The quote ultimately reads like an instruction you can rehearse. You gather joy by returning to what restores you—craft, friendships, movement, prayer, study, humor—then you convert it into presence through choices that communicate self-respect. Over time, those choices build a reputation in your own mind: that you show up for yourself.
And once you begin claiming space in small ways, larger claims become imaginable. Speaking first, taking the seat at the table, publishing the work, setting the price, saying no, saying yes—each act extends your footprint. Fierce joy, in Hurston’s sense, becomes both the spark and the steadiness that helps you keep that space once you’ve taken it. [...]
