PERSONAL GROWTH by Fabi Preslar Finding joy in a stress-filled life I’ve learned that joy is not the reward waiting for me on the other side of stress. Joy is the practice that helps me remain sane, creative, and whole while I’m living through it all. As women business leaders and owners, many of us carry full, complex, high responsibility lives. We’re leading companies, serving clients, managing teams, supporting families, navigating finances, caring for our bodies, and often quietly holding emotional weight no one else sees. If we wait for life to become simple or less messy before we allow ourselves joy, we may wait for a very long time. For me, joy is not something I find after the stress ends. Joy is something I practice inside a full, imperfect, messy, high-responsibility life. Joy is not the same as ease Joy doesn’t mean my calendar is clear, my inbox is empty, my body feels perfect, or my business has no pressure. Joy doesn’t require the absence of hard things. It’s often getting through hard things that activates joy. I’ve experienced seasons of illness, surgeries, business strain, grief, rejection, reinvention, and the kind of chronic stress that reminds you the body is always keeping score. I’ve learned that pretending everything is fine is simply performance. Joy begins with noticing One of the ways I return to joy is by paying attention. I notice flowers past their prime. Smiles on tired faces. The texture of paper. A client’s story becoming a book. The quiet dignity of something weathered but still beautiful. This is part of what inspired my latest book Wilted and Worthy. I found myself drawn to the beauty of what was aging, fading, softening, and changing. Not because those things were perfect, but because they were honest. Beauty does not disappear when life gets complicated. Noticing slows me down. It pulls me out of the swirl of urgency and back into my own life. Joy is a creative practice Creativity has been one of the great constants of my life. It has helped me build a business, write books, create art, publish meaningful stories for clients, and launch a nonprofit. But more than that, creativity has helped me evolve into a more genuine me. When I’m creating, I feel connected to something deeper than productivity. Whether I’m shaping a client’s next steps, painting, or dreaming up a new idea, creativity reminds me that I am more than the pressure I am carrying. For women leaders, creativity is often how we solve problems, reimagine our business models, design a meaningful conversation, or find a new path when the old one no longer fits. Creativity is a form of resilience. Joy is rooted in meaning I’ve found that meaning doesn’t remove stress, but it can transform how I carry it. In my work through SPARK Publications, I’ve had the privilege of helping leaders turn their wisdom, stories, and expertise into books and magazines that serve others. Through Radiant Chapters Collective, I now get to help underrepresented entrepreneurial voices become published authors at no cost to them. That kind of work rarely means every day is easy. It often means I can reconnect to the “why” beneath the work. Joy rises when I remember that a project is not just a deadline. It is someone’s legacy, courage, message, healing, or hard-earned wisdom taking shape. Meaning gives stress a place to land. Joy is fueled through connection Some of my joy comes from the people beside me: my husband, my family, my team, my clients, and the women who understand what it means to lead while carrying a whole life. Joy grows in honest conversation. In laughter. In being seen. In working alongside people who care. In remembering we do not have to carry everything alone, although we often try. Joy is an act of devotion At this stage of my life, I understand joy less as a feeling I chase and more as a devotion I practice. Devotion to beauty. To truth. To creativity. To rest. To meaning. To the people and work I love. To my own body and spirit, which have carried me through so much. Joy rarely arrives loudly. Sometimes it whispers. Sometimes it exhales. Sometimes it looks like a slow, quiet morning, a flower past bloom, a finished page, a meaningful conversation, or the courage to stop and observe. I am still learning. Still practicing. Still evolving. And maybe that’s the point. Joy is not waiting for me somewhere beyond the stress. Joy is here, asking to be noticed, protected, and practiced right in the middle of this full, imperfect, beautiful, messy life. FABI W. PRESLAR is the founder of SPARK Publications, a custom publishing firm serving seasoned leaders and membership organizations through expertly crafted books, magazines, and specialty publications. She is also the founder of Radiant Chapters Collective, which helps underrepresented entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders turn their stories and expertise into professionally published books. She is a member of the Enterprising Women Advisory Board and a past recipient of the Enterprising Women of the Year Award. JooLaR / Shutterstock.com 92 enterprising Women
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