of product there are. So if we take Nordstrom's as an example, they have men's, women's, kids, home goods, whatever other random seasonal accessories there are.
And then each of those buckets, you've got, women's outerwear, women's tops, women's bottoms. Like it gets so segmented that you can't have one person to decide what's gonna be in the store, plus manage the planning, plus manage like all the sellout and it gets too much and it moves so fast.
'cause you have new collections every month or quarter. So that's why you separate who buys it
versus who follows the dollars. Like back in the day when I was in college the buyer would do everything. She did the buying, planning and allocating. And so allocating and planning was just coming, just being like.
It was brand new to the industry. And I loved the numbers part of it, so I was like, okay, I'm gonna go that route.
And yeah. And so it it's just worked out. Yeah. I was just so focused on school. Yeah. And I didn't live out here. I commuted from Chino to Los Angeles.
And then I also was working a full-time job at Nordstrom, at South Coast Plaza. So I was busy. I started out as a sales rep. Yep. Just getting like my foot in the door and stuff like that again. And I was actually working at the California Mart.
And I rubbed like eight different lines.
It was just me and my boss, who, I'm not gonna say his name. Yeah. But he, it was just him and I and it was very interesting. What is the California Mart for people who don't know? Oh, so the California mart is where all of the vendors have their showrooms, and so that's where they'll do trade shows and like the buyers will come and see all of the new lines and everything like that.
What type of brands or lines would you see there? Each floor was different. So I was in the Missy, so I was on the third floor. So my clientele was a little bit a woman that was in her. Fifties. We call 'em the Bridge customer. Yep. And and like we really focused on small little boutiques.
So I would drive out to Palm Desert Yeah. To show a line. I would go to Vegas to ma a Magic. Magic is a really big trade show. Yeah. So we would go to Magic, we would go to the San Francisco Trade Show and all of that
stuff. And in that in the mart you have other floors for different types of
consumers or products.
Oh yeah. So there's something for everyone. There's like really big high fashion as well.
Even like baby designers that are in there. Every floor represents a different demographic essentially.
And it's not where the end customer goes, it's where the buyers for different retailers or brick and mortar online would go to meet new brands or see brands they already carry to see what they're gonna buy next.
Yes.
Yes. So that's what the California Mart was. So I worked there for about a year and I just knew like I wanted to be on the other side. Like I wanted to end all, be all I wanted either to go into buying or planning Yeah. What I'm doing now. So then I got a job at this company called Draper and Damon, which was in Irvine.
It's a very older clientele. It was more catalog based. And at the time we did have a lot of stores. I was there for about two and a half, three years and, stores started to slowly shut down and stuff. And I was ready to move on to something else. So then I went and I worked at a company called Max Studio, which was in Pasadena, and that was more high fashion.
I was on the retail part of it, but they do a really big wholesale business. And I worked there for a little bit for about a year. I was very thankful for that job and because it taught me what I would put up with and what I wanna put up with. Yeah. It was just, it was very interesting working there.
On that topic people who don't work in the fashion industry, whether it's in sportswear or high fashion, or whatever is in between. You don't really know what goes on, like you shop as a consumer, but then your only other exposure are things like ware's, Prada. Of what's behind the scenes.
I've had all sorts of experiences from moments that were like, devil Wears Prada to, you know, working in skate where it's like me and a bunch of boys and you just make things and drink beer. So what were your experiences like and how would you describe what it's really like to work in the fashion industry?
I've had, okay so far leading up to that, I at that time I was 25. Yeah. Okay. I had, I came from a company where they really valued you and they cared about you as a, as a person to going to a company where they didn't care about you, period. They wanted you to be there at a certain time and work until a certain time.
Yeah. My boss itself she was nice but she. There was a, there, there was a part of me that felt like she didn't lead by example. Yeah. And that was something I had a really hard time with to where she expected us to be there before her and stay there after her, and that was something I was just like, I just didn't really sit well with me. Yeah. And my fourth day, because there was a lot of turmoil in my specific department, we had my small little department. There was four of us, plus my boss. So a total of five. We had to meet with the company's lawyer in order basically how to get along. And I'm like, what the heck did I just get myself into?
Yeah. So it was interesting because there's a lot of like inside, every company has its own, drama and perks and pros and cons and all of that kind of stuff. Yep. But working there, it just wasn't for me. I, I wasn't being challenged. The reporting was very archaic.
I was, I spent like all day printing on a Monday, like when you do all of your reports and stuff like that. And I was like, okay, I'm really not learning anything here. So I just knew I'm gonna give it a year and then I'm gonna move on.
But within that year, like I have, I met some of my good girlfriends that I'm still friends with to today.
Yeah. Because we went through all of that together. So that was like the best part of it. Yeah. Is having those friendships being built and made. But when it came to working with them as a company, it was like, you're just a number. Yeah. Like they don't care about you. And that was really hard because like you put your heart and soul into wanting to do good, do good, do a good job, and prove yourself and stuff like that.
And when it doesn't get recognized, it's hurtful. It really is that is something still to this day that like, when I do something, I put my heart and soul into it and like when it when I don't feel appreciated or it just gets just not acknowledged. It's not acknowledged or stomped on or whatever.
And I'm just like, really? Like, why do I even care this much?
I think that's a
very common thing. I think women in particular, like we're not good at. Reserving a part of ourselves separate from what we do all day long at work. So you'll, when you're at work, you are at work a hundred percent, and you're go.
And you don't even realize what you're sacrificing in regards to life balance or family or personal life until you either stop working for a minute or take a vacation. You're like, holy smokes. How much time has gone by? And I haven't done all these 50 things that I care about. So I think it's definitely harder for women and because we just give that much more into what we're doing at work, that when we don't get the acknowledgement or the appreciation or that feeling that it matters.
It makes such a bigger impact. 'Cause the mattering part matters to us.
Yep. Yeah. So true. And I really believe in, building up other people.
Because that is so empowering and showing them and telling them that, you are making an impact because there's, I, there's like this quote, there's no other form of flattering than actually really telling someone and building, building someone up and telling them what a good job they're doing.
That is the best compliment somebody could ever receive. Yeah. Especially when it comes to their job or even if they're like volunteering or something, just those small little things really go a long
way. And I think as the leader or whoever's giving that acknowledgement to be able to really get that person doesn't need to be here.
They could be giving their time and service to so many other things to just appreciate that they're choosing to do it with you, even if you're paying them. Like even they're a paid employee, they could get paid somewhere else, like we had a a woman who leads up culture and HR at her company, who we recorded with yesterday.
And her biggest, what she loves about that role is that she gets to, build these teams and make sure people are appreciated. And we spend a lot of time talking about how most leaders don't know how to do that. Or, and no one teaches you unless you have a boss that does it and you can learn from them or you get it instinctually, there's not a lot of management courses on how to care about people.
And there's a big difference between a boss and a leader. Yes. Big difference. What is that difference for you? A boss would be someone who just basically tells you what to do and just doesn't lead by example, or will correct you when you're wrong and very rarely praise you when you're right.
Is just basically it's a boss, yeah. And then a leader isn't afraid to get down and dirty with you. Isn't afraid to sit down with you and be like, okay, let's figure this out together. Encourage you and, build you up and lead by example and say, Hey, I'm doing this too.
Let's all do it together. Empowering like the, their entire team and just showing, basically leading the way. Yeah. To me that Yeah, there's a big difference between both of those.
Yes. Yeah. After your year was up,
what happened next? So I ended up. Getting a job with the, my current company that I'm at now, and so I've been there for 10 years, and during all of this whole transition, my high school sweetheart and I, we broke up and it was my first time of actually really being like single.
And so I I was, I felt like I was on my way to something like bigger and better in regards to I have my stuff together. Yeah. Like I've somewhat have a couple of years experience underneath my belt in my career. I'm moving on to bigger and better and I just was like, I don't know, I just was, started like living my life because it could be really devastating when you were together like 10. Yes. It was. At that given time in my life, it was the hardest thing I've ever been through.
And I'm a big advocate for counseling because I put myself in counseling right away because, I'm with somebody for almost 10 years, and those are very vital years.
Yeah. And going through a really hard breakup, that was devastating for me, yeah. You were together more than some people were married. Exactly. I basically was going through a divorce without the paperwork.
And he was still somewhat in my life because we had such a core group of friends.
I would have to see him from time to time through like functions and weddings and baby showers and, 'cause at that time everyone's getting married. Yeah. And having kids, so so that was hard in itself, but it grew me. To the person I am today. Yeah. And it just made me stronger, a stronger human being and a stronger woman.
For
people who are going through that right now and going through that horrible breakup and it, you can't really see the light on the other side, what advice would you give them? What would you tell them?
Just know that this is happening for you. And you are strong enough to get through it.
If you need to go and talk to somebody, don't be afraid to talk to somebody. Get counseling. Get help if you can. Know that you are better off without them. Yeah. And know that you are deserving of love and whatever happened in, in that given relationship, just know that you are.
Worthy of more.
And you're not alone at all. There's been plenty of people that have gone through it and came out on top.
Whatever you're going through right now, know that you will be stronger in the end. You may, it may not look like it, but like after every storm there's a beautiful rainbow.
Yeah. And it's so true. And you just become a stronger human being. What did you learn about yourself when you were going through that? That I was okay to be alone. Yeah. Because I never was once alone, ever, that's what I think that was like my biggest fear was like, okay, what if we're, I'm gonna go what if my friend's friend is having an event?
Am I gonna go alone? Or because I've always gone wi with someone. Yeah. Somewhat being like codependent. That I was okay, like I was worthy enough and. I was better off, it was a great blessing in disguise. Like it's something that looking back on, like I will forever be grateful for that experience.
Because it just showed me like, how strong I can be. Yeah. So I was just and I have helped other women along, throughout the years that have gone through, difficult situations just relating to them. Tell, just letting them know you're gonna be okay.
It's gonna be shitty for a while. Yeah. But you're gonna be okay.
And it's okay to feel shitty for a while. It's okay. Oh yeah. To feel that way. I think there's this expectation sometimes that bad things happen and you have to like, snap right out of it and be happy again. And it's no just
be real about it. And it's okay to feel those feelings. It's not a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength.
It really is. Yeah. It's okay to feel the way you feel.
Yeah. So you made it through that. You're at this new company and you went from working with the bridge customer to a fashion customer and now to an action sports customer.
Yes. Very different people
along the way. Oh yeah. Very different people. I could actually, at that given time in my life, I could actually relate to my customer. Yeah. For the first time. For the first time. Like I actually, I wore the clothes and I could still wear the clothes till this day.
But yeah, but I I loved it. It was, it's a great company. Like they still, they had that they have that. Family atmosphere. Yeah. And the people actually really care about you. And knowing that when you go into a meeting, your boss has your bag. That's the greatest feeling in the world.
It's so great. Yeah. I've, I started out in allocation and I worked my way up to the position I'm in today. And I worked with, I started, when I first started there, I was doing men's cut and sew and bra and, t-shirts and all of that kind of stuff. And then I moved into the women's department and I did all of women's fashion.
And now I'm in women's accessories and it's just it's so fun. So it's something I'm really grateful for. I absolutely love my team and yeah. So I'm just super grateful.
Awesome. Yeah. And this whole time, I think something that. As color is, you've been commuting to all these crazy places, right?
Oh my gosh, yes. Like you spend a lot of time in the car. I do. Like
over the y when IF was first going commuting to my company, it, my commute was like 45 minutes, and that was with toll roads. So the toll roads, you have to pay for them.
And now it's, it's creeped up to an hour and 15 hour and a half.
So I'm in the car for on average three hours a day, there and back and commuting to Orange County and stuff from where I live in Chino. And it's just, it's a lot. So I do listen to a lot of podcasts and like audio books, so I am What are your favorites? I love them. Oh. Here, let me pull 'em up.
I love. So there's this one girl. It's she's, it's called The Sunny Show. Okay. She's she's really good about building a brand on YouTube. Oh. Which is great. She gives great feedback and great tips and stuff. I like the Tony Robbins podcast 'cause it's super inspirational and it just gets your, your mojo going.
Your mojo going. Exactly. There is this one called the Angie Lee Show. Okay. She's really good too about mindset work and just building a brand and all of that stuff. And then the Gold Digger, she's great. I've heard of that one. I haven't listened to it yet. Yeah, she's great. I have a lot of 'em that I listen to.
And also, the ra, Rachel Hollis? Yes. Yeah. She has one's called Rise.
She's great too. I almost freaked out. I did it in mentally but didn't have a physical breakout when the podcast launched. On the first. And you click on it and it's if you like the Powerful Ladies podcast, you might like Rachel Hollis.
I'm like, no fucking way. Did my podcast just recommend hers? This is awesome because I'm such a big fan of hers and what she's doing and her message. My, our other sister sent me this article where somebody was saying that Rachel Hollis tells you if you wanna be skinny, to hang out with skinny friends only.
And I'm like, where, who got that out of any of her messages? I was so mad about it. So that is not her message. She's all about you living your best life and ways to do that and. How important, like having the right people around you are. She's amazing. Yeah. She's, I'm so proud of her and what she's doing.
Did you see her documentary? I did. I went with some girlfriends and watched it. Oh my gosh. It's amazing. Yeah. I loved it. I heard it's now available on Amazon. We'll have links to all of it in the show notes. Awesome.
Yeah. And then I also listen to, like in the mornings, I always, that's when I do my devotion.
I'll listen to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope or I'll listen to Jo Joyce Meyers. Or I'll just listen to just a sermon. Yeah. And that's when I just like really spend my time with the Lord and stuff and just start my day off. Because I have a long commute and I'm not necessarily a morning person. Yeah. That's when I spend my time with him. Yeah. 'Cause you're supposed to start start your day off. And so I feel like when I do start my day off, spending time with him all else, everything else falls. It falls in line.
And for people who don't know, what does a devotional mean? To me, this is my own definition of a devotional would be just, you, it's your one-on-one time with the, with God. Yeah. It's me. This is what I do. I will, I have a couple scriptures in my card that I will just meditate on.
And just reread. And do you wanna share any of them? Do you have memorized? I do, but you're putting me on the spot. Oh my gosh. It's okay. She's clothed with strength and dignity and she lost without fear of her future. That's a great quote. Yeah. So it's Proverbs 31 25.
I for such a long time I was so anti-anything Christian based on my personal experiences with it and the hypocrisy and how.
So many civilizations and people use it as a weapon instead of something to be inclusive with people. Like basically just not being Christian with it, right? And it's happens to every religion. Like I feel heartbroken for the people who love Islam. And because of a few people, it's getting completely destroyed in the public eye, and it happens to every religion.
That's just what happens when people get their hands on something and don't have the right intentions. And for such a long time, I was relying on going deep into Buddhism and the yoga mantras and all these other sources to find great inspiration. And I had just shut off like what could be possible through the Bible as an option of inspiration and learning.
And once I decided that's silly. If I'm gonna accept all of 'em, I should really just start reading where I came from and. I have been blown away at how many nuggets of knowledge are in there that no one talks about because it's either not cool to talk about Christianity or it's just not cool to talk about traditional religions at all.
And I think that's a great example. No matter where it came from, people need to hear that message or like what they personally believe in a moment. Who doesn't need to know that they shouldn't be fearful about what's next? It's a game changer. 'cause so often we get so stressed out and anxious not having to plan and not having to be perfect and thinking that we have to know it all and be responsible for all of it when we just don't have to be
right.
Don't have to be.
Yeah. Yeah I agree. So I just really, that time I just open up conversation with him and I just tell him like, what's on my mind and how I want my day to go and just basically give myself some grace and give, the people around me, grace and and that's how, that, to me, that's what a devotion is.
Yeah. Meditating on a word, whether it's a cup of scriptures or like listening to, listening to somebody preach about, the word and you just are really thinking about it and just open up that, opening up that dialogue between you and him, because essentially at the end of the day, all he wants is for you to talk to him.
Yeah. And yeah, so that's what. That's what I do.
When you and I met at Mariner's Church in Orange County and they've had this amazing senior pastor for a long time called Kenton Bayshore, who is just an amazing speaker regardless of your personal preferences. Like he's such an amazing speaker and he did this great series that me not knowing like how I felt about it all.
When I heard it, it was so open. Oh. So opening because he had a whole six week course about like how he hates religion. And I was like, where do you go where a pastor is talking about why he hates religion? And like the premise was what I said before about how people tend to ruin religions because we add on all this other stuff that actually.
It never said in whatever the book of origin is. And so he had the quote that I took from that was that like, religion is a spiritual relationship, or sorry, the spirituality is a relationship, it's not a religion. And to me that was very eye-opening and impactful for me to think about.
It is.
It really is. Because these days I feel like they could twist and turn everything, now like being Christian you're like, looked down upon, and it's about, it's about my relationship with the Lord. That's what it comes down to.
How has it, since you've been saved since you were six, how has, what have you been confronted with growing up that kind of put you between.
As an example, like wanting to be accepted and have friends versus wanting to stand with your values?
Oh, man, that's a good question. I would say going, growing up in like high school, going to parties and stuff like that, and, being surrounded by like drinking and all that.
I'm not gonna lie, like I would drink at parties and stuff and but I knew where to draw the line. I knew how far I could go and I knew right from wrong. And I just, I don't know. I feel like I probably was put in situations where I shouldn't have, I shouldn't have been.
And, because, I have a praying family and stuff and they would continuously pray for me. Yeah. I was protected. Yeah. I know that like now, because I, so I was saved at six, but I didn't get baptized until I was, how was I 34? 33. 34. Because I knew I knew that once I get baptized, I'm really gonna really walk.
Walk with the Lord. And but before that, I knew I needed to be walking like 100%. Yeah. And I made that promise to myself and to God that I'm going to do that. My weakness is I've gone to a couple of different psychics. Yeah. And I know you're not supposed to do that, but I loved it.
Yeah. And I've gone probably five or six times. Yeah. What made you wanna go? Because I wanted to know my future. Yeah,
exactly. The
quote you just, or the exactly. The script you just read. I wanted to find out about my future and I I believed in that stuff.
And my mom would always tell me, Sarah, you're playing with fire.
Yeah. And I was like. I didn't care. Yeah. And, but I would never ask for forgiveness. Because I knew I was gonna do it again. Yeah. And the moment when I. When I was thinking about getting baptized I made a promise to myself, I will never do a tar card reading. I would never do a palm reading.
I will never go and see a psychic like still to this day. I'll get, I subscribe to the refinery 29 and they'll send you like, your monthly horoscope and stuff. I'm tempted to like, should I read that? Should I not read that? And I just forget about it.
Yeah. But I feel like that's a really big temptation of mine.
Yeah. And I think to give you some grace with those, most horoscopes are written by some random 25-year-old that's sitting on the writing team at the, they have no psychic talents, right?
Yeah. But there's a part of me that still wants to believe it.
'cause I wanna know my future. Yeah. But then do I really wanna know it, i, I remember. This was like probably a year ago. Maybe a year and a half. I was up visiting a girlfriend up in Utah and I was on the shuttle back to the airport. I dropped off my Renta car. I was on the shuttle back to the airport and there was this guy, he just started talking to me, making small talk.
Then he started talked to me, talking to me about my future. Like he was a medium. Yeah. And it freaked me out and I was like no, I'm sorry. I can't I basically shot him down and I was like I can't really,
I don't feel comfortable. I don't really wanna hear about this.
Yeah. And basically have a good day. Yeah. And I knew I knew, I was like, I wanted to hear more. Yeah. But I knew it was not. It was out of integrity with the
agreement that you made. Exactly. How do you feel about people that are mediums the Long Island medium, because she's Catholic and she's a medium, and I guess it's not really future telling, it's more talking to
like her.
I don't like, I have no problem with it. Yeah. I'm, I figure, I feel like she's probably here. That's her purpose. Yeah. To be on this earth. And I feel like there are a lot of people who are spiritual and
Do have those kind of, special gifts. Yeah. Those gifts. And that might be their gift.
So yeah. So I don't really Yeah. Have too big of an opinion on it.
Yeah.
Have you ever, you waited until you were in your early thirties to get baptized. And have there been other moments in your, getting to that point where you really felt conflicted about making that choice or, yeah, I guess so many people who haven't chosen the path that you have, have so many questions about like, how did you know and how did you, how did it feel?
And do you feel like you've had to give things up as because of it?
So I waited a very long time. 'cause I knew I'm not gonna go and get baptized and then slap him in the face and still be living the life I'm living. Yeah. So I knew I had to go through a lot of different, growing situations and testing the waters and trying to figure things out on my own. I do learn things the hard way.
Yeah.
Most people do. Yeah. So I think just going through different trials of life, like with the cards that you're dealt with and figuring out okay, is this the life I still wanna be living?
Or, can it be better? Or what should I be doing? And I'm not saying like I had a hard life or anything like that, but I did go through a couple different trials, everybody does. There's no way you can avoid it. And I think that, so my early thirties, I I dated a guy and we were very serious.
We dated for almost two years. I thought I was gonna marry him. Yeah. And it was, he was someone that I probably still have, I have so much love for still.
And but dating him, I really grew a lot. And, this is how the whole like year of Joy came about for me.
Yep. So yeah, so 2016 was a really hard year for me. I, and this all has everything to do with my process of making that decision to yeah. Get baptized.
So I went through a court battle in 2016 and that rocked me to my core. Meanwhile I had this amazing relationship that I was in.
And I wholeheartedly loved this man to death with every piece of me.
And, but I was this court battle that I was battling, took away my joy. Yeah. It happened, it started in January and it went dragged out all the way until October. It's almost the whole year for me.
And it was, I lived in fear every single day to where I became a very big introvert.
I didn't wanna talk to anybody. I basically went to work, hung out with my boyfriend, and that was it. What were you in fear of? Just of life. I felt like I had I felt like I didn't have control of it. And I was at the mercy of the courts. And I was just like. My world got rocked.
And I was afraid of what I experienced happening again to where I did everything in my power to stay away from it. Yep. And so it just, when something like that is out of your control, like I felt like my life was just like, I felt like I, I became a whole new a completely different person.
I had fear of driving to work. I had fear of walking down the street. I just became a very. A very different person. Yeah. I let it control me and I let it still my joy.
And during this whole process he was really great, great. But at the same time he was battling his own issues.
Yeah. He told me he had them under control and I believed him. And at the very end of our relationship where we broke up in September of 2016, and I'm still battling my court case at that time too it just it ripped off the bandaid times 10 and it just was like, here I go again.
Like I was slowly starting to become myself again, somewhat. But. Not really to where it just set me back completely again.
I think when you have a, like that court case, like when someone uses the phrase rocks your world, I don't know if people who haven't experienced that feeling of getting, it's like the carpet gets taken out from under you.
You start doubting anything that you think is true. You start doubting the way the world works, what you think about it. Like you lose a sense of all the knowledge you think you have is gone. And I think that's so important people to get because you get put into this place where you don't trust anything or yourself, or it's this weird floating feeling.
And unless you've gone through it, like you, you can't get the magnitude of how your whole world occurs to you the next second. Like it's a foreign place,
right?
Yeah. So I. Here was my, not my safety net, but like the person that I put my trust in. Yep. And knowing I, I knew that he had somewhat of an addiction, but he said he had it under control and I trusted him.
And here I am battling this case, and he's doing his thing, and it just it hurt me beyond belief. Yeah. And so that kind of really I did a lot of soul searching after that. I did a lot of therapy after that. I still do it to this day.
And I, that really made me look back at my life and be like, okay, Sarah, like I wanted.
To be walking the walk. So I really just dug deep into my faith Yeah. And read my Bible every night. And I read this book it's about different seasons of your life and what you're going through, and that really helped me. It was by Lisa Kist. And that book changed my life.
And that is one of, I went through all of this, for 29. I went through this whole like, turmoil throughout almost the entire year of being someone that I didn't even recognize anymore. Yeah. To like really realizing, okay, I need to figure this out and move forward.
And I really found such like a feeling of safety and comfort when I would put my, like lean, put my faith in the Lord and start really walking the walk. Yeah. And then in, so Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve came around and I just made a promise to myself because my court case was done.
It was finalized. I am going through this awful breakup and these awful feelings, I just made a promise to myself that I was never gonna let anybody. Anyone, anything. Ever steal my joy again. Yeah. Ever. 'cause I know what it's like to live without it. I lived in, it was unbelievable.
Like still to this day, like I could still feel that feeling. Yeah. It's very dark. Yeah. And so New Year's Eve 2017 is when I changed my Instagram name to Year of Joy and it just has developed from there. And May 21st, 2017 is when I decided I was gonna get baptized. Yeah. And because I was walking the walk.
And I'm a true believer that God does put certain situations in your life to bring you closer to him. And I believe that I really do. And I know from going through what I've gone through and everything like that because before I dated him, I didn't. I wanted a guy who was Christian.
But I, now I will only date a guy who's actually walking the walk. Yep. You know it, there's a big difference. And that was something I made a promise to myself too, like when I decide to like fully get baptized and devote myself
To the Lord, like it was something that like I knew I had to do wholeheartedly.
And what
does Year of Joy mean to you? What does it becoming?
Oh my gosh. So when it first got started, it was just me making that promise to myself to not let anybody or anything ever steal my joy again. Joy is not just a feeling. I want to look at everything and see the joy in everything, whether it's good or bad.
Yep. Because you can't be happy all the time. Happy is very instant. And it's just a short feeling. Yep. Joy is completely different. So it's becoming its own like small little brand to where it's cool because like I'm very big into like positive affirmations.
Yep. And positive, having a positive mindset and seeing the good in almost everything. Granted, yes, there's gonna be bad things. But it's like seeing the joy in those bad things and how to overcome those. Yep. So that's really what it means to me. And it's cool because people will instant message me or, DM me and be like, Hey, I saw this today and I totally thought of you.
Yeah. And it's all has to do with joy. And at first it was only gonna be like a year thing where I changed it. Yeah. But I was like, no, this is me.
And I, it's just it, it puts a big smile on my face when I see those little things because I'm like, your face has changed just now.
Yeah. It's, I'm making a small little impact on other people. Yeah. And I'm a big person in I love great quotes. I love just positive. Just positive a affirmations, just positive things in general. Yeah. And so I try and, I try and whenever I post anything, I try and post it with good intentions of maybe this will touch somebody. Yeah. And there has been times, that I've gone through hard, like difficult little things, and where I won't post for a couple weeks and people are like, I miss your post. Yeah. And I'm like, really? It's just, yeah. It's cool to see that.
What I love about following Year of Joy is that to me it shows how much more freedom you're giving yourself to actually have the joy. To see you taking trips and to see you going on adventures and doing different things or like giving yourself approval that to make joy your top priority.
Because it can be an everyday thing. It doesn't need to be a vacation. Like, how do you find the everyday joy? How do you really celebrate all the things that make you happy and other people happy? One of the one of the podcast guests Renee Culvert has, is a co-host of the Can I Pet Your Dog Podcast?
And to me, that is an entire podcast about joy. Like they're talking about dog news and dogs they met and their own pet stories and there's nothing heavy about it.
Yes, when there'll be a story that's sad about losing a dog, but it's just so nice to remember that there doesn't need to be all this heaviness that you see on the news all the time and on social media and especially the current climate that we're in.
And I think. More people need to know that they're, they have permission to have every day and every moment, be joyful and not feel like it's being irresponsible.
Yeah. Yeah. 100%. Because the society we live in today, there's so much negativity that who wants to like, look at more, sometimes I don't even watch the news because I can't. Yeah. 'cause it's just, it's too, it's sad. Yeah. And I don't, I choose to not live my life that way. Granted, yes, there are some things that I I do pay attention to and I do follow, yeah. But that's enough for me because I could, I just, I don't ever wanna go back to that dark space.
And sometimes I do have, I've, I have gone back there, but I've been able to get myself out of it. Yeah. And, I remind myself, okay, Sarah, find the joy in this situation.
What do you see that's gonna bring you joy? Find it. And it's just like a daily reminder for myself and, and it's becoming a small little brand and I'm branding myself through it.
And it's really cool. Like it's in a very small baby steps of it. Yeah. But who knows what it could lead to I'm excited for the future of it. And I really believe that like, whenever I see joy, something Joy Yeah. Somewhere or something I believe, like that's God, the universe telling me i'm on the right track.
Because I feel like that's like my sign.
There's been a reoccurring topic on Powerful Ladies podcast of people like. How getting those signs, because when you are taking risks and doing something that sounds bigger than you're supposed to be or you're unsure of, you need that.
You need the reassurance. Yeah. So what is next for Year of Joy? Do you have any things up your sleeve or what are you
planning? I'm actually planning, I'm actually in the process of developing a podcast myself. Awesome. Called Year of Joy. I'm in the very small stages of getting the website ready.
And developing that. And I wanna start small to where I wanna interview people to see how they find joy in certain, hard situations that they've faced. Because I believe everybody has gone through something sometime or another. Yes. And it's all about how you manage to get through it.
And seen the joy in that situation. And who knows, I don't know what could come of it. Like I'm excited for it. And I am the type of person that I feel like over the last few years, like I've just become such a stronger individual
And stronger woman when it comes to like having a strong mindset.
Yeah. And knowing that anything could happen. Like I, I'm up for anything. Yeah.
And I just, I love it. In addition to your faith, what el what other practices do you have in your routine that allows you to be operating at your best and most joyful?
I really believe in personal development, I reading a book or listening to an audio book
I believe in daily meditation and. Building your self-confidence. Like I struggled with that big time. All throughout high school, college, like I, I just had a really hard time with confidence and I still do to this day. And so I have found this confidence po confidence meditation that I fall asleep to at night. So it helps me, so it actually gets into my subconscious mind. Very cool. What's it called? It's called my, it's. It's on Amazon Mu music. It's called My Future Confidence. Oh, very cool. Yeah. I just asked Alexa to play confidence one night and she played it, so I was like,
sweet
High five Alexa.
Thank you. High five. Yeah. But I also have downloaded some actual real like long sleep meditations to fall asleep to. So I'm a big believer in that and I am, I'm a really big believer also in surrounding yourself
With good people. Yeah. Because you are the extension, the person that you are is the extension of the five people you surround yourself with.
Yeah. So surrounding yourself with positive, good people who are actually have goals and going somewhere and that kind of thing is, has a really big impact on you as a person. Yeah. And then also I just, I love having open dialogue and this kind of thing. Yes. Like just, I think it's really, it.
I think it's really cool how today's world it's so easy to build a relationship with someone over social media and get close to them and connect with them. Yeah. Because there's so many different people in the world and you can, there's so many people that you could connect with.
Yeah. So just having an open mind to new things. I think it's very important as well. And just having, daily affirmations. Yeah. Positive affirmations. Like I am confident. Yeah. I am worthy. I do set little reminders on my phone every single day. Yeah. For an I have five different reminders in my phone and they'll pop up from time to time.
So whether it be a scripture or it's like at three o'clock it would say take three deep breaths. Today's a good day. I like that. Yeah. Or just at the end of the day, just your daily gratitude. Yeah. Where you just thank, you know yourself, thank the lord, thank the universe for everything that's going on, just being super grateful.
Yeah. And journaling and just writing, writing down what you're thankful for, writing down what you want. Writing down like your I Am statements and Yep. That kind of thing. I'm a big believer in that because I feel like your mind is a powerful thing. And it could do anything.
Yes. Yeah. The, being a powerful lady comes from the place that the power is already in you and. If, I know how powerful people can be, and you really have to choose what are you going to use your power for? You can use your power to, rise and help people and live your, most fulfilled, greatest life.
Or you can use it to torture yourself and others. Like it's, you have the power. It's like how are you going to use it? Obviously there's been so much going on with the Me Too and the women's movement happening here and around the world. How has seeing that movement come to life impacted you?
Like what does it mean to you to see what's happening for women today?
I think it's really cool. I feel like over time, like us women are finding our own voice. And I just, it's just exciting to see what else is gonna be able to like, develop from this.
Yeah. And I'm excited.
Yeah. On a, we ask all of our guests where you put yourself on the powerful lady scale, if zero is being ordinary human and 10 is powerful lady where do you put yourself today? Where do you put yourself on average?
I would probably say a seven.
Yeah.
Yeah. Because I feel like I haven't developed into my full potential yet.
Or my full potential powerful lady yet. But I've done a lot of work to get to where I'm at. And I'm in the process of getting there. Yeah. And I'm very content and happy with what I've done and where I've I am at and everything like that. To where it gets me excited to.
Get to a 10, I guess you could say. Yeah. Perfect.
What messages would you have for listeners out there who are looking for joy and are looking for ways to take that on themselves? Like how do you start, how do you start on your own year of joy?
So I would probably say this is a good question.
It's making me think how would you start on your own year of joy? So I would probably say figure out what brings you joy. Pay attention to the small little things that light you up.
And notice what those are, because that would be probably pure joy.
And when you go through difficult situations.
Remember that feeling and remind yourself like, okay, I know what that feeling of joy truly is.
And how that, what that feeling of joy truly is, but actually remind yourself in that situation I'm gonna find joy in this and better myself from it. But truly fill it. Yeah. And know what it feels like.
And then just continuously remind yourself like, I am beautiful. Yeah. I am confident, I am joyful. I am worthy. I am a powerful lady. Yes. Hallelujah to that one. Yeah. But just figure out what really does bring you joy. And remember that feeling and just carry it with you.
Yeah. That's what I would probably say.
Excellent. Any last minute messages or things you want people to know?
Don't give up. Yeah. Life can throw you curve balls like big ones, and just know it, it probably is happening for you not to you. Yeah. And just find joy in the situation and continue to move forward.
And you're gonna be okay. Yeah. Yeah. You're gonna, you're gonna end up being great. Yep. Yeah. You're gonna be great. Exactly.
Awesome. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast. You're welcome. Thank you for having me. Of course. I look forward to hearing how the listeners are creating their year of joy.
And to just see the impact of what it has for you and your followers and what you're creating next.
Thank you. Of
course,
I am left after this episode imagining if everyone spent a year looking for joy, creating joy, and sharing joy, like how could the world be different? I think it would be a completely transformed place in just one year if we all took that on. I'm glad we talked about the difference between joy and happiness and that joy can be found in dark times and places, not just the good.
Since we've recorded this episode, Sarah's taken another leap in her Joy journey and has moved up to San Francisco to connect, support and follow. Sarah, you can follow her on instagram@year.of.joy. For all the correct spellings, direct links, and all their notes that we talked about on this episode, please visit the powerful ladies.com.
If you'd like to support the work that we're doing here at Powerful Ladies, there's a couple of ways you can do that. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, Google Play, or anywhere you listen to podcasts. Leave a review on any of these platforms. Share the show with all the powerful ladies and gentlemen in your life.
Join our Patreon account. Check out the website, the powerful ladies.com. To hear more inspiring stories. Get practical tools to be your most powerful. Get 50% off your first order in The Powerful Ladies Shop, or donate to the Powerful Ladies one Day of Giving campaign. And of course, follow us on Instagram at Powerful Ladies for show notes and to get the links to the books, podcasts, and people we talk about.
Go to the powerful ladies.com. I'd like to thank our producer, composer, and audio engineer Jordan Duffy. She's one of the first female audio engineers in the podcasting world, if not the first. And she also happens to be the best. We're very lucky to have her. She's a powerful lady in her own right, in addition to taking over the podcasting world.
She's a singer songwriter working on our next album, and she's one of my sisters. So it's amazing to be creating this with her and I'm so thankful that she finds time. In her crazy busy schedule to make this happen. It's a testament to her belief in what we're creating through powerful Ladies, and I'm honored that she shares my vision.
Thank you all so much for listening. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode. I can't wait for you to hear it. Until then, I hope you're taking on being powerful in your life. Go be awesome and up to something you love.
Related Episodes
Episode 167: The Coaching Mindset That Can Change Everything | Angie Wisdom | Business Coach, Author & Speaker
Episode 297: Rebuilding After Divorce and Redefining Yourself | Ksenia Muench | Thrive Again Divorce Coaching
Episode 289: Navigating Venture Capital as a Episode 190: Success Means No More Good Girl Rules | Marie Garvey | Founder, Crazy Busy Women in Balance
Follow her on Instagram @year.of.joy
Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Amanda Kass
Graphic design by Anna Olinova
Music by Joakim Karud
