'Joy On Purpose' - Pink abstract wall art styled in a bright coastal dining room — vibrant colourful print in vivid pink and luminous white from the Joy by Design collection, by Kate Shephard Art.

The Art of Joy — Why Seeking Happiness Gets Harder as We Get Older (And What to Do About It)

Can I be honest with you about something?

As I've got older, I've noticed that joy — genuine, deep-down, soul-level joy — doesn't arrive quite as easily as it used to. Not the surface-level happiness that comes from eating a really good piece of chocolate or finding a parking space when you're running late. I mean real joy. The kind that makes you feel fully alive and grateful and like everything is going to be absolutely fine - the kind that gives you that fizzy little bubble in the pit of your stomach (or at least that's how it feels for me!).

I used to stumble into it without trying. These days, I find I have to go looking for it a little more deliberately. And I don't think I'm alone in that.

The Art Of Joy Blog Post Image - Scrabble letters spelling out word joy with blue flowers next to them

 

 

Why Joy Gets Harder to Find

Life has a way of accumulating weight as the years go on. Responsibilities. Worries. The mental load of keeping everything running. And for those of us with teenagers — well. Where do I even begin?

I have two teens at the moment, and if anyone told me this stage would be a breeze, they were absolutely lying. The moods. The one-word answers. The way they can communicate absolutely nothing across a dinner table with extraordinary efficiency. And then there's the phase I'm very much in right now — wanting to give them more freedom, knowing they need it, but lying awake at night wondering if I've got the balance right. It's one of the hardest parts of parenting I've navigated so far, and I won't pretend otherwise.

But here's what I've come to believe: joy doesn't just turn up on its own in this season of life. You have to choose it. Seek it out. Create the conditions for it.

The Art of Joy - image for blog - 'today I choose Joy' on a board next to a cup of coffee

 

The Art of Joy — Making Space for What Lights You Up

For me, joy lives in pockets of time I carve out deliberately — small but essential moments that remind me who I am beyond the roles and the responsibilities.

Running along the beach in all weathers is one of them. There's something about that particular combination of cold air, movement and the sea that clears my head faster than anything else I know. Singing in a choir is another — that feeling of voices joining together into something bigger than any one person is genuinely one of life's quiet joys. Reading. Painting, obviously. And yes — a glass of wine in the garden on a warm summer evening, watching the light change and feeling the week fall away. These things matter. They aren't indulgences. They are essential.

Taking a family holiday, going for a meal somewhere lovely, visiting a beautiful place — these things matter too. There is real joy to be found in going out of your way to seek beauty. In making the deliberate choice to surround yourself with things that lift you rather than drain you. I genuinely believe that the more beauty you invite into your life — whether that's visiting beautiful places or bringing beautiful things into your home — the more capacity for joy you create.

For me, my Christian faith is also a significant part of how I navigate this. It gives me a foundation — a deep, quiet resilience that holds me steady when life feels difficult or uncertain. The belief that I am held, that there is purpose in the harder seasons as well as the easier ones, is something I return to again and again. It doesn't make life easy. But it makes the difficult parts feel navigable.

'Choose Joy' - Uplifting wall art in bright pink and soft blue — colourful abstract art pink canvas print with free expressive brushwork and warm peach tones, by Kate Shephard Art.

 

Painting Joy on Purpose — The Joy by Design Collection

All of this is what led me to create my 'Joy by Design' collection — four paintings made during a personal search for genuine joy, painted deliberately and on purpose with the colours I associate most with happiness in my heart.

'Joy Looks Good On You' was the first — and the title says everything. Joy looks good on all of us, but sometimes we forget that. This piece is about giving yourself permission to feel it, even when it takes effort.

'Joy Looks Good On You' - Vibrant colourful art print with luminous whites and peach tones — abstract artwork on canvas painted with free, deliberate brushstrokes, by Kate Shephard Art.

'Choose Joy' followed — because joy is a choice. A daily, active, sometimes difficult choice. But always an available one.

'Choose Joy' - Uplifting wall art pink canvas print in vibrant pink, soft blue and warm peach — colourful abstract art with free expressive brushstrokes, part of the Joy by Design collection, by Kate Shephard Art.

'Joy On Purpose' is perhaps the most intentional of the four — bright, vivid pink abstract wall art painted with complete deliberateness. A piece of meaningful art that asks you to reach for joy not when it arrives naturally, but especially when it doesn't.

'Joy On Purpose' - A vibrant pink abstract wall art print in bright pink and luminous white — colourful print and bright canvas artwork full of joyful energy and movement, by Kate Shephard Art.

And finally, 'Joy in the Little Things' — because that's ultimately where so much of it lives. The morning light. The first coffee. The unexpected kindness of an ordinary Tuesday. Joy art that reminds you to look for the small moments rather than waiting for the big ones.

'Joy In The Little Things' - Abstract pink wall art in vivid pink, warm peach and soft blue — expressive canvas artwork with free brushstrokes, beautiful pink wall art for bedroom interiors, by Kate Shephard Art.

These four joyous, positive prints were created to do what I hope all meaningful art does — to shift the energy of a room, to offer a daily reminder, to inspire you to seek out joy rather than simply wait for it to find you.

Because it looks good on you. And you deserve to feel it.

Browse the Joy by Design collection

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