Finding Joy in the Ordinary
Finding joy in the ordinary. My annual Go Pink campaign is about more than wearing pink. It's a reminder to check your breasts, notice life's little moments and choose joy where you can.
Strangely enough, June has become one of my favourite months of the year.
Not because it's winter, when does summer start?
Not because it's the end of the financial year.
And not because school holidays start.
I do it because it's intentional.
For the past six years I've taken part in the National Breast Cancer Foundation's Go Pink campaign. Every June I wear pink makeup, pink clothes, share pink handmade products and deliberately look for little pops of pink wherever I can.
People often ask if I ever run out of ideas.
The funny thing is, the opposite usually happens.
At the start of June I wonder how I'll possibly find enough pink for thirty days.
By the end of the month, I still have lip colours I haven't worn, buttons I haven't shown, fabrics tucked away in drawers and photos that never made it onto social media.
The goal has never been to wear pink because it's a pretty colour.
The goal is much bigger than that.
Every time someone sees something pink during June, I hope it becomes a gentle reminder.
Check your breasts. Book your screening. Have the conversation.
Don't ignore something that doesn't feel quite right.
If one reel, one photo or one handmade button prompts just one woman to become more breast aware, then every pink outfit has been worthwhile.
That same thinking has started to spill into other parts of my life too.
During Liptember, I hope a bright lipstick reminds someone to check in with their mental health.
When my husband sees a rainbow, he almost always sends me a photo because he knows they'll make me smile.
If I see an Eiffel Tower, I'm instantly transported to Paris.
If I hear a favourite song, I stop what I'm doing and listen.
The symbol isn't really the point.
It's the reminder or memory behind it.
This month reminded me that we can intentionally create those reminders for ourselves.
One day it was the sunrise on the way to work.
Another day it was rain falling on the tin roof outside my office.
A football game.
A quiet walk.
A new pair of handmade earrings.
A finished blog.
A conversation with a friend.
Some days the moment was tiny.
Some days I almost missed it altogether.
It reminded me how quickly life becomes a list of things to get through.
Go to work.
Answer emails.
Pay the bills.
Wash the clothes.
Cook dinner.
Drive the kids.
Book the appointments.
Repeat.
It's easy to believe joy only arrives during the big moments.
The overseas holiday.
The mortgage being paid off.
Retirement.
The perfect day.
But maybe we've been looking in the wrong place.
Maybe joy has been quietly sitting beside us all along.
Sometimes it's finally getting the washing off the line before it rains.
Sometimes it's hearing your son laugh with his mates after football.
Sometimes it's watching your daughter walk through the door after a night out with friends.
Sometimes it's ticking one more thing off the to-do list.
Sometimes it's simply noticing that, even on the shortest days of the year, the sun still rises.
None of those moments changed my life.
But together they changed my month.
Go Pink has never really been about lipstick. Or clothes. Or buttons. They're simply conversation starters.
Gentle reminders that life is precious, that our health matters and that awareness saves lives.
As June comes to a close, I hope the reminders don't disappear with it.
I hope when you see something pink, you remember to be breast aware.
When you hear a favourite song, you stop and enjoy it.
When you see a rainbow, you smile.
When life feels busy, you take five minutes just for yourself.
Because once you start intentionally looking for joy in the ordinary, you realise it was never really hiding.
It was simply waiting to be noticed.
I'd love to know... what reminds you to slow down, smile or think of someone you love?
Be real, not perfect. Be kind, be brave, be yourself.