The Joy Document: Creating a Midlife of Surprise and Delight

by Jennifer McGaha

Once you begin looking for joy, you can find it pretty much anywhere. When Jennifer McGaha's grandmother was in her late eighties, Jennifer asked her what her favorite age so far had been. "Fifty-five," her grandmother answered, as though there were something magical about this stage of life, some deeper way of knowing from this vantage point. So, in her own fifty-fifth year, Jennifer began to take note. She jotted down her impressions of simple, everyday things that struck her as beautiful or humorous or intriguing and kept a list of all the accomplishments, large and small, that actually mattered to her. These observations became Jennifer's Joy Document, a radical act of reclaiming joy and an exercise in paying attention. When you are determined to find joy, almost anything can become revelatory--an Earth Day Whole Foods errand, Claire Saffitz's fruitcake recipe, a harrowing ride in Twinkly Taxi, an evening picnic at Dvořák's Symphony No. 8, or cartwheels in the driveway. While many of us at midlife have found all the things we've strived for (the career, the better life, the organization tools), those things only go so far. And the search for something greater, something truer, begins. Through this lens, life after fifty becomes not the end or even the middle of life, but a new beginning, another grand adventure with endless opportunities to find joy. The Joy Document includes fifty rollicking and often humorous essays exploring the art of joy and inspiring the rest of us to do the same.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Essays, Psychology, Self Help, Biography, Autobiography

198 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2024

About the author

A native of Appalachia, Jennifer McGaha lives with her husband, five dogs, twenty-three chickens, and one high-maintenance cat in a tin-roofed cabin bordering the Pisgah National Forest in western North Carolina. Her creative nonfiction work has appeared in Brooklyner, Toad Suck Review, Switchback, Still, Portland Review, Little Patuxent Review, Lumina, Literary Mama, Mason’s Road, Now and Then, and others. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, running, mountain biking, sampling local beers, and playing with dogs.

From: http://www.yourimpossiblevoice.com/je...

Reviews

[Lola · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy from the publisher through Netgalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

I wanted to read more non-fiction and when I saw this one on Netgalley it made me curious and I requested it. I just loved the idea of a book about joy. I am glad I gave this book a try as I had a great time reading it.

The Joy Document is a collection of essays about the authors life and each of these essays is about joy or another deep emotion or feeling. I feel like not all of them are about joy exactly, but they definitely all were impactful moments in the authors life. Some could be a bit sad or reflective, while others were more uplifting or fun and others were more about surprise or things that made the author think.

I felt like I got to know the author through reading it and I liked getting a glimpse into her life and the way she thought and approached things. It feels deeply personal and also very relatable. It's like this book condenses what makes us human, those moments that really shape our lives and I thought it was a beautiful read. Not all essays I enjoyed reading as much as others, but I really enjoyed the book overall and the way this book gave a glimpse into the author's life and those moments that really matter.

Some days I read just one essay or a few and other times I just read a whole bunch of them in a row. Either way works great. It's a book you can easily pick up and read just one essay or sit down with for a longer while and read a bunch of them. This book made me think and feel. It did feel more heavy and impactful than I had expected at first, but I liked that.

To summarize: The Joy Document offers a deep and personal look into the author's life. The book contains a lot of shorter essays that all depict a moment that made an impact on the author, made her feel or think. Not all of them are quite about joy in my opinion, but they all are about deep emotions, reflections and thoughts. I liked getting a glimpse in the author's life and the way she approached things and thought about things. It could feel quite heavy and impactful, but in a good way and I enjoyed the intense vibe. I feel like this is a book about those moments that really matter, the moments that shape us, moments that make us think and feel. I hadn't read a non-fiction book like this before and I am glad I picked it up.

[Bookguide · Rating 5 out of 5]

When did you last hear the word ‘joy’? Ten to one it was something to do with decluttering which, personally, brings me no joy whatsoever. I like my stuff. Alternatively, if it’s Christmas, you may have heard Joy to the World, but that comes way down my list of joyful music. Reading this book really did bring me joy. I read it with a smile on my face and a feeling of kinship with the author. Humour brings joy and Jennifer McGaha’s writing is funny and relatable and as delicious as the fruit cake she describes in the first essay.

When I requested this from NetGalley, I was attracted by the bright cover, but a bit wary that it was going to be a self-help book. I needn’t have worried, it’s not another manifesto for improving your life. Instead, it shares stories, anecdotes and musings by somebody who finds joy in her life, without suggesting these are the things everyone should do. This is my honest review after reading the free digital ARC from NetGalley.

There’s also been a trend in the last few years to create gratitude journals or gratitude jars, making a daily note of things you are – surprise, surprise – grateful for. Joy is perhaps a better metric than gratitude because some people have a twisted Pollyanna-like desire to give thanks for bad things that supposedly gave the opportunity to learn a life lesson. Believe me, getting a life-threatening disease is rarely a reason for gratitude. Perhaps this is rather like the original idea behind ‘The Joy Document’, but not every chapter/essay is about pure joy. Sometimes it’s about something that made the author stop, think and connect. Other people’s stories and the joy of sharing them can be the goal.

The book starts with a reminiscence of being a small girl, frightened by the antics of Evangelical Christians and comforted by her grandmother shaking with laughter as she cuddled her. That same grandmother, when asked what was the best age to be, said it was 55. As Jennifer McGaha approached that age, she decided to pay attention and write down things that gave her joy, attempting not to wander off into reminiscence or contemplation of the future, but to stay in the moment. This resulted in the thoughtful essays in this book.

From the stories, anecdotes and musings in this book, I would say that the ability to feel joy depends on the ability to notice details, to observe nature. Yes, to have fun with friends and family and take time to do the things you want to do. But also to smile wryly when things don’t turn out as expected, to look for the humorous side in every experience and to change direction when you come up against a dead end. No point hitting your head against a brick wall.

I have passed that momentous age, but I’m not much inclined to meditation or mindfulness, nor reading about them. If I see a book flagged as ‘spirituality’, I generally scroll further. But the cheery cover and the optimistic subtitle pulled me in. If 55 is halfway, then 110 is the goal! The idea of creating your midlife experiences is also appealing, rather than sliding towards decrepitude, though not everyone is granted the health to have that choice. What we all have is the choice of our own attitude to whatever happens.

McGaha’s writing style really resonates with me; it’s like reading a letter from a friend with a good sense of humour. She’s a bit younger than me, but not a lot, and she’s American whereas I’m British. But she reminds me of a lot of my online friends, BookCrossers and bloggers, and I think we have a lot in common. I couldn’t believe it when she mentioned using her mother’s Jovan musk perfume. That was my first, overwhelming perfume. I still have the empty bottle and sniffing it every couple of years takes me straight back to the early 1980s.

There are many hilarious stories in this collection, many of them related to teaching and the things students say. The trick for remembering students’ names, for instance. Or the student who offers up a 70-year-old badass biker woman to counter other takes of unhappy middle-aged women facing their own loss of youth.

One slightly irritating tic that Jennifer McGaha’s pieces have is a tendency to end on a thrice-repeated phrase. “And yet. And yet. And yet.” Or “And I see you. And I see you. And I see you.” Or “Tell me. Tell me. Tell me.” I’m sure she knows she’s doing it. She does, after all, teach creative writing. It probably has a fancy name I don’t know about because they hadn’t invented creative writing courses when I was a student, or at least, not that I’d ever heard of. In isolation, it wouldn’t be an issue, but when you’re reading her pieces one after another, it strikes you as a bit much. Actually, I bet she has students who do this sort of thing to add extra words at the end of an essay. Ha!

Many of the stories are thoughtful or make you think. The author rails against a self help author who believes that over the age of fifty, we should stop trying to achieve things ourselves and mentor, coach and help younger people. McGaha points out that many women step off the career ladder to help their family and only have the opportunity to pick up their careers or achieve their own dreams after the age of fifty. So relatable!

Another particularly moving story is the tale of a friend who was supposedly dying, but then decided that rather than lie down and wait, she would fill the rest of her life with joy and friendship.

As a smallholder and Mother of Goats , I would expect Jennifer McGaha to know that a group of sheep is a flock, not a herd. This is not the first time this year that I’ve commented on this; in Split, Alida Brema compares clouds to a herd of sheep. Both authors are American. Is this coincidence or do people really refer to herds of sheep in the USA? In British English a group of sheep is a flock, though if you walk behind them, encouraging them to go in the right direction, that is herding them, and someone whose job it is to get sheep headed in the right direction is a shepherd (not a sheep herder or flock holder). It should be noted that herding cats is not a profession because no matter how many cats you share your life with, cats are not for herding.

I hope this book does well because I had fun reading it. In fact, I should probably say it brought me joy.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley, Tantor Audio, and the brilliant Jennifer McGaha for allowing me the opportunity to listen to the audiobook version of The Joy Document.

Jennifer McGaha’s The Joy Document is the book I didn’t know I needed. A collection of fifty essays, it’s a heartfelt exploration of finding joy in the everyday, especially at a stage in life when many begin to question what truly matters. McGaha shares humorous, reflective, and poignant moments, drawing readers into a perspective that embraces life’s quirks and unexpected lessons. Her essays range from laugh-out-loud funny to deeply thought-provoking, offering a perfect balance of humor and introspection.

This book is ideal for anyone seeking a gentle reminder that not everything in life needs to be taken so seriously. Whether recounting cartwheels in the driveway or unexpected adventures like an Earth Day errand gone awry, McGaha’s writing invites you to reflect on your own life and find joy in the little things. Some essays had me laughing so hard I had to pause, while others left me sitting back to absorb their depth.

The narration by Dina Pearlman was excellent. Her delivery brought the essays to life, infusing them with emotion and perfectly timed emphasis. It felt as though Pearlman had written the essays herself, which added a layer of authenticity and relatability to the stories.

Overall, The Joy Document is a delightful read for anyone at midlife—or any stage—looking for inspiration, humor, and a fresh perspective on what it means to embrace life’s second act. Highly recommended!

[Lisa]

Such a warm and beautiful first read of the year for me. Even though the subtitle is probably what drew me to the book, I was delighted to find this is not a personal development/self improvement book, or a polemic against ageism, but rather a series of contemplative, funny, sometimes sad, grateful essays. I think work by or about people in midlife, but perhaps less existentially fraught than I myself feel at the moment, may be very much what I need right now.

(That the author and I are very nearly neighbors, and the way she writes about her daughter, and her complicated but deeply loving feelings about the South? Well, I can’t just carry this book around all year long like a security blanket, like a talisman against loss and toward mindfulness and gratitude, like a hug, but I wish I could.)

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5
Transcribed from the audiobook:

… I have often thought of him since, about the story he trusted me with, the one he told without even telling it. About all of our stories, the ones we keep and the ones we share. About how our whole lives are simply stitched-together stories and how we are stitched together by stories too, you and I, and how all our stories are sacred, every single one. The easy ones, the complicated ones, the ones that haunt us, and the ones that bring us joy.
(…) now I believe the wondering itself is a form of prayer, and that listening to other people’s stories, witnessing their pain and sorrow is too. And so I hold these stories, mine and yours and his and ours, in my hands turning them over and over again, listening for all the things we cannot yet say, all the things we may never be ever able to say, searching for the whispers between the words, the holy parts.

Guiding Questions: Creating Your Own Joy Document

1. What song or songs do you associate with pivotal times in your life and why?
2. Think about a favorite family recipe. Whom do you associate with the recipe, what events, what feelings? When do you make this food? Have you changed the recipe at all from the original? Why or why not?
5. Discuss a strange, awkward, unexpected interaction with a stranger that led you to consider something in a new way.
7. Point to a moment when something you once deeply believed changed irrevocably.
11. Discuss a time when you took a chance you’re now glad you took.
13. If you considered your body a sacred space, how might that change how you move in the world?

[Karen L · Rating 5 out of 5]

This delightful book of essays harvested from McGaha’s life the year she turned fifty-five is infused with wisdom and light. From the opening scene in a Pentecostal church, the author hiding in her grandmother’s lap, to the closing chapter where blue ghost fireflies light up her yard, McGaha chronicles a life in which “joy, wonder, sorrow, and amazement all converge.”

McGaha’s style, forged from her Appalachian roots, the music that fuels her forest runs, and a lifetime shared with beloved family and animals— goats, dogs, opossum, and deer—brings to mind the work of Brian Doyle, Anne Lamott and Margaret Renkl. Humor, wordplay, and honest asides pepper the pages.

Whether attempting a midlife cartwheel, learning her students’ names by linking them with food, or visiting a holy well in Ireland where she recalls a dear friend’s death, McGaha invites readers into an intimate conversation about life’s larger questions. The Joy Document challenges each of us to look for beauty and kindness in what surrounds and perhaps confronts us. For me, reading it was soul medicine.

[sea ʚ♡ɞ · Rating 5 out of 5]

✨provided to me by NetGalley✨

a series of personal essays, this book is a delightful showcase of mid-life experiences. as a twenty-three year old, i didn’t expect it to connect much to my life… however, there is much to learn from Jennifer’s mindset. Jennifer documents her joyful memories from run-ins at the grocery store about 80s music to her student interactions in her creative writing classes she teaches and each story has something to teach. this book contains a lot of thoughtfulness and gratitude.

it was really refreshing to hear from a perspective that’s simultaneously so far from me and so close to me. by reading this book with all the small moments, you can see the larger image of a beautiful life. it made me want to re-examine the way i see my own life and make my own mosaic of little moments to see the life i’ve lived.

i really liked this book so i would definitely recommend it to others.

[Whitney · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the collection of essays Jennifer McGaha magnificently pens in The Joy Document, she teaches us not only what it means to be a 55-year-old woman but a human, searching for joys, big and small in life, food, forests, grocery stores, gin, and dogs. She weaves these stand alone stories together so beautifully the reader can't help but say, “Yes! Me, too! I feel that way too when I eat pie for breakfast or miss my grandmother desperately or enroll in the f@#$-it school of thought.” But also her words, which feel whispered by an old friend over a cup of coffee in the perfect mug, conjure in your own soul things you didn’t even yet know about yourself, but somehow she lights the way to a better understanding of your own spirit as she so generously shares hers with the reader. Give yourself the gift of joy and read this book.

[Mike Zickar · Rating 5 out of 5]

In these times of climate change as well as daily nightmares from our federal and (at least for me) State government, I wasn't sure I wanted or needed a book on daily joy. But like many things in life, I didn't know what I needed until diving in.

This book captures daily joys from McGaha, and Appalachian writer who has a great combination of sass, doubt, sarcasm, and openness to small beauties. She writes about daily interactions in her pandemic life that gave her joy or appreciation. It's a mixed bag, with some of the nearly 50 short chapters (episodes) resonating more than others. I most appreciated her observations of interactions with strangers in check out lines and parks. But also her reflections on aging resonated with me as well.

This book doesn't deny all the shit that is going on in the world (she curses it frequently) but provides some openings for joy and wisdom.

[Vivian Nance · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Joy Document has everything I am looking for in a collection of essays: wisdom, humor, and relatability. The author reflects on her own life with vulnerable insight and empowers readers to seek their own joy in the midst of everyday life. Whether describing a chance encounter at the grocery store, an observation while running in the woods, or a mishap with an Apple Watch, McGaha is a masterful storyteller. At times with a cup of coffee and at other times with a glass of wine, I loved these essays.

[Christy Maguire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book - and you might too if you're in your midlife. This series of memoir in essays is about her 55th year and how she viewed joy and what it means to look at your life through such a lens. It was laugh-out-loud funny, inspiring, poignant, endearing, insightful, and heartbreaking. I just wanted to be her friend. :) I listened to the audiobook, which I recommend because it's very entertaining. I got so much joy out of listening to this while I did my daily walking, remembering to take note of my beautiful surroundings. This is one I'd listen to again, without a doubt. Such a great way to end what was a tough year.

[Erin Book Nerd · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the title misleading. The common denominator to most of the essays was not about joy, but about life at middle age for an educated white woman.

Certain stories were wonderful and much appreciated. I loved the descriptions of hiking in Ireland at a time of gloaming at the Burren (“Magical Spring.”)

Certain stories made me wanna quit the book because I either found the over emphasis on alcohol consumption or, for example, wearing a watch in a hot tub, or for another example, running on a probably-broken foot, to be tedious or just plain uninteresting.

[Katherine Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Joy Document was the perfect book to read in these times, but really, for any time. McGaha's short essays read like stories, and they glisten like the jewels they are. Her writing is fierce, funny, smart, poignant, encouraging all of us to look for, find, and create joy in our daily lives. Down-to-earth and authentic, McGaha is like the best trail partner--the one who spots the trout lily in the leaves, or the best side trail. So, so good.

[Bev MacDowell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jennifer McGaha writes Salt of the Earth style. I can very much relate to what she is able to get down on paper. Joy, all emotions…the very things I feel, she is able to express.
Such fine reading! I also love that you can dip in and out of this book, single sitting readings. I think I will keep my copy in my car…can enjoy when I’m parked and awaiting someone. My Holiday gift for several friends this year.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This quirky book is a great reminder to appreciate the everyday moments of life. There were some moments in this book that I really related to and some that just made me laugh and smile. It was a nice read for such a busy time of year, short vignettes where you could put in a little time, then come back later for another read.

[Cynthia Nicola · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars!

[Mia Caven · Rating 5 out of 5]

YEAH thats a bit of me

[Traci · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF.

[Tina H · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
I listened to the cheerful audiobook of short essays/vignettes while housecleaning and laughed out loud a few times.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book contains several nonfiction short stories from the author's life. Last section has a list of prompts so you can compose your own Joy Document.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

50 essays focusing on the joy in the everyday. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and wavy to write out and reflect in the questions at the end.