Hello, everyone, and welcome to Speaking with Joy, a podcast to fill your soul, challenge your mind, and make you brave.

I'm your host, Joy Clarkson, and an evangelist for all things good, true, and beautiful.

So make yourself a cup of tea, find somewhere comfortable, and let's dive in to this week's episode.

There are a thousand, thousand reasons to live this life.

Every one of them sufficient.

Marilyn Robinson, Gilead. It was December 31st, 6.45 a.m. My roommate was still fast asleep,

the covers pulled just over her head, rising and falling to the rhythm of her deep breaths.

I sat in my bed with a warm cup of tea, candlelit,

utterly happy. I've always loved the stillness before the world is awake, when there's

silence enough to hear the murmurs of your own hopes and desires more clearly. That morning I had a

purpose, to prepare for the new year. As I sipped my tea, I perused the past

year in my mind like I was flipping through a picture book, treasuring all the good things,

the happy memories I had made, moments of growth. There had been difficulties, yes, but they

seemed so outweighed by the goodness. As my mug radiated heat through my fingertips, my heart warmed with

gratitude. I felt a deep, palpable peace. From this stillness, a message came to my heart.

This year will be hard. You will suffer. The people you love will suffer. Prepare yourself.

I paused and opened my eyes. That's probably the general anxiety

disorder speaking, I thought. I am accustomed to persistent sense of impending doom and to intrusive images

of all the things that could go wrong, from broken plates to missent emails, to crushed limbs,

to global nuclear catastrophe,

all in a day's dread.

I read an article recently that found that a large proportion of adults diagnosed with anxiety,

...