Smashing Success

A few months ago, I got a phone call from one of my friends. She had a fantastic plan for my three oldest friends and I to vanquish our group stress: smash a massive pile of old stuff with sledgehammers, baseball bats, golf clubs, etc.

If you’ve ever met me, you’ve pieced together that I am a party animal and love an adventure. If you’ve just stumbled across this account randomly, welcome aboard!  

It just so happens that I have sledgehammers, baseball bats, and golf clubs. And an active construction site on my farm, which provided a Hollywood-level backdrop for our shenanigans. 

In true pandemic world fashion, we had to reschedule our original date due to covid. But finally, the four of us got together at a Goodwill to gather items that looked ideal for our destructive activities. 

These gals have been my friends since elementary school. We all have been bridesmaids in each other’s weddings. We’ve loved and lost, laughed and cried together. We trust each other, which really added to this experience. We’d all carried each other through 2020 with group chats, care packages, get togethers, prayers, and more. Having that background of shared misery and understanding made this even more meaningful.

One truckload and a few pre-game adult beverages later, we began our fun by spray painting words that represented all our struggles on the items. We all agreed that by creating a visual of the words out there, we were getting a more tangible outlet to beat back the stressors of life.

Then we bashed, smashed, crashed, destroyed, and vanquished our stress. With each swing of the sledgehammer I could feel my anger lessen. My sadness receded. The evils and miseries that had haunted us in 2020 (and beyond) would not overcome us. We saw to that. 

When I woke up the next day, I felt the best I had in a year. I tend to carry immense stress in my neck and shoulders. It was gone! I was so chill that if gravity hadn’t kept me grounded, I’d have been floating. 

Obviously, I’m a huge fan of smash therapy, which is a growing industry throughout the U.S. It’s a therapeutic means of stress relief, and it is a jolly good time. Many people are using it as a release for their grief after the loss of a loved one, miscarriage, stillbirth, or a divorce. 

And after losing so much last year, I completely understand why. Demolishing the physical representation of what oppressed and depressed me was by far the best gift my friend could have ever given me. 

I thank God for these special friends of over two decades. I am who I am because they tolerate my wild spirit and help me stay grounded. Because they call me Wonder Woman when most days I feel like the Joker. Because they listen to me vent, judgement free. Because they come up with amazing ideas like smashing away our pain and anger. 

When I think of the JOY Life mission– to promote true joy through the mindset of putting Jesus first, followed by others and ourselves–I think this exercise in smashing revealed the importance of group and individual healing in the process of moving forward. You can’t pour from an empty(or broken) vessel. 

My prayer is that everyone who feels shackled by this hard life might find true freedom in Jesus. And I highly recommend a sledgehammer to help you get there.