When Joy Feels Unreachable, Aim for Relief

When you're deep in it, "be happy" is an absurd target. You can't jump from despair to joy — the gap is too wide. But you can almost always move toward relief: a slightly less painful state. Not joy. Just less suffering. A warm shower. A glass of water. Lying down instead of sitting. These aren't cures — they're small moves in the right direction. The upward path starts from wherever you are, not from where you think you should be.