Hey fam, it's J. Hale. Growing up in Tallahasee, I often spent weekends in a small, rural town of Jasper, FL. There, my grandmother and I would sit on her front porch and talk for hours. We'd always watch the same cars go by, speak to neighbors, and I'd learn many of the life lessons I seek to presently live by. One of them she shared often was to not let anybody 'steal my joy.' When you're 4, this doesn't make a lot of sense. At 37, it does. Her words ring true now more than ever. 

If we're being honest, a lot has happened in the last 18 months that has stolen our joy. Hate. Insurrection. Loss. Fear. Frustration. Sickness. More loss. The list is long. It has been hard for many of us, me included, to find joy in what we are currently being asked to manage. Despite the challenges that have come with navicating our new realiities, I've found reasons to find joy.

I've watched colleagues pull together to write award-winning papers, seen the housekeeping staff dance in residence halls as we welcomed back new students, and had the best conversations on Zoom about how much we hated talking on Zoom. That brought me joy.

I've watched the students we advise become incredibly creative to maintain connections in a digital space, watched a team make sure an entire campus community was housed, fed, and supported...even when some of them could not go home, and seen our campus pool resources to help students buy tickets to go back home. That brought me joy.

Together, we packed, shipped, and stored the belongings of our entire student community. While the emails and phone calls from frustrated families to not bring joy, the process of watching our team come together to help each other brought me joy.

I've heard stories of counselors and clinicians sharing with students new ways to be at peace, took and taught a Koru class, and watched us welcome back over 6,000 undergrads and over 8,000 grad students in the last few weeks. Their smiling, dancing, singing, and collectively cherising the ability to be in a shared space brought me joy.

We still have a long road ahead. My life partner Tessa (who I love dearly) will not let me ever forget that somtimes things are just bad. What I am asking you do do is, like my grandmother told me long ago, not to let these bad things steal your joy. It can temporarily suppress it. It can hold you down for awhile. It can even make it necessary to take several steps back. But at some point, take your joy back. That's what you see in this picture. The joy that comes with, after a long summer, finding a reason to dance.

You are all amazing. We can do this, team. Like I tell our group every day:

Need a touch-down space between meetings on West, or a change of scenery? Come visit us in Few HH, just off the West Campus bus stop!  Let us know you're coming in advance (clcteam@duke.edu) and we'll make sure you have access. Hope to see y'all soon.