Happy #SeekTheJoy Tuesday!

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On the podcast this week is Elycia Rubin - mom, writer, editor, producer, author of No Biggy!, blogger behind WhatI'mLoving, and honestly guys, that's just scratching the surface!

Elycia is an all around incredible and inspiring woman, and sharing what she loves is a huge source of joy for her.

On today's episode we chat about where Elycia's incredible career began and how working in a creative environment gave her the motivation and courage to pursue her own ideas. We chat about finding joy in the art of discovery and how Elycia's passion for sharing the things she loves inspired her to launch her blog, WhatImLoving. We also have a meaningful conversation about practicing mindfulness, recognizing the beauty around us, growth mindset, and experiencing joy through finding gratitude in all of the things we often times overlook. Elycia shares with us her daily mantras of JOMO (Joy Of Missing Out) and No Biggy! (which also happens to be the name of her empowering children's book), and SO much more!

“Sharing something that brings joy to me and hopefully to other people, is golden.”

— Elycia Rubin

Elycia's background is rooted in content creation and production for television and digital media. For 10 years she worked for E! and was one of the original founders of The Style Network, where she had the opportunity to create award-winning programming around style, beauty, travel, wellness, entertainment, and celebrity lifestyle with a team of talented executives.

We all have fresh and new ideas all the time, but the truth is we don't all always have the courage to jump on those ideas! Working in an environment that's allowed her to pursue her own creativity has been a game changer for Elycia, and it was really wonderful to hear her reflect on this.

Throughout her career, Elycia has had the opportunity to collaborate with exciting multi-media companies and grands including: abfitfun, Delta Sky magazine (Delta Airlines), FOX, Yahoo!, People, Women’s Health, Men’s Health and Best Life magazines (Rodale, Inc.), Gilt Groupe (Gilt.com), Outside magazine, Sharp and S/magazines (Contempo Media), Renew magazine (United Healthcare), W Hotels, Amazon.com, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Sephora.

As a journalist, her stories about travel, fashion, beauty, wellness, and celebrity lifestyle have appeared in/on: People, Delta Sky, The Hollywood Reporter, Yahoo!, HuffPo, Men’s Health, and S/magazine.

Along the way she co-authored two successful style guides: Frumpy To Foxy In Fifteen Minutes Flat and Curves Rule and Flat Is Fabulous! – Sexy Stylish Looks For Every Figure.

Elycia authored her first children’s book designed to help the entire family manage frustration with humor and heart called No Biggy! A story About Overcoming Everyday Obstacles. No Biggy! is the empowering book sweeping the nation that’s helping kids and parents successfully manage frustration.

I was so excited to chat with Elycia about the inspiration behind No Biggy and what it was like writing her first (of many!) children's books.

As a baby, Elycia's daughter was easily frustrated. Whenever there was a moment where her daughter was having a difficult time, out of survival as a first time parent Elycia would say "let's take a deep breath, no biggy! Let's try again." It slowly became an effective tool, and Elycia's family and friends started saying it too. Elycia knew she had to turn it into a book and help other children and their parents navigate everyday obstacles and challenges. At the end of the book the little girl is able to look at the challenges and obstacles and get past them, because it's really no biggy!

Life will give you obstacles, but it's about not sweating the small stuff! I love this story and its message and one day when I have kids, nieces, or nephews - I will 100% be sharing this empowering book with them!

Elycia and I also had a really wonderful conversation about mindfulness, recognizing the beauty around us, and experiencing joy through finding gratitude in all of the things we often times overlook.

There is so much beauty around us and it's up to us to notice it. I loved hearing Elycia's thoughts on this, and how she's also been able to keep herself in a "growth mindset" despite life's ups and downs.

“It’s about finding the joy within. Recognizing and being grateful for joy when things are wonderful and then finding the joy or the lesson in the circumstances that aren’t so wonderful. There is always a lesson to be learned and I feel like recognizing the positive and the negative is going to really be beneficial to anybody.”

— Elycia Rubin

I'm a firm believer that meditation, and really the broader practice of being mindful, comes to you when it's supposed to. Elycia has been practicing Transcendental Meditation (TM) for the last 6 years. During our conversation she shares how she started practicing TM and how it's changed her life in a really beautiful way.

Do you have words that you live by? Elycia does - and it's JOMO (joy of missing out) and no biggy. As Elycia shared in this week's new episode, we have to look at where we are, what we have, and really be grateful for the things that often get overlooked. That's where JOMO comes in. It's about taking yourself out of this space of comparison and self-judgment. Instead of trying to keep up with what everyone else is doing on your social media feed, focus on remaining present and enjoying where you're at right now.

For Elycia, there is so much joy to be found in the art of discovery, and sharing her relentless passion for discovering and rediscovering all sorts of cool stuff makes her really happy. She has a knack for going on a treasure hunt and then sharing her finds with the word on her blog, WhatImLoving. If you haven't checked out WhatImLoving - you absolutely need to. Elycia is excited and passionate about sharing her discoveries and what's brought joy to her life. From her favorite products, places to visit, and hidden gems in your city, WhatImLoving has it all.

We are doing a GIVEAWAY this week (!!!) and giving away two copies of No Biggy! To enter the giveaway head on over to our Instagram page and like the photo announcing the giveaway, make sure you're following @seekthejoypodcast and @elyciarubin, and tag a friend that you want to share the message of No Biggy! with! You can enter as many times as you'd like. The giveaway will end on Sunday 9/16 at 11:59 pm PST and the winner will be announced on Instagram on Monday 9/17.

I can't wait for you guys to listen to to this week's new episode and connect with Elycia.

To learn more about Elycia, you can find her on whatimloving.com and on Instagram @elyciarubin and on Facebook @whatimloving

You can find No Biggy! A story About Overcoming Everyday Obstacles on Amazon and in bookstores across the country.

We're now on PATREON!! Your support of this podcast means the world. Full of rewards and exclusive content, we can't wait to take this joy journey to the next level. Sing up to be a patron of the podcast here: patreon.com/seekthejoypodcast

Until next week, ✨ #SeekTheJoy - hit SUBSCRIBE - and it would mean so much if you could give the podcast a rating and/or review on iTunes ✨💛🎧

Ratings and reviews help Seek The Joy get seen by new people, and I'm so grateful to each and every one of you who has rated the podcast!

If you rate/review the podcast on iTunes make sure to e-mail us a screenshot of your review to sydney@seekthejoypodcast.com and as a token of my appreciation and gratitude for your love and support, I'll send you my NEW #SeekTheJoy Guide for Infusing More Joy into Your Life document! I've created this guide based on what I've learned from these #SeekTheJoy conversations. Along with this guide, you'll also receive two limited edition Seek The Joy Podcast stickers which I will mail out to you!

The ninth episode in our series, The Power of Storytelling, airs on September 18th! We want you to be part of it! To learn more and to submit your story, visit the Share Your Story section of our website. Fill out our interest form - and we'll get back to you ASAP.

Listen now on iTunes, Soundcloud, Google Play, Podbean Stitcher or Spotify!

Ep. 47 The Art of Discovery with Elycia Rubin, author of No Biggy! and WhatImLoving Blog