Sometimes when writing, you can just come up dry and that is how I feel this week about my column.

We have been wrapping up the March/April issue of the Vicksburg Living Magazine and I am, you might say, all thunk out.

Therefore, I thought it best to share something that I read this week from Shauna Niequist’s book, “Savor: Living Abundantly Where You Are, As You Are.”

I had never heard of Niequist, but when I saw her devotional book, I thought it was really unique because it also included recipes.

Many of the daily readings have hit home, but one recently more than others, and probably so because I have been experiencing a bit (a lot) of sadness knowing my youngest daughter will be moving miles away after she gets married.

When thinking rationally, I know this issue — of her moving several hours further away from me than she is now is really a blip on the radar scale in the big scheme of life, and in comparison, to others’ troubles and great sadness.

But honestly, I can’t stop grieving.

This feeling is where Niequist’s devotion entitled “Choosing Joy” comes in.

She leads off with, “I believe in a life of celebration.”

It’s kind of hard to celebrate when you are feeling sad, and Niequist acknowledges this, but she also writes we have a choice as to how we move from melancholy to happiness — we choose it.

“It’s rebellious, in a way, to choose joy, to dance, to love your life. It’s much easier and much more common to be miserable,” she says.

Admittedly, I have done the latter.

However, it was this statement of Niequist’s that really hit home when she said, instead of allowing herself to sit in the dumps, she lives purposefully and dances instead of sitting down, laughs hard and when she “wears her favorite shoes on a regular Tuesday, that regular Tuesday is better.”

Happiness and contentment can come when it is purposefully sought. I want to try and start choosing joy and wearing my favorite shoes on Tuesday so that a regular Tuesday is better.