We’ve been taught that joy should be big to be real. The kind you earn through milestones, adrenaline, or a life that looks impressive from the outside. But what if that’s backwards?

In this episode of Ten Mentors, we talk about the quiet shame of simple pleasures — and why making happiness rare makes life harder than it needs to be. From a friend almost dismissing a weekend of mushroom-picking to the everyday magic of watching whippets sprint wild and free in the forest, this is a reminder that small joy is not small ambition.

Because life isn’t mostly made of highlight reels. It’s made of ordinary days. And the people who can feel real happiness in the simple stuff might be the most resilient of all.

A gentle question to carry with you:
How little of a thing could happen to make your day