Things of Beauty #67
A hope for us all, some salty chocolate, and a celebration of squirrels
Well, here we are on the 100th day of January—I keep reading things that start this way, everything from emails or texts from friends to essays here on Substack. So while it feels a bit redundant to say it again, I will anyway, because every time I read it somewhere else I feel understood. Like we're having a collective experience of January feeling long and perhaps a bit (or even a lot) hard.
Sharing a few things here this week that have felt like a warm hug, made me think, or just been plain fun!
Lovely things I've squirreled away lately:
🐿 This, from Emily McDowell's latest newsletter:
Someone I don’t know just wrote me a LinkedIn message and opened with “Hi Emily, hope you’re keeping busy!”
I don’t hope to be kept busy, and I don’t hope for anyone else to be either. I hope for all of us to be kept peaceful, fulfilled, joyful, spacious, loving, connected, and safe.
🐿 A friend brought us some red wine-infused sea salt he made, and I've played around with this chocolate bark recipe a few times. I've never made the full recipe, instead just one melted bar of dark chocolate at a time, so I cut the spices way down. Also, it tastes best to me with chocolate that is 55-60% cacao.
🐿 The Social Media Sea Change from Anne Helen Petersen echoed a lot of what I'm feeling about social media (by which I mostly mean Instagram). I am actively trying to mindlessly scroll less, and I've noticed when I do log on, I'm just less interested.
🐿 In case you missed it, last Tuesday was National Squirrel Day. I sort of wish this little graphic hung out on my work computer all the time. Also, here's some cute behind-the-scenes squirrel photography footage.
🐿 This meditation was just what I needed this week. I appreciated the visual of warm light attached to the breath.
Would love to know your thoughts on the social media stuff—do you feel a shift, too? How did you celebrate National Squirrel Day? Made anything delicious lately?
Be well, find tiny joy—
Mary Chris
You had me at chocolate bark. I'd bark for that!
As for social media. I did an experiment. A year barely logging in to any of it throughout 2024. I thought for sure my author life would suffer—which quite frankly was already not doing well. At the end of 2024, I was stunned to discover I made 10x the number of sales, and spoke to 3 times the number of readers. I also had the time to secure a traveling speaking gig. And, I feel far more sane—realizing even more how much time I don't need to devote to being online. (Even her article about being online was insanely long.) I love your squirrels and snippets—they are a keeper making my hustle healthier!
I do feel a shift--but perhaps more on a platform level. I've seen lots of people on IG and FB say they're moving over to BlueSky, which I currently know nothing about.
I didn't know about National Squirrel Day, but I love it! (I also love January, and unlike the rest of society, feel like it has flown by!)