Why Joy Isn’t a Luxury or a Reward, but a Tool for Growth, Performance, and Personal Power
- Brainz Magazine
- Sep 11
- 5 min read
Updated: Sep 12
Written by Annette Hutcheson, Speaker, Author
Annette Hutcheson is The E.P.I.C. Life Designer, a speaker, author, and transformation expert helping women design intentional lives of health, freedom, and purpose using science-backed tools and real-world experience.
Maybe you’ve been taught to think that joy is treated like something that must be earned, like dessert, a sweet reward you get after you’ve eaten your vegetables. Maybe you’ve believed that joy comes at the end of the fight, after the crisis, after the breakthrough, once everything looks “good” from the outside.
That mindset is backwards. Joy isn’t the reward for surviving. It’s the resource for living. Think of it like a tall glass of water you sip while doing the work, refreshing, steadying, essential. Not a bonus. A necessity. And the kind that makes the biggest difference? It’s called Functional Joy™.
What is functional joy?
Functional Joy is joy with a job. It’s not just about feeling happy; it’s about feeling equipped. It’s joy that supports you, emotionally, physically, and even financially. It fuels your nervous system. It stabilizes your mood. It gives you the energy to move forward with intention, even on hard days.
Functional Joy is practical. It’s not performative, not fleeting, and not filtered. It’s joy that works, that sustains your well-being while you build your life from the inside out. It starts with savoring the little things.
It’s the cup of energizing ketones before your morning routine, the song you lift weights to that makes you feel powerful, the walk in fresh air that clears your mind, the candle you light while doing the mundane, and the laughter at dinner even when the day didn’t go as planned.
This kind of joy doesn’t wait for your circumstances to be perfect. It meets you in the present moment and says, “You’re worth having joy now.”
The science of functional joy
There’s a reason joy changes us on a cellular level.
When we experience joy, our bodies release neurotransmitters like dopamine (motivation), serotonin (stability), endorphins (pain relief), and oxytocin (connection). These aren’t just “feel-good” chemicals; they’re performance enhancers. They improve focus, memory, immune response, and energy levels.
Functional Joy also activates the parasympathetic nervous system, the part of your body responsible for rest, digestion, and recovery.
The great news? You don’t need a miracle to trigger these systems. You need intentional input.
Exogenous ketones to improve brain function and mood. (Hint: Drink 8 oz. of water 30 minutes before any caffeine to maximize energy levels.)
Movement to generate natural endorphins. (Hint: Muscle contractions, i.e., lifting weights release happy molecules.)
Rituals to create rhythm and calm. (Hint: Morning and bedtime routines are a great place to start.)
Beauty and pleasure to remind your brain you are safe and life is good. (Hint: Keep fresh flowers around you. Your nervous system will respond to the natural beauty like a breath of calm.)
Savoring the little things
You don’t have to wait for big milestones to feel good. In fact, you shouldn’t.
Functional Joy thrives in the small, sacred moments of daily life:
A deep breath before a meeting.
Warm sunlight through the window.
A favorite pen.
A song that hits just right.
The texture of a clean bed sheet.
The scent of lemon in your water.
These things seem small, but they signal safety to your brain. They tell your body, “You’re allowed to feel good right here.” The more you savor these moments, the more resilient, focused, and regulated you become.
How to build functional joy into your day
Let’s walk through my E.P.I.C. Life Framework, a simple structure for designing daily joy that supports your long-term goals.
1. Ethos – root yourself in what matters
Ask. What brings me alive? Build your days around your core values in each of these four categories, spiritual, physical, social, and intellectual. Let those become non-negotiables.
2. Perspective – reclaim the now
Instead of saying “I’ll be happy when…,” try “What can I do today to create beauty, even in the middle of the mess?” Functional Joy is not denial, it’s defiance. A way of saying, “This moment belongs to me.”
3. Influence – Create the energy others feel
Functional Joy isn’t just personal, it radiates. The way you care for yourself shapes the atmosphere you bring into every room. You influence others most powerfully when you’re living from a place of joy as a foundation.
4. Carry on – let joy help you persist
Joy isn’t the opposite of struggle. It’s what gets you through it. When you infuse your routines with Functional Joy, you don’t quit when it gets hard; you keep going because you’re equipped to do so.
Drink your ketones with gratitude.
Move your body like it’s a gift, not a punishment.
Say no to what drains your light.
Say yes to what strengthens your spirit.
How you know you’re living with functional joy
You don’t need a checklist, but here are some signs:
You sleep deeply through the night.
You wake up with energy instead of dread.
You feel more emotionally steady, less up and down.
You recover faster from setbacks.
You don’t need external validation to feel good about your day.
You find yourself smiling at nothing. Because you feel whole.
The cost of delayed joy
Waiting to feel good until everything is fixed, perfect, or finished is one of the most costly habits we develop. It trains your nervous system to associate pleasure with permission, as if you have to earn your way to joy. It turns aliveness into a reward instead of a right. And over time, that mindset chips away at your resilience.
When joy is constantly postponed, so is peace. So is creativity. So is momentum.
Without Functional Joy built into the process, into the middle of your messy, beautiful, in-progress life, burnout becomes more likely, not less. We end up running on empty, overperforming, and undernourished.
Joy is not a luxury. It’s life-giving fuel. And the longer we delay it, the more we rob ourselves of the strength we need to rise.
You deserve a life you love
Functional Joy is not frivolous. It’s not weak or naive. It’s a tool to use. It’s a strategy and a strength.
Functional Joy tells you, “Even in uncertainty, I will care for myself. Even in chaos, I will create beauty. And even now, I will design a life I love.”
Your joy has a purpose. Let it do its job.
If you’re ready to start living a life of Functional Joy, I invite you to join me for the 6-Week E.P.I.C. Life Challenge. Together, we’ll unlock the tools, strategies, and daily practices to help you defeat anything, triumph over everything, and emerge as an unstoppable force. Your E.P.I.C. future starts today. Are you ready?
Read more from Annette Hutcheson
Annette Hutcheson, Speaker, Author
Annette Hutcheson is The E.P.I.C. Life Designer, a speaker, author, and visionary guide helping women rebuild their lives with intention, strength, and science-backed strategies. Drawing from her own powerful journey of personal transformation, Annette empowers women to take control of their health, mindset, and income by blending nervous system regulation, goal-setting, and exogenous ketones. Through powerful content, events, and storytelling, she inspires women to stop settling and start designing lives they truly want to live.
