Joy Is Not a Luxury — It’s Your Birthright

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May is Mental Health Awareness Month — a timely reminder that our inner well-being isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity. As leaders, coaches, high performers, and caregivers, we’re often tuned into the needs of others, striving to create impact, build teams, and drive results. But in the process, we can forget something essential: We, too, are deserving of joy.

Dr. Judith Joseph, a Harvard-trained psychiatrist and NYU Medical School professor, has dedicated her life to understanding a hidden struggle many high achievers face: high-functioning depression. Her book High Functioning and research explore anhedonia — the inability to feel pleasure despite success — and the ways in which our drive for accomplishment can silently block our access to joy.

In a recent conversation with podcaster Rich Roll, Dr. Joseph said something that cuts right to the heart:

“You were built with the DNA for joy. It is literally built into your DNA, but you just forgot how to access it.”

For many of us, that truth might be hard to accept. Somewhere along the journey — in the race to prove ourselves, provide for others, or live up to expectations — we’ve lost touch with the belief that joy is available to us, too.

But here’s the reframe: Joy is not a reward for finishing your to-do list or winning the game. It’s a practice. A discipline. A sacred responsibility — both to yourself and those you lead.

Dr. Joseph reminds us that joy doesn’t have to come from grand gestures. It can be found in small, intentional moments, and it can be planned:

"If you don't plan joy, it is not going to happen. For many of us who are busy, we get into these patterns of doing, we often don't plan the joy and it doesn't have to be big joy. It could be the small joys," she says.

"After I speak with you today, I'm going to go and sit and have a nice meal and I'm going to taste it and not rush it. But for others, it could be something like, if I get my kid to school on time, I'm going to sit in my living room and have a cup of coffee in silence. And I'm going to acknowledge this win."

Why is this so important?

Because research shows that when we anticipate joyful experiences — even small ones — we become more hopeful, less stressed, and better equipped to navigate the realities of life and leadership. Planning for joy helps us move forward rather than getting stuck in the past.

So wherever this message finds you — in the middle of a breakthrough, burnout, heartbreak, or healing — remember: Your joy matters. And it’s contagious.

We can chase goals for a lifetime. We can accumulate achievements and accolades. But what will be remembered — what will ripple through lives long after we leave a room, a company, or this earth — are the moments we helped others feel joy… and allowed ourselves to feel it too.

So let's ask ourselves:

• Where can I schedule — even five minutes — for joy today?

• What kind of culture am I modeling for others by how I treat my own emotional and mental well-being?

• What would it look like to lead from a place of inner peace and celebration, not just pressure and productivity?

We don’t need to have it all figured out. But one truth remains: Joy is our birthright. And it’s also our responsibility — to ourselves, our team, and everyone who looks to us for guidance and perspective.

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