⚠️Warning: If you don't like joy, trying new things, and vibe with Disney and 90’s references, this may not be for you. ⚠️
And that’s great; it is. But it’s really, really far away, and honestly, the zombie apocalypse may come before then. Also, we might not make it to 80.
That’s a lot of life between now and then, so we need something sooner.
So instead, I’ve been thinking, “How do I want to feel when I get to December 31st of this year and raise my little sparkling juice (with edible glitter swirls and salt rim) and think about how I showed up? What stories do I want to reflect back on from this fall? How do I want to live into the story that I want to tell that night to my friends?”
We think we are being good by playing the characters society has built for us, saying, ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘not a problem’ ‘I’m fine’, ‘Maybe next time’ all while letting go of the things that make us US in sacrifice of the bigger things happening because we think THAT WILL BRING US LIFE.
Hello fabulous Human you!
I keep thinking "I just wonder what would happen, if we just said ‘yes’ to playing full out?" Yes to trying the thing, wearing the thing, asking for what you need, showing up, and not from a screw you it doesn’t matter, but from the lens of, it’s a no if you don’t even try.
I hear the advice often to ask: “How do I want to feel when I'm 80 and look back at how I showed up during this time?”
But it actually sacrifices our energetic battery, our vitality, and our community, which leads to exhausted burn out.
But here’s the catch, to embody joy YOU HAVE TO CHOSE YOURSELF. YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE, CONSCIOUSLY, TO STEP INTO IT, TO CLAIM IT. TO SEED IT.
August 24th-September 7th. 2 Weeks. 2 Calls, 1 Chat, and LOTS of Truth or Dare.
Do the thing
✳︎
Play with magic
✳︎
Have your own damn back
✳︎
Laugh out loud
✳︎
Do the thing ✳︎ Play with magic ✳︎ Have your own damn back ✳︎ Laugh out loud ✳︎
The PLay full out question
Are you willing to choose? Are you willing to practice joy? Unhinged delight? Speaking your heart and trusting your nudge?
What if you had to? For science? For an expedition of knowledge of what it looks like to live from your whole damn self and your big soul?
Not for forever, but just two weeks…just to see…
We think we can run on toast, protein shakes, Dr. Pepper, quesadillas, glitter, and leftovers, but you can’t long term, my friend. You NEED fuel for your body, mind, AND SOUL, you need pacers, people to run alongside you to remind you that you CAN CHOOSE YOU.
Because yeah, at least in America, fascists are rising, people are starving, pay is stagnant, and it’s really, really damn hot outside. I know. I know. And your heart is breaking, and there’s not enough time in the day to do all of it. But what happens when you put everything and everyone first and you don’t push your own edges of play, is that we feel stale, and sticky energetically, and just frustrated and overwhelmed.
We can’t imagine a new world if we can’t dream. We can’t dream if we can’t sleep. We can’t sleep if we can’t breathe. We can’t breathe if we can’t be in our body. We can’t be in our body if we can’t get out of our heads. So it begs the question, “How do we out of our heads?”
By being silly, a little over the top, by going outside of our comfort zone, AND THEN STAYING IN THE MESSY WEIRD AWKWARD FEELINGS that arise and realize…oh…I didn’t die? Ohh…someone loved my outfit…Oh, it feels nice to take care of me…oh, I’m allowed to breathe. (It’s kind of like the You Give a Mouse a Cookie book, but with delight, openness, and curiosity.)
If you’re looking for a circle of vibrant, feisty, often sparkly humans who will cheer you on while you try new things, this is where you want to be.
There are three tiers you can choose to participate.
If you're feeling called to deeper support with group accountability or personal coaching, you can choose the $90, or $222 tier!
50% of the proceeds go to KIVA loans to help support women starting their businesses. (Payment plans are available upon request).
What people have said about past joy challenges
Here's what we're playing with.
Being visually seen. Physically embodying your joy in a way that feels good for you. How you schedule your day and the things you do. How you present to the world — and whether that presentation feels joyful for you.
Then: getting clear on what level you're playing at, or have capacity to play at, and adding play right where you already are.
More silliness. More fun. More delight. And then going for it. We are being visible with our joy.
Two years ago this ran for one week in my Facebook group.
This year we’re doing double the time, with calls, a whole chat, and the playground is your life, your social media, and Embodied in Joy.
2 Weeks
One experiment, an expedition to get more information on what would happen, and what does happen when you say YES.
2 Live calls
This isn’t a lecture, there are no slides, there is us, dancing, exploration, real time energy resets, and tools for you to use along the way with Q+A time.
1 WhatsApp chat
Our own room this year. Dares land here, and the conversation starts here, but it goes out into your life, the group, and the world.
∞ Truth or Dare Drops
Prompts to interact with, embody, and enjoy, and more importantly, try, all the way through.
Meet your guide
Hi, I’m Aj, the Joy Weaver
An Intuitive Soul Coach, henna artist, and glitter enthusiast who believes joy isn't selfish - it's essential fuel for showing up in this wild world. I'm also a hot chocolate connoisseur, military spouse in Mississippi with two pups and way too many houseplants, and the author of Red Thread: Weaving an Embodied Life of Joy.
I created this challenge because I've been watching too many of us drop our joy like it's a luxury we can't afford. But here's the thing - when we deny ourselves the things that make us feel alive, we're actually sacrificing our capacity to show up for what matters most.
This isn't about showing off, or being dramatic in the face of a wild world. This is about remembering that taking care of yourself, doing things that light you up, and choosing joy are acts of resistance. It's about SHOWING the world that you can choose joy AS WELL as care. It’s to quiet that voice in your head says you're too old, too young, too much, or not enough.
Over the last 15 years of leading Red Tents, retreats, and workshops internationally, I've seen what happens when people give themselves permission to step into their full selves. The ripple effects are extraordinary.
So these two weeks, we're doing the expedition together. We're getting less into the nitty gritty of stories, and soul work, and more taking action in our day to day lives to try it out. To put rubber to the road.
Whether you're someone who needs tangible tools (because "just breathe" makes you want to scream "HOW though?!") or you're ready to dive into the messy, beautiful work of choosing yourself, this challenge has space for you.
We're going all out my friends, we’re being playful and we’ll play full out. And I couldn't be more excited
Hands at your back, let’s sing our soul songs,
Aj
I’m a hot and ready Sparkly potato. I’m in!
-
I realize when I at least say that, those same people disagree with me politically about SO many things. If their fundamental beliefs about how the world should work are drastically different than mine, should I be taking their opinions of my actions to heart? They might be kind people I love, but are their values in line with what I know in my bones? (Maybe you’ve been navigating this too).
I've gotten emails telling me I'm bringing people to hell, that my soul is damned, that I should close my business immediately. This was my biggest fear for the longest time to receive those words, and when I did…
You know what happened? I didn't die. My mentor asked me: "Did it change your mind about the work you're meant to do?"
Absolutely not. For every 1 email I got telling me I was wrong, I had 15 women grateful for the work I did.
Your heart is not up for debate, your willingness to put you on your own list is the whole kit and kaboodle my friend.
-
Remember the gay clubbers in the 90s during the AIDS crisis? "We bury our friends during the day, we do our work, we dance at night so we have energy to keep going."
The dancing, the joy - it's vital to our vitality.
When I take time for joy, when someone calls with a problem, I have capacity to hold space. When I don't? It's like "Girl, I don't know, good luck, good night."
Joy gives us capacity to show up for what matters. And you’ve been putting on the list that everyone else matters but you…so it’s time to flip that script. We’re done just falling, we will be flying, or falling with style in Buzz Lightyear vibes.
Either way, you know there’s more. Let’s explore it.
-
When I burned out after taking care of everyone else and neglecting myself, you know how much capacity I had to help the world? Less than 0, the bitterness and rage was real and I felt hollow.
I thought mutual suffering would bond me with others, instead it carved me out and left me empty and unable to help in the ways I wanted to. Joy and soul tending and alignment brought me back to life, and brought me back into living alongside people again, to be with others on equal footing.
When I have conversations with people going through rough patches, they mention how joy encourages them, how they did something good for themselves and felt better, and that they appreciate the reminders. People enjoy comedy, or sunsets, and ren faires for the same reason, it refreshes us. Our joy isn’t shameful, it can be shame-lessening, and it actually makes more space for the spectrum of feeling, IF we allow it.
But it’s a practice, and in a world telling you you are too much, and not enough simultaneously, and an internet ready to pile on at a second’s notice, it can lead to second-guessing, and buttoning up, when really, the world needs us yodeling our soul songs in all the ways possible.
This is not shrinking times, this is light it up times.
Put on the glitter, and join us. If you’ve read this far, you know you want to join us.
Want to know more?
This is less about our worthiness conversations. Less about do I deserve joy, do I not deserve joy, what do I think about Joy.
We’ve done the talking, we’ve done some soul work. This is about HOW we are showing up in our day-to-day lives to make room for joy, to seed magic, and to show up for our whole damn selves.
Where are you leaving parts of yourself behind, and how can you have your own damn back? What does that look like in the way you run your day, the way you take care of my body, the way you take care of your mind?
Because so often we're second-guessing ourselves, or we're like — no, I can't, because bada-da-da.
Not for these two weeks we don’t say that! As we say around these parts, “NOT TODAY BARBARA!” (That’s the name of my inner critic, I apologize if your name is Barbara, you are great, my Barbara is just a little fiesty, then again, maybe you are too, so you should definitely join us)
This is for you if…
You did Absurdist Delight
…and you were like, "Oh my God, yes! But I could have gone harder. I could have taken it to the next level." This is for you.
You almost joined Absurdist Delight
You wanted to join Absurdist Delight, and you didn't. It wasn't perfect timing, or you thought maybe next time. This is your moment.
You're joy-curious
You're like, "I don't really know about joy, but I want to try being more playful." There are dares for you.
You're already lit up
You're fully embodied in your joy and you're ready to crank it to the next level. This is for you too.
We live in a world where it feels almost “wrong” to lean into joy — like how dare we laugh, dance, or rest while everything is so heavy. But here’s the truth: joy isn’t frivolous. It’s fuel.
When you feel alive, resourced, and connected to wonder, you actually expand your capacity to show up — for yourself, for your people, for the world.
And if that's true, then what's our game plan for it? Not sure? (The answer is this Play Full Out Challenge, where we will literally TRY OUT ideas for your game plan). It’ll be ridiculous, silly, hilarious, and weird sometimes, even awkward. AND THAT’S OKAY. Honestly, it’s a part of it. But if you are willing to stretch, to grow your capacity for playfulness, you’ll be amazed at what’s possible
P.S. - There will be prizes for people who participate and invite friends. Because why not make it even MORE fun?
PPS. Bring your maracas, red lipstick, and sparkles (or whatever makes you happy to wear and shake); it’s gonna be fun!
This is our Play Full Out Mascot. To be called, or sent to each other, when we are doing the thing where we get too far into our heads, or are over complicating, which if you’ve read this far, either you are laughing and enjoying the ride, or wondering if you can sit with us.
Bob the Potato has spoken. Get in, come join us. Click on Bob to join our challenge today!
Testimonials