My Tiny Little Joys (practice) 2025

looking for joy every day in 2025

Last year, my friend and podcast cohost, MC McDonald, PhD, released her book, The Joy Reset: Six Ways Trauma Steals Happiness and How to Win it Back.

Alongside the book, she began sharing a tiny little joy (TLJ) every day of 2025 on TikTok and Instagram, inviting her community to play along. As she states, “When we imprint joy, it rewires our brains towards resilience and away from stress and anxiety.”

Here she is on day one!

I took the challenge and decided to use the monthly section of my Hobonichi Cousin Planner to track a tiny little joy in my life each day.

Most nights, I’d open Instagram and the first thing I saw was MC pop up in a reel, sharing her TLJ. I’d add mine in the comments alongside hundreds of others doing the same. Some days I forgot to write it down in my planner, but I almost always left a comment. This turned out to be incredibly helpful when I went back to catch up in my planner later. I also really loved seeing what others shared.

There were days when I noticed several tiny little joys, and other days when I had to work really hard to find just one. Either way, it became a fun, grounding practice and one I am continuing this year. I mean, what else am I going to do with that monthly section? Hooray for tracking!

Here are all of my Tiny Little Joys for 2025-

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

It has been the perfect reminder that the more you look for joy (even the tiny kind), the more it finds you. I am glad we are continuing this practice in 2026.

MC is planning to lead a book club this spring using her book! If you’re on Substack, you should follow her for more details. I know I’ll be attending :)