Things of Beauty #1
A little something new around here . . .
I’m starting something new here at the Healthier Hustle this week! Nearly six months into this project, the ideas for exploring the intersection of well-being and creativity just keep coming and I’m finding myself wanting to share more with this community. While that could mean writing posts weekly, instead of on the first and third Monday of the month, I also want to honor my mission which is to build something I care about without burning out. It’s quite possible that one of the reasons I’m enjoying this so much is because of the space I’m giving myself for the content creation.
How then do I share more often without doubling my work?
As I was pondering this, Brianne Alcala’s latest edition of Field Notes landed in my Substack app. I love Brianne’s writing at Odyssey of the Body and look forward to these updates where she shares everything from books she’s reading, to apps she loves, to fruit snacks made of real fruit (gasp!). It occurred to me that I could adopt a similar concept and post a version of the Things of Beauty I already include at the end of my posts on the weeks that I don’t put out a longer piece. I instantly started to get really excited about that. I’m always finding articles, songs, poems, memes, pictures, recipes, squirrels, etc. that I’d like to share that don’t make it into my other posts.
So welcome to standalone Things of Beauty posts!
I’ll post Things of Beauty on the off weeks from my regular posts here, though I’m not going to commit to the Monday schedule for these, allowing them to land a little more randomly during those weeks. Right now I’m planning to continue with a few beautiful things at the end of my longer form posts on the first and third Monday, as well.
And so without further ado, here we go . . .
Things of Beauty #1
Just a few things that felt particularly soul-nourishing recently (or maybe just made me smile).
🐦 Kelton Wright’s recent posts about bird watching at Shangrilogs: start with this one, then read this one. As I mentioned in my last post, I’m working hard to spend less time mindlessly scrolling Instagram, so this part of the second article really resonated with me:
Birding, as a hobby, carries a lot of stereotypes. Snobby retirees traveling the world with their “Life List,” that it requires some level of National Geographic type patience, or my least favorite: that it’s boring. I challenge this sentiment and offer you this: any time you are outside doing anything, there are likely birds. Waiting outside a cafe for your friends to arrive for lunch? Birds. Walking to work? Birds. Sitting in the car waiting to pick up your kids? Birds. For me, birds are an escape from humans and from phones.
🐦 And while we’re talking birds: the Merlin Bird ID app from The Cornell Lab is an absolute delight. It helped me identify this beauty, fishing in the surf, on a recent visit to Duck, NC.
🎵 The song Steady Love by Ben Rector:
📙 This article from Dan Blank, about Why We Write and Share. I especially like the last story about the event that children’s book author, Stacy McAnulty hosted. A really poignant reminder about celebrating even just that one person who connects with your words.
🙏 These thoughts on being like water from one of my favorite meditation teachers, Ashley Williams of The Well Collective (click through to read the full post):
What’s beautiful in your corner of the world this week? Whether you saw a cool bird, couldn’t stop listening to that one song on repeat, or stopped the infinite scroll because someone posted something meaningful (it’s not all bad out there on the socials)— leave me a comment and tell me about it. Let’s celebrate the life’s little beautiful things together.