Episode 27: Joy as Strategy: A New Tale to Tell
Season 2 of Living in 3D Power is here! In this opening episode, Emma and I dive into joy—not as something we wait for, but as something we practice. Through laughter, reflection, and a playful Mad Lib activity from Sonya Renee Taylor’s Your Body Is Not an Apology workbook, we explore what it means to rewrite our stories and embody joy as resistance.
I share what I discovered while pulling out old journals and sitting with my unfinished pages, and we talk about why so many of us confuse joy with happiness. Together, Emma and I lean into the guiding question for this season: “What would it look like if joy was our strategy, not our reward?”
Chapters
00:59 – What my journals and unfinished pages taught me
01:52 – Why we confuse joy with happiness
04:20 – What joy looks like as a strategy
05:57 – Emma joins me for the conversation
06:45 – Mad Libs & body positivity (Your Body Is Not an Apology)
14:32 – Historical figures, dreams, and bravery
24:14 – Struggles, apologies, and growing through them
26:28 – Homework battles & puberty
28:01 – The power of facial expressions
29:32 – Spiritual habits and serving God
32:37 – Centering marginalized groups
32:59 – The “brown paper bag test” and colorism
36:38 – Rewriting affirming stories through Mad Libs
51:01 – Practicing joy as resistance
52:59 – Emma’s closing wisdom & farewell
Resources & Mentions
Sonya Renee Taylor, Your Body Is Not an Apology (Book & Workbook)
Sonya Renee Taylor, Celebrate Your Body (and Its Changes, Too!)
Tracy M. Lewis-Giggetts, The Black Joy Playbook
Your Practice for the Week
Find one thing you like (something that makes you laugh, smile, or feel free) and do it on purpose! Remember, joy isn’t the prize at the end. Joy is the fuel for the journey.
