This week, I recorded two courses for LinkedIn Learning, which was a lot of fun. (Can’t yet reveal more.) Their extensive studios are in the little beach town of Carpenteria, California, so after the work day was over, I had the chance to walk along the Pacific Ocean. Such a beautiful place.
Onward,
5 Things Making Me Happy
I’m so happy: Philip Pullman’s novel The Rose Field: The Book of Dust, Volume III has hit the shelves. I’m at a conference, so I haven’t bought my copy yet, but I cannot wait. I’m hoping I can snag a copy in the airport to read during my long flight home. I just re-read the five “His Dark Materials” novels preceding this one, so I’m prepared, but if you don’t want to make such a major reading commitment, the New York Times published a helpful “here’s what you need to remember” article.
I’m having so much fun with my co-host Lori Gottlieb (Maybe You Should Talk to Someone) on our new podcast, Since You Asked. We put a fresh twist on the beloved advice format. Submit your request for advice! Dilemmas big or small. For instance, the holidays are rapidly approaching—do you have a question related to the holidays?
October is family history month, and UCLA’s Center for Oral History Research has created a terrific resource to help people interview relatives to create an oral family history. In my own observation, I’ve been surprised by how many people do genealogical research and are working on a family history.
Good news: Dangerous peanut allergy rates in young children have dropped significantly. For years, parents were advised to delay feeding peanuts to babies; now that guideline has been reversed, and fewer kids are developing the allergy.
On my podcast Happier, I often mention my love of color (and my unpublished, weird My Color Pilgrimage book project). A thoughtful listener emailed to tell me about Stories in Colour, a podcast series on color by the National Gallery of England. I immediately followed the show and can’t wait to listen. Killer wallpaper! Chromophobia! I hope the episode on “Painting the rainbow” will remark on the fact that many artists painting rainbows get the order of the colors wrong—so odd. I find color endlessly fascinating.
Finally, a credit card built for pet parents, by pet parents. Meet Nibbles.
The Nibbles pet rewards credit card comes with free pet insurance for one eligible pet and 3x rewards on pet-related purchases, including at the vet. Pet owners get tangible savings while their pets get protection from the unexpected (plus more treats).
Nibbles is not a bank. The Nibbles Card is issued by Lead Bank. Fees, terms, and conditions apply.
This week on Happier with Gretchen Rubin
PODCAST EPISODE: 557
Happier Book Club: Liz Gilbert Talks About Love, Addiction & Grief in All the Way to the River
INTERVIEW
Susan Orlean
Susan Orlean is a journalist and the bestselling author of The Orchid Thief and The Library Book. Her new memoir, Joyride is available now.
Q: Can you suggest something we might try to help ourselves to become happier, healthier, more productive, or more creative?
Learn something new. We get so settled in our lives, and so numb to our surroundings—that’s very natural, of course. But learning something new reactivates your capacity for curiosity, for excitement, for surprise. Even if you don’t excel at what you learn, being exposed to something new is a wonderful, invigorating experience that will leave you happier and more creative.
Q: Do you have a Secret of Adulthood? A lesson you’ve learned from life the hard way; something you’d tell your younger self?
Being an adult is doing things for their own sake and not for the sake of approval. It’s something that I still haven’t quite mastered, but I’m getting better at it. I would preach this to my younger self over and over! My yearning for approval really misdirected me many times when I was younger, and I often had trouble really understanding what I was doing for my own purposes versus what I was doing to get the approval of someone else. Each inch I can take away from that has been rewarding.
Q: What simple habit boosts your happiness or energy?
Doing something physical—gardening, walking, working out at the gym, cooking, dog-walking. Even ironing my laundry! It reboots me mentally and physically, almost like a meditation.
Q: Is there a particular motto that you’ve found very helpful?
When I get unhinged and frazzled, I just repeat, “Everything is fine, everything is fine.” Even if everything doesn’t feel fine, it calms me down and reminds me that most of what I worry about really isn’t life-altering, and that ultimately, everything really will be fine.
Q: Has a book ever changed your life? If so, which one and why?
Reading Tom Wolfe’s Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test when I was in high school made me want to be a writer, and it confirmed my desire to write about real life, to write nonfiction, since Wolfe showed me how vivid and exciting it could be. That book was the gateway to what has been a rewarding and very satisfying career and life.
You signed up to receive this newsletter at gretchenrubin.com