🎙️TMIT 16: Joy + TMIT Teammates

Layered Joy, Foreboding Joy, and Dolce Far Niente 🇮🇹

Hey friends,

We’ve been looking forward to this one.

In this week’s episode of The Most Important Thing, we’re talking about joy—the kind that sneaks up on you, floods your system, and reminds you you’re really here. But also the kind that gets tangled up in fear, especially when you’ve got a lot to lose. We explore what Brené Brown calls foreboding joy, reflect on the difference between joy and happiness, and share what it looks like to rediscover personal joy after parenthood flattens the edges a bit.

We also introduce a new segment we’re calling TMIT Teammates—real talk with people we love and admire about how they’re building culture in their homes. Our first guest is our brilliant, intentional friend Jennifer Zelman, who splits her time between New York and Rome. She shares what her global, blended, deeply adventurous family culture looks like right now (and teaches us a beautiful Italian phrase you might want to borrow).

Here’s what you’ll hear in this episode:

  • Why layered joy hits different as a parent

  • What foreboding joy is—and how to let it soften you instead of shutting you down

  • How Greg is learning to let joy wash over him (tears and all)

  • Danielle’s plan to reclaim her own joy, not just witness everyone else’s

  • What Jen Zelman’s six-person family has learned from three years of part-time life in Italy

  • And what dolce far niente—the pleasure of doing nothing—has to do with raising resilient, joyful kids (and adults)

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TMIT About Joy

  Joy is a deeply vulnerable state—and the more we practice gratitude and allow ourselves (and each other) to feel it fully, the more joy we create in our family culture.

We’d love to know: what does joy feel like for you lately? What are the silly, sacred, or surprising ways it shows up in your home?

🎧 Watch/Listen to TMIT Episode 16: Joy + TMIT Teammates
Spotify | Apple | YouTube

Hit reply or share the episode with someone you want to talk joy with.

Joyfully onward,
Danielle + Greg

🧡 10 Years Together // 9 Years Married // 2 Months on the Mic đź§ˇ

Thanks for all the love as we celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary this week.

Fun fact: The photo we posted below was taken on April 8th of this year—ten years to the day from when we met. Back then, it was a restaurant in Midtown. Now we’ve traded the subway for a golf cart.

That beach walk—that very beach walk—is where we came up with the idea for The Most Important Thing. We couldn’t have scripted it better.

Thanks for being a part of this with us.

Last week on the socials:

🧡 We’d love to hear from you:

  • What have you tried?

  • What’s worked? What hasn’t?

  • What felt too big? What sparked something new?

Reply to this email or find us on IG @themostimpthing or X @themostimpthing—we love hearing your stories.

And ICYMI – We made a TMIT Tip Sheet—a one-pager with our favorite takeaways from “Season 1”, our first 8 episodes. Quick, clear, and packed with practical ideas for building family culture through small experiments.