Spread Joy by Participating in the Joyful Pack Challenge

The Joyful Pack program encourages employees to complete activities that spread positivity and joy and contribute to a thriving Wolfpack community. HR Wellness encourages all employees to participate in the program, which will run Nov. 1-15. Employees who complete one or more of the activities below will qualify for an entry into a prize drawing.

Challenge Directions

• Complete and submit the registration form by Wednesday, Oct. 30. 
• Next, spread positivity and joy wherever you go by completing at least one of the activities listed below.
• Complete and submit the activities form after you finish at least one of the challenge activities. The submission deadline is Wednesday, Nov. 20.

Challenge Activities

1. Stop by the Joyful Pack table at Red and White Fest: An Employee Celebration at Miller Fields on Friday, Nov. 1, between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. to share what makes you joyful and receive a Joyful Pack sticker. If you are a remote employee and would like to receive a sticker, fill out the registration form.

2. Share a joyful message with a person of your choosing by sending that person a handwritten note or a text or calling the person. Consider taking the free Science of Well-Being course by Yale University that provides strategies for boosting your happiness. 

3. Build a community with a positive culture. Spread joy to others in your workspace or neighborhood by completing any of the following activities:
   1. Get fresh air by walking with a co-worker, friend or group of co-workers. 
   2. Use lunchtime or another time to make crafts, play a board game or eat lunch and share stories with colleagues.
   3. Write kind messages on a whiteboard or an appropriate open communication space. Be sure to follow the guidelines in the university’s Painting, Chalking, Posters and Temporary Outdoor Signs Regulation. 
   4. Print this list of compliments. Next, share the compliments with others, and take one for yourself. Decorate the compliments to make them more fun.

4. Perform any of the following intentional random acts of kindness:
   1. Hold the door for someone. 
   2. Lend a helping hand to a co-worker. 
   3. Send a letter to a family member or friend.
   4. Say good morning to someone or strike up a conversation with someone new.
   5. Get to know a new co-worker.
   6. Let someone go ahead of you in line at the store.
   7. Pick up trash in your office, on a sidewalk or in your neighborhood. 
   8. Tell a family member how much you appreciate them.
   9. Smiles are contagious. Pass them on.

5. Practice positive self-talk. We all speak to ourselves in our heads and sometimes out loud. Positive self-talk can have a profound positive impact on mental health and stress, whereas negative self-talk can have a profound negative effect. Practice positive thinking and self-talk by starting a journal where you write something positive about yourself each day. You can also write what makes you joyful. Practice changing negative self-talk to positive self-talk using these resources offered by the Faculty and Staff Assistance Program or Purdue University. 

6. Learn about resiliency and how you can strengthen your resiliency skills from these Wolfpack Wellness resources or check out this resiliency guide provided by FASAP.