joy to the world

There is a bright orange sticker in the stairwell of the garage that I walk through to get to work each day.  It looks like it's been ripped off some larger, neon orange sticky surface.  It's not a large sticker, but in the largest capital letters that will all fit on that small surface it says, "DON'T POSTPONE JOY."  I have usually forgotten that I saw it by the time I get up to work, and when I leave work, I usually forget that I have seen it again by the time I arrive at my car.  Still, every time I walk up that staircase and that orange beacon catches my eye, I think it was put there just for me.  

My job is important to the people for whom I work, but in the grand scheme of things, it's not that important.  I'm not a teacher, or a surgeon or a government official.  I'm not on the cutting edge of science or directing air traffic.  Even celebrities have more important jobs than I do, because they can use their money and influence to affect real change in the world.  All I do to improve the world is recycle.  (Everything.)  There is no reason why my job should be as stressful to me as it is, and yet sometimes I get so frustrated that I want to throw things.  There's just no excuse for that.  But I don't think I'm alone.  I think that lots of you feel that way too.  We need to stop putting off what we want to do...the things that bring us genuine joy...because we get caught up in our everyday mishegoss.  

There was a time when I felt very strongly about this very sentiment.  My now husband and I met at the end of July, and were engaged by the following March.  We just wanted to be married.  We didn't want to postpone the joy that we felt when we were with each other.  But while I still feel the same way about him (and he about me!) other parts of my life sometimes seem to overshadow that feeling. 

So thank you, anonymous staircase befouler, for reminding me of one of the most important lessons I may ever learn.  

Don't postpone joy.