Happy post-Thanksgiving to all who celebrated! I fell into rhyme as I contemplated my to-do list:
“The holiday season has now begun.
Lots of work, lots of fun.”
I’m adding this realization to my collection of Secrets of Adulthood: Fun takes work.
Onward,
5 Things Making Me Happy
I’m a huge fan of the brilliant writing of C. S. Lewis. I love his books for children, of course; I love his fiction for adults, such as The Screwtape Letters; I love his memoirs, such as Surprised by Joy and A Grief Observed; I love his non-fiction, such as The Problem of Pain. But most of all, I love the Narnia books, so I enjoyed this article, “The First Time I Read ‘The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.’” In honor of the 75th anniversary of the novel’s publication in the United States, many writers shared their first encounter with this masterpiece. Twenty years ago, when I started my children’s literature/young-adult literature reading group, for our very first meeting, I chose The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as our reading selection, and served Turkish Delight for dessert.
I love New York City. New York Forever! So I was glad to see the report that New Yorkers have an overall life expectancy of over 83 years—five years more than the average U.S. life expectancy.
I was fascinated (and also unnerved) by the article “We bought a 450-pound mystery pallet packet with returned goods from Amazon and beyond. Here’s what we found inside.” I always enjoy learning about processes—how does traffic work, how do hotels work? This piece answers the question of how returns and “secondary sales” work.
Because I’d seen research about the positive affects of napping, and because my father is a dedicated napper who always wakes up refreshed, a few years ago, I decided to experiment with napping myself and added “Take a daily nap, schedule permitting” to my “22 for 2022” yearly list. Now I love my daily nap. (I don’t have to set an alarm; weirdly, I always nap for just about 25 minutes.) So I felt smug when I read the post that “MRI scans reveal the brains of habitual nappers look on average 6.5 years younger than their actual age.” I feel very lucky that my work routine makes it easy to take a daily nap.
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This week on Happier with Gretchen Rubin
PODCAST EPISODE: 562
Do You Hesitate to Raise Your Hand to Make Something Happen? Plus a Medication Hack
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