Joy is Greater than Happiness

Chasing what lasts instead of what fades.

This month, I got to do something awesome — watch my daughter say, “I do.” The wedding was beautiful. The setting. The people. The energy.

But it was something the pastor said that really resonated. He said, “Love is more than a feeling — it’s an action word.”

That moment spoke to me.

We live in a world that’s obsessed with how we feel. Happy. Excited. Motivated. Inspired.

But those feelings, as wonderful as they are, are temporary. They rise and fall with the moment.

The truth is — feelings fade. Action endures.

Happiness is a moment.
Joy is a mindset.

Happiness is often tied to outcomes. You get the job. You hit the goal. You win the game. You feel good.

But the second things shift — when the game is lost, when the offer falls through, when the weather doesn’t cooperate — happiness disappears just as fast as it came.

Joy is different.

Joy isn’t something you stumble into. It’s something you cultivate. It’s not dependent on wins, applause, or sunny days. It’s built from something deeper — gratitude, love, faith, connection, purpose.

It’s the quiet peace that says, “I know who I am. I know what matters. And I’m okay — no matter what happens today.”

As a value, joy changes everything.

When you choose joy — not as a feeling, but as a way of being — you stop chasing the next high and start building a life with more depth, more meaning, and more resilience.

It doesn’t mean you won’t feel sadness or stress or frustration. It just means you’ll have something stronger underneath it all — an anchor when the waves hit.

You lead differently with joy.
You parent differently.
You love differently.
You wake up differently.

Because joy isn’t about getting more. It’s about being more — more rooted, more present, more aligned with what matters.

So here’s what I told my daughter:

Joy is greater than happiness.

Happiness will come and go. It’s worth enjoying when it’s here.

But joy?
Joy stays.
Joy carries you.

And the world needs more people chasing that.

If you’re reading this and wondering how to find it — don’t.
You don’t need to find it.
You just need to start building it.

Be grateful.
Be present.
Love deeply.
Serve others.
And keep showing up.

Let’s stop chasing happy.
Let’s start cultivating joy.

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JC Glick serves as the Chief Executive Officer of The COMMIT Foundation. JC brings with him a wealth of experience as a leadership consultant and career Army officer and is driven by a deep commitment to supporting veterans in their transition journey. Since transitioning from 20 years of military service in 2015, JC has been a founder and partner of two leadership companies, where his clients included Fortune 500 companies, international non-profit organizations, government agencies, the NFL, numerous NFL and NBA teams, and multiple NCAA programs.

Over the course of his Army career, JC spent over seven years in the Ranger regiment, serving in two Ranger Battalions as well as Regimental Headquarters, participating in the Best Ranger Competition twice, and has over seven and a half years of command time with 11 operational and combat deployments to Haiti, Bangladesh, Iraq, and Afghanistan. JC is the author of two books, including A Light in the Darkness: Leadership Development for the Unknown. In 2017, he was selected as a TEDX Speaker and delivered Rethinking Leadership at TEDX Hammond. JC is also an adjunct professor at St. John’s University in Queens, New York. He holds a degree in Political Science from the University of Rhode Island and is a Liberty Fellow, part of the Aspen Institute.

As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.