Radical Joy in the Workplace: Why Pleasure Is a Liberatory Practice
I know what you’re thinking:
“How am I supposed to feel joy in the one place that feels so miserable?”
And trust me, I understand. But what if I told you that accessing and sustaining joy in the workplace isn’t just wishful thinking? What if it could actually be part of a larger liberatory practice?
Most of us spend the majority of our waking hours at work. That means the environments we work in, the people we interact with, and the energy we pour into our roles are not separate from the rest of our lives. Work is not just something we do. It is something that shapes how we feel, how we relate, and how we see ourselves.
If that’s the case, then the absence of joy at work becomes more than just uncomfortable. It becomes unsustainable.
Joy Is Not a Distraction. It’s a Strategy.
Radical joy is not about ignoring harm or pretending everything is fine. It is about making the conscious choice to root into pleasure, pride, and presence even within systems that often try to flatten us.
In work environments that reward burnout and emotional disconnection, joy allows us to stay tethered to what matters. When we embrace joy as a practice, we are not escaping reality. We are choosing to move through it with more softness, more agency, and more awareness of our needs.
Joy is not always loud. Sometimes it is quiet and steady. It might look like:
Laughing with a coworker after a tense meeting
Taking a slow lunch instead of skipping it
Creating a ritual before logging on or logging off
Making your workspace reflect your spirit
Saying no without guilt
These small moments become ways of reclaiming time, space, and identity.
Honoring Values, Boundaries, and Needs
Workplaces often try to separate who we are from what we do. But our values don’t disappear when we clock in. Our needs don’t pause until after-hours. Joy becomes a powerful way to stay connected to both.
Practicing joy at work means honoring your boundaries even when they are inconvenient to others. It means naming your needs without apology. It means choosing alignment over approval, especially when your values are being challenged.
Radical joy does not ask you to perform happiness. It asks you to live in integrity. It invites you to return to yourself over and over again, and to ask, “What would feel good to me right now?” And then to listen, even if the answer is inconvenient.
We Deserve to Feel Good Where We Spend Our Time
If we spend most of our waking life at work, then joy is not a luxury. It is a necessity. When workplaces refuse to make room for joy, they are refusing to make room for people to be whole. But when we center joy—even in small ways—we create conditions where more is possible.
We create cultures where:
People are not punished for having emotions
Rest is not earned through exhaustion
Success is measured by connection, clarity, and care
Folks can stay in the work without losing themselves in the process
This is not about avoiding the hard conversations. It is about making space for the full spectrum of human experience.
For Employers, Team Leads, and Culture Shapers
If you hold power in a workplace or shape workplace culture, ask yourself:
How do people experience joy in this space?
Where is pleasure encouraged, and where is it stifled?
Are folks rewarded for working past their limits, or supported when they set boundaries?
Radical joy doesn’t require a total overhaul of systems overnight. But it does ask that we pay attention. That we hold space for nuance. That we trust people’s capacity to know what they need, and support them in claiming it.
A Reflection
Joy is not the end goal of liberation. It is one of the ways we move toward it.
When we reclaim joy at work, we interrupt a culture of depletion. We remind ourselves that we are not just workers—we are whole, feeling, creative people. And that alone is worth protecting.
So the question isn’t “Can I feel joy here?”
The question is “What might become possible if I did?”
Keanu M. Jackson, LCSW (he/him)
Keanu is a New York–based consultant, facilitator, and licensed psychotherapist with expertise in anti-racism, organizational culture, and mental health strategy. Through his consulting practice, he partners with mission-driven teams to build more liberatory, care-centered workplaces rooted in psychological safety, equity, and accountability.
Learn more at keanumjackson.com.
