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[What's Saving My Life Right Now: A Guide to Small Joys and Practical Systems]-[#405 - What’s Saving My Life Right Now]

The Lazy Genius Podcast · B2 · 2025-02-17

Life
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📋 Summary

Embracing Small Joys: A Personal Curated List

In this episode of The Lazy Genius, host Kendra Adachi shares her recurring seasonal practice of identifying the "life-saving" things that bring her joy, comfort, and structure. Adachi emphasizes that these lists are not prescriptive but serve as a reminder that small, intentional choices can significantly impact our daily well-being. Here is a summary of the ten things currently saving her life.

1. Organizing with the Book Buddy App

Adachi, a self-proclaimed "mood reader" who collects books like a job, struggled to manage her growing physical library. She turned to the Book Buddy app, which allows her to scan barcodes to catalog her collection. This tool has transformed her reading life by providing a visual database of her books, enabling her to organize them by genre, status, and author, and ultimately helping her move away from the distractions of Kindle books and library holds.

2. The Musical Escape: Messy by Olivia Dean

Describing the album Messy by Olivia Dean as "timeless" with a "modern sass," Adachi shares how this music has been on repeat in her home. She notes that the album is largely family-friendly and provides a consistent, joyful soundtrack for her daily life.

3. Comfort and Sleep: The Quince Cashmere Throw

To navigate the challenges of perimenopause-related sleep disruptions, Adachi invested in a ribbed knit cashmere throw from Quince. By using this lightweight, soft blanket on top of her body, she can regulate her temperature without waking herself up, significantly improving her sleep quality and sense of comfort.

4. Culinary Wins with Cookish

Adachi credits the cookbook Cookish by Christopher Kimball for simplifying her meal planning. Featuring over 200 accessible recipes with "big flavor but not a ton of time required," the book has become a favorite for her picky family, proving that new recipes don't always have to be a source of stress.

5. Digital Boundaries: Removing Instagram

Recognizing that Instagram had become a source of distraction and emotional strain—likening it to "the wolf that keeps wanting to blow my house down"—Adachi deleted the app from her phone. She now accesses it only via a desktop computer, which has significantly lightened her mental load and allowed her to reclaim her time.

6. Curated Style: Just Mac Rose

While limiting her time on social media, Adachi makes a specific exception to check the Instagram account of stylist Mac Rose. She finds Rose’s advice on "stacking shapes" and balancing body volume to be incredibly practical, helping her rethink how to use the clothes she already owns.

7. Prioritizing Physical Books

Beyond using the Book Buddy app, Adachi has made a conscious effort to read more physical books. By keeping them in every room, she is moving "more analog on purpose," which has proven to be a deeply satisfying shift for her soul.

8. Community and Faith: Bible in a Year

Adachi is reading the Bible in a year alongside three friends. She values this group text for its ability to provide a safe space to process the "wild times" and "cuckoo pants" stories found in the text, fostering both spiritual growth and genuine human connection.

9. Simple Pleasures: Golden Stirring Spoons

Sometimes, the smallest items bring the most delight. Adachi highlights her long golden stirring spoons, which she uses for coffee, yogurt, and cooking. She notes that while they seem like a minor detail, their functionality and beauty bring her "tremendous joy" daily.

10. Moving Forward: The End of January

Finally, Adachi celebrates the conclusion of January. By acknowledging that some months are simply "the longest ever," she emphasizes the importance of recognizing when one has successfully navigated a challenging season.

Conclusion: Start Small

Adachi concludes by reminding listeners that they don't need massive systemic overhauls to improve their lives. By utilizing her "Lazy Genius" principles—such as "deciding once" or simply "starting small"—anyone can find better rhythms. Whether it's implementing a library routine like this week's featured listener, Abby, or finding your own small joy, the goal is to be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't.

🎯Key Sentences

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It's an easy way to get clean clothes without all that plastic waste.
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I'm here to help you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't.
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Man, I love these episodes.
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I am so deeply serious.
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It's worth every penny.
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📝Key Phrases

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being more intentional
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make a big difference
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made the switch to
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up level your
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a mixed bag
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📖 Transcript

This episode is sponsored by EarthBries.
This year, I am being more intentional about what and how often we recycle things in our home, including really trying to reduce single -use plastics.
It's easy to think that small choices in your home won't make a big difference for the environment.
But, of course, around here, we value starting small.
One thing I'm always throwing in my recycling are those huge laundry detergent bottles, But did you know that 500 million of those bottles end up in landfills and oceans every single year?
That's why I made the switch to Earth Breeze laundry sheets.

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