1. The Right Kind of Busy: Rethinking the cult of busyness from Culture Study. “The worst kind of busy makes you feel out of control. It’s defensive and brittle and terrified. It’s lonely; it dissembles. It’s also profoundly wearying — and yet it’s somehow addictive, too. The right kind of busy is indicative of a mind in touch with itself and in deep connection with others. It’s constantly recalibrating, re-examining, we rethinking: what’s enough? What should I do more, and what should I do less? It means having a calendar that’s at once full and with built-in flex. It breathes deeply and sleeps soundly. The right kind of busy is a feast.” In related news, Just because you can from Rita on her new Substack space, Rootsie. “I thought I had spurned productivity culture. I thought I had embraced simplicity and small-life living. I thought I had divorced worthiness from accomplishment. I was wrong.”

2. How Did I Change So Much, So Quickly? from Andrea Gibson. “This I now know for certain: I do all of growing during the times in my life when I am offering compassion to the parts of myself that have not yet grown. I never once managed to shame myself into a version of me I loved more (and trust me, I spent decades trying). As Meg says, “shame is never fertile soil for growth”. A better world is not created from a planet of people hating themselves, but hate’s opposite. Sweet community, I hope as you read this today, you can scan yourself, look deep within, and decide every part of you is good news.”

3. Best podcasts of the week: Kick off 2024 with a self-help show free from ‘delusional positivity.’ In related news, Self Help podcast review — travels with a man and his mental illness.

4. Talkative Frenchie Has The Most Unique “Voice” | The Dodo. (video) Another of my favorite sources for animal videos is GeoBeats — “We tell inspiring, positive stories about humans being good to animals. Our goal here is to promote compassion and kindness.”

5. Movies I want to see: Maggie Moore(s) – Official Trailer Starring Jon Hamm & Tina Fey and Cold Copy | Official Trailer (HD) | Vertical. (videos)

6. What Is Intuitive Eating? Meet the Duo Behind the Method on The New York Times, (gift link). “Once considered radical, Elyse Resch and Evelyn Tribole’s method of intuitive eating has become the cornerstone of the modern anti-diet movement.”

7. Ullie-Kaye Poetry on Instagram, because of poems like this one, (which she sells prints of on her Etsy shop):

8. How to Heal After Narcissistic Abuse as an HSP. I’d love to believe that I’ve experienced this for the last time, but I thought that before I found myself in the same situation, again… *sigh*

9. How Do You Write a Book? “Jami Attenberg, Roxane Gay, Alex Chee, and other novelists explain how to write a book. The first trick is: You have to write a 1000 words every day. The second trick is: You have to have fun.”

10. The Four Best Light Therapy Lamps. As I get up before the sun rises, I use mine every day, even in this part of Colorado where we get so much sun.

11. Leash Your Dogs. I Don’t Care If They’re Friendly. “I’m tired of being jumped on, clawed, and bitten on runs because of inconsiderate owners.”

12. Everyone Wants to Quit, but They Can’t. “What we can learn from frustrated mice.”

13. How to Actually Get Stuff Done as a Highly Sensitive Person.

14. How to Be an Activist When You’re a Quiet Introvert. If this is you, I also highly recommend the work of Omkari Williams., in particular her newsletter, her podcast, and her new book.

15. With Astonishing Tenderness, a poem from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer.

16. Good stuff from Frederick Joseph: Are We This Far Gone? and The Co-opting of a Radical. I also love this short video on Instagram where he talks about how he got started as a writer, or rather stopped and restarted.

17. 11 things after a deer sighting from Jena Schwartz. “The ephemeral nature of awe.” I love the list, but what I absolutely adore is the image and poem she shares at the end. 

18. Why I’ve Decided to Treat Social Media Like Real-Life. “I’m too old and tired to be anyone else but myself.”

19. Consequences from Seth Godin.

20. My Year of Writing Dangerously from Summer Brennan. “Last year I set out to write a ‘five things’ draft every day for 365 days. Here’s what happened next.”

21. The habits that have most improved your life. “The new year can be a fertile time for introspection. We asked Positive News readers: what habits do you swear by? From tried and tested rituals to more eccentric customs, this is what you said.”

22. I am “grossly unremarkable” and I’m okay with that from Patti Digh.

23. Video demonstration: Climbing the Inner Map from Julie Colwell.

24. Just Say No to Artificial Intelligence In Your Creative Pursuits, Please, JFC, WTAF from Chuck Wendig on Terrible Minds.

25. In Times of Crisis, Draw Upon the Strength of Peace on Lion’s Roar. “When we are called upon to help in a crisis, says Kaira Jewel Lingo, we must respond. But the way we do is crucial.”

26. The Case for Mediocrity. “I began to reevaluate my relationship with ambition and what I want from my work and life. And the truth I came to is this: mediocrity is a far better fate than misery.”

27. How to Find a Great Therapist You Can Actually Afford.

28. Let Me Just Say This: Let’s Just Skip the New Year’s Resolutions This Time, Okay?

29. Best Comedy of 2023 on The New York Times (gift link). “It’s time to stop taking Jim Gaffigan for granted, and more surprising takeaways from specials, stand-up sets and other funny moments this year.”

30. Slowerness. “Last week, as I willed myself away from doing more, I wrote out my new year’s intention: to practice slowerness.”

31. How To Keep Caring Amid Endless Crises. “Nadia Bolz-Weber on grace, compassion, and spheres of influence.”

32. This Genocide Is Being Live-Streamed. We Can’t Say We Didn’t Know.

33. I tried to get over my phone addiction – by spending even more time on it. This is the first of a multipart series from Rhik Samadder attempting to detox from his phone.

34. 35 Horror Stories From People Who Took A DNA Test And Probably Regretted It.

35. Dwyane Wade and Netflix Created a “Love Letter” From Fathers to Their Trans Kids. “In the 11-minute movie, six dads go on a weekend fishing trip and bond over raising LGBTQ+ kids.”

36. Life In the Slow Lane: Why Soft and Slow is the New Busy from Tammy Strobel on Be More With Less.

37. Cool art: Magical handmade miniatures and dioramas by Caroline Dewison, and Wonderful impressionistic landscape embroideries by Cassandra Dias, and Ryan Villamael’s Cascading Floral Sculptures Reconsider Maps and Identity, and 5,000 Years of Feminine Power and Prestige Are On Display in ‘Revered and Feared.’