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Elizabeth, when we're together for the holidays, we end up going to Whole Foods Market every day.
There's so many things that we need.
Like we're going to a party and one of us needs to bring a gift for the host.
They have these expert curated cheeses and crackers that everybody loves.
They have excellent limited-time seasonal desserts, like holiday rum cake, creamy bouche de Noël, which is one of our family's favorites, and more.
Plus, they have these show-stopping things for the table like bone-in spiral cut ham.
Well Gretchen, I love that they have heat and eat sides from the prepared foods department, because you know that I am not much of a cook.
So heat and serve is something I can do.
And they have floral Gretchen so you can bring a nice bouquet of flowers if you're going to someone's house.
Shop for everything you need at Whole Foods Market, your holiday headquarters.
Hello and welcome to Happier, a podcast where we talk about ways to be happier.
This week we'll talk about the annual challenge, which is one of the three parts of the Design Your Year.
I'm Gretchen Rubin, a writer who studies happiness, good habits, and human nature.
Usually I'm in New York City, but today I am in Kansas City, and joining me today from Kansas City is my sister, Elizabeth Kraft.
That's me, Elizabeth Kraft, TV writer and producer living in L.A.
And yes, Grouch, we're in Kansas City.
Our dad is not doing well, so we're here to be with him.
But we are planning to compartmentalize what's going on and do this episode.
We find it comforting to take a break with work.
Our father is super interested in our podcast.
He loved to talk shop.
He loved to talk about what was going on in the world of Hollywood and book publishing and podcasting.
And so we're going to keep going.
But it's really nice, Elizabeth, to know that you're just one room away.
Yes, I am in the bunny room.
Yes, but first a few updates.
This one came from Darcy.
She said, I listened to your podcast regularly until about three years ago.
At that time, I was going through a divorce after being married for 10 years.
As you can imagine, my whole world flipped upside down and for about two years I was very much in survival mode.
I stopped taking care of myself, and my good habits that I had held for years all went out the window.
Eventually, I finally started to feel a little more settled in my new life and I realized I needed to start taking care of myself properly again.
One of the things I decided to do was to go on a daily walk, but I also wanted to feed my mind and spirit at the same time, so I decided I'd only listen to your podcast on my walks.
That's pairing.
So for the last year, I went back and listened to all the episodes I missed during those two years.
I looked forward to my walks and happier time every day.
You both made me feel inspired and motivated, gave me some great tips, gave me some chuckles and overall, just made my life happier.
I'm proud and happy to say that as of yesterday, I'm now fully caught up on the podcast.
I've stayed consistent with taking care of myself for the last year and I have both of you to thank for that.
Well, that is so lovely, Darcy.
That is really great to hear that we helped you in a tough time.
We're in a tough time now ourselves, so it's great to hear that pairing works for you taking care of yourself in that transition.
That's great.
And then Taylor said I am such a huge fan of the show and I've been a loyal listener since the beginning.
I have listened to every episode, including Happier in Hollywood as well.
Uphold her much?
I also find I share in the hostess neurosis and I've always felt insecure about hosting a party.
What if my house was a mess?
What if I invite people and no one shows up?
These do not seem like thoughts of a fabulous and effortless host.
However, I decided to take your advice and live in an atmosphere of growth after listening to episode 559.
My oldest son is five and just started kindergarten.
I have enjoyed getting to know other moms in this class, when one day I thought wouldn't it be fun to get all the kindergarten moms together for a happy hour.
And it hit me, I should host a party.
I created a cute digital invitation, sent it to all the moms I knew and told them to spread the word.
This past Friday I had over 25 moms at my house for an incredible happy hour that went on late into the night.
I even have several moms who have volunteered to host the next party.
This event brought me so much joy, and I look forward to cultivating these relationships for years to come, as our kids grow up together.
Thank you for all of your practical try this at home and party planning tips.
Well, I love this.
This is also raise your hand where she just decided, I wish everybody would get together.
I guess I'm the one that needs to have everybody get together.
And then it creates other people wanting to step forward too.
Sometimes once one person gets it going, then other people find it easier to follow along.
Yeah, so gold star to Taylor for that.
Excellent.
And this week, our Try This at Home suggestion is to join our annual challenge.
So in Design Your Year, we have the list, like the 25 for 25 list.
We have the one-word theme and we have the annual challenge, which is to do something for an amount of time tied to the year, just to be whimsical.
So this year's challenge, of course, was to read 25 and 25.
And Elizabeth...
This is a hard one to top.
We loved Read 25 and 25.
Absolutely loved it.
As part of that Gretchen, we both joined the War and Peace Slow Read, which our mother had done last year and recommended to us.
And we joined and dad joined and mom did it again.
Yes.
So we have loved reading a chapter every day of War and Peace.
It's been a fun thing just for our family.
Yeah, and that's Simon Haisel.
He has a substack called Footnotes and Tangents.
And, if you like, the idea of a slow read, he does it with War and Peace, but he does it with many other books as well, and it's really fun.
Wow.
It reminded me of one of the theories of book groups is a really great way to connect with other people is to talk about a book.
And we talk about War and Peace in our family as if it were like a sitcom.
We're like, oh, this reminds me of when Pierre did blah, blah, blah, blah.
War and Peace became part of just our conversation.
This is why a lot of people like to get together in book groups.
Reading together is a great way to connect with people.
Yes.
Now, Gretch, many people like to count the number of books they read.
You and I haven't done that.
I keep meaning to do it, and I never do it every year.
I know some people keep lists on Goodreads or other places, but you and I have not done that.
But I think we read a lot in 2025.
We sure read a lot.
Yeah.
And audiobooks count.
You're a big audiobook fan.
Of course.
But yeah, and I think for some people, it's really fun.
They may be like I'm going to read 25 novels or 25 memoirs or 25 books, or the counting of it is very satisfying for some people.
But here's one thing I learned Elizabeth and I haven't done this, but the idea of it is helpful to me.
You know how we often say it's so hard to put down a book you don't enjoy, even though you know you should, because if you put down a book you don't enjoy, you have more time to read the books you do enjoy.
And yet it's weirdly hard to put down a book which, as an author, I should probably think that's a good thing.
But as a reader, I wish that I'm always trying to get myself to be better about that.
And somebody said she kept a list of books that she didn't finish.
So that way she felt like she got credit for them either way.
And I thought that was very ingenious.
Yes, I thought that was a great idea.
And then there was the silent read for 25 minutes on June 25th, where people at indie bookstores all across the country did silent reading for 25 minutes.
That was super fun.
I did my silent reading at PT Knitwear, which is a super chic bookstore in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
But then, of course, a lot of people did their silent read at home.
Yes, absolutely.
You can read silently at home.
That's the easiest place to do it.
Yeah.
Well, listen, I think our biggest innovation was the reading retreat.
Yes.
And I don't even remember exactly how that came to be.
But you and I both put on our 25 for 25 list, go on a reading retreat with each other.
Yeah.
We asked listeners for suggestions about places to go.
And I think, in fact, one of our listeners suggested where we ended up going, which was Los Olivos, near Santa Barbara.
And we went and just had the most wonderful two days.
Now, we did wish we'd made it three nights.
We did.
Reading and walking to town and eating and then just going back to the room and reading.
We didn't even go to the pool to read.
We just laid on our beds.
And many listeners said that they were distressed that we didn't use the pool and that we should just go and read next to the pool.
And you love to read poolside, so I don't know why that didn't occur to us.
I was just too content where I was.
I never had the need to leave that room.
Yeah.
And we got a great email from Amanda.
She said, Fast forward to this past weekend.
My son is 17 and wanted to visit Oregon to look at colleges.
He was on board with doing a one-day reading retreat at this hotel after his visits were done.
We stayed in the Agatha Christie room this time.
The hotel has been remodeled since I visited with my mom, but the reading theme was the same.
We got a bookmark when we checked in with our room number on it.
Our room was decorated with photos of Agatha Christie, framed book covers and furnished with her books and even some items that are referenced in her books.
We loved the cozy reading spaces provided fireplaces and cozy chairs, the full-time hot beverage service and even had the editors scramble for breakfast.
The hotel sits right on the beach with amazing windows overlooking the ocean.
The name of the hotel is the Hotel Sylvia if you want to look at the website.
My son is so busy with his senior year of high school, he enjoyed a one-day respite at this beautiful spot.
If you're looking for another spot to visit for a retreat, I highly recommend this one, and maybe there are others like it.
I love that, Elizabeth.
We really have to put that on our list of places to go.
We do.
In a multiverse, Gretchen, I see you as a front desk lady at Hotel Sylvia.
Oh, my gosh.
That would be bliss.
Leading behind the desk.
Yes, exactly.
Exactly.
Now, something we didn't consider was the clutter sometimes that can come with books.
Because if you love books...
They can really take over a space.
This is something that bibliophiles really talk about a lot, which is just how do you manage your books.
How do you decide what to keep?
How do you decide how to organize them?
Then we got an interesting letter from Stephanie.
Yeah, she said, I'm a busy financial therapist.
Yes, it's a thing in private practice.
And I've been listening to your podcast weekly for a number of years.
I wanted to share with you and your listeners how I combined a couple of your ideas which made me happier.
Mm-hmm. and set a target to get rid of 100 books by the end of the summer.
I used to get lots of new books for free in my previous career.
What began with me reading for enjoyment 25 minutes a day has become so much bigger.
I'm happy to report I reached my goal by Labor Day, having given away 100 books by reading several a week, as well as giving away duplicates, books I already read and those I no longer needed to read.
It's rekindled my love of reading and helped me create more space in my small Brooklyn apartment.
As a result, I decided to end the year by reading and giving away 25 more books between September and New Year's Eve.
I'm in the middle of my 18th book, so seven more to go with about 10 weeks to get there.
The funny thing is I live three blocks away from the main branch of the public library, which is effectively a huge storage space for books.
So letting go of books has become a no brainer.
Well, I love that.
There's so many things happening there that are great.
And also, what I love about Stephanie is that she didn't start in January, but then, when she did, it really took off.
And that's the thing is.
Sometimes people feel like well, if I miss the moment, then I have to wait till next year.
But you're never behind.
You can always jump in where you are.
It's great that this helped reconnect her with the love of reading.
And I love the idea of one of the things I say to people who love to buy things you can store it in the store.
You don't have to get it.
You can store it in the store until you need it.
And this is the thing about the books.
You can store it in the library.
Yes.
And it's a good reminder, if you don't have a library card, get a library card.
Yes.
Our dad has gone to the library all the time for many, many years.
And our parents are big believers in getting the hardbacks from the library.
Yes.
They live within walking distance of the library.
So that's bliss, right?
To live within walking distance of a library.
And it seems to us that reading really is having a moment that a lot of people are really reconnecting with their love of reading.
One of the things we did is we partnered with Bookshoporg, which is the online marketplace that supports indie bookstores, for this challenge to read 25 Minutes in 2025.
And there were so many people who participated.
There were so many book recommendations that came out of it.
In the Happier app, tens of thousands of people logged entries.
It was really exciting to see how much people love reading.
We love reading.
We come from a big reading family.
And so it's wonderful to think that other people are joining in this love of reading with us.
It really is.
Okay, Gretch, coming up, we are going to reveal our yearly challenge for 2026.
But first, this break.
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Okay, Elizabeth, it's the big reveal.
What are we going to do that's going to be just as good as Reed 25 and 25?
Drumroll.
All right, Gretchen, it is move 26 for 26.
We are going to move 26 minutes a day in 2026.
Yes.
So we did go outside 23 and 23.
And for a lot of people, they said that depending on the weather, that didn't work for them.
Like some people say there's no bad weather, just bad clothing decisions.
But for some people, that just didn't work as well.
So we wanted to make it broader.
And also so there's more ways, you know, you can change it up and try what works for you in 2026.
There is no one right way.
It's just moving your body.
You could do it all at once.
You could break it up.
You can do whatever you want.
Yes.
Gretch, I know I feel better when I move.
That is for sure.
Well, and you also use it to spark creativity.
Like and I learned that from you that if you feel stuck creatively you and Sarah know that if you go for a walk, that often unlocks new ideas.
Almost always that works.
Yeah.
So it's good for your body and good for your brain in every way.
So join us.
It's Move 26 in 26, and you can keep track of your progress with any tool that you want.
If you want to use the Happier app, there's a photo log.
There's a Don't Break the Chain tracker.
You can track your total minutes moved all in the Happier app.
And what's fun to remember is that if you move 26 minutes a day for a year, that's 9,490 minutes.
That's a lot of minutes.
It really is.
And also on the Happier app, there's an update where, if you're not into logging your progress daily which some people are not another thing to do is there's going to be a bingo card in the app.
And there'll be one a season.
The winner one is live.
And the bingo card is meant to give you creative ways to change and have different move ideas for 26 minutes.
Some people really like an element of playfulness and unpredictability and variety, and this is really aimed for you.
And if you get bingo you get a badge in the app and if you get a blackout you will get a special gift.
This is actually something that will be mailed to you.
And another new update is that, to make it even more fun to do the move, We're going to be doing different bonus audio throughout the year for pairing, because it's back to this idea of like it's really fun to pair something that's great to listen to to whatever you're doing while you move.
So that will be coming in January.
And Gretchen, what are you going to do for move 26 and 26?
Have you thought about it?
Yeah, one thing I'm going to do is whenever I think of it, so I want to do it several times throughout the day is to do 12 squats.
Squats are so good for you.
And I found that 12 squats is challenging, but it's something that I can do quickly and feel like I get something that invigorates my body.
And I can just work it into like I'm waiting for my tea kettle to boil.
I'm waiting for the elevator to come or something like that.
I wouldn't do 12 squats if I was like in the lobby of an office building.
But if I'm just in my apartment building, I could do 12 squats.
Of course, my first thought was imagining some stranger coming upon you like squatting in front of the elevator.
I like picturing that.
Can I just say squat is not a nice word?
I wish there were a more elegant word.
It's like egg.
I love eggs.
It's like moist.
Nothing is more beautiful than eggs, but it's just not a good word.
But the other thing, this is more poetic maybe, is walking around the Met.
So when I go to the Met I just sort of because I go every day, I still go every day.
I just wander around, I amble, I look around.
But I think I want to add some walk time because the Met is really big.
I could just walk up one length and down, or I could lengthen my route a, So I'm going to aim to do 10 minutes of purposeful walking in the Met.
And one thing I like about this is I like to feel that I've walked through everything fairly recently, that I'm not letting certain parts of it stagnate or go unchecked for a while.
But there's kind of like nooks and crannies.
And so this way, it'll combine my desire to do 10 minutes of walking in the Met on top of my looking and also— okay, I want to visit that mezzanine floor, or oh, I haven't been to visible storage for a while.
Let me go walk around it.
So I think that'll be like double benefit for me.
Yes.
How about you, Alyssa?
How are you thinking about it?
Well, Gretch, I have to say this is the perfect challenge for me for 2026 because...
I have not been walking on my treadmill desk.
Now, you know, for years and years I walked every day, often 10000 steps a day, on the treadmill desk.
I have made numerous declarations that I'm going to get back on the treadmill desk every day or five days a week the work week.
Yeah.
And I haven't.
So I know that this challenge will get me back on the treadmill desk because as an obliger.
Yeah.
I feel very obligated and accountable to these types of things.
So I am so glad this is what we're doing this year.
And I'll just add it into all of my other things I do my Orange Theory, my Crime and Canyon walking.
And I think it'll be great for me and for my blood sugar, because of course, I'm a type 1 diabetic and moving throughout the day is great for blood sugar.
Yeah, I remember the last time I came over and we cleared your office which, of course, is one of my top five things to do in the whole world.
And we specifically cleared off your treadmill desk first, because you're like, I really want to get back to my treadmill desk.
But now it's such an easy place to put stuff.
But yeah, got to get cleared off again.
But it's funny because you and your writing partner Sarah Sarah, also has a treadmill desk and you even have a segment on the Happier in Hollywood podcast called From the Treadmill Desks Up.
So maybe every time you say those words, that can be part of your accountability too.
Yeah.
Yes.
And then the other thing I want to do with Move in 26 is walk our dogs more.
We have our two corgis and I do walk them, but a lot of times I'll sort of hope that Adam will walk them without me.
And so what I'm going to try to do is use this as motivation to get out there.
And the truth is they would benefit from more than one walk a day.
So even if they have been walked, I could still walk them again.
Well, when we did Walk 20 in 20, so many people said that how much their dogs loved it, because so many people did more dog walking and the dogs were so happy.
We were talking a lot about walking, but you can do yoga.
You can do stretching.
You can do hiking.
You can do ambling.
You can do biking.
There's so many different ways to move your body.
Yoga.
Yeah, yoga.
Oh, yeah.
Yoga, Pilates.
And then there's new exercise classes every day.
It seems like new boxing classes. skating, all kinds of things, swimming, dancing, dancing.
Oh, my gosh.
Dancing, just dancing for a lot of people.
And it's all just tapping into this idea that just moving our bodies is really good for us.
I mean, we talked about this briefly, but it's good for our immune function.
It's good for our digestion.
You said it's good for blood sugar.
It's good for creativity and mental health.
Mental health.
A lot of people say that they exercise for sanity, not vanity.
So they do it because it makes... If you're really stressed out, it helps calm you down.
If you're feeling really jittery, it helps you feel more serene.
If you're feeling sluggish, it makes you feel more energetic.
And that's something that a lot of people don't understand which is they think of exercise as something that will tend to tire them out.
But in fact, unless you're really exercising at the extreme level, moving around tends to energize you.
And so in fact...
One thing I often do, and I'll do this when people are feeling really upset about something too.
Eliza and Eleanor are often the target of this happiness bullying suggestion, which is to do 10 jumping jacks.
There's something about getting up and moving that just really helps manage the mind and the body in a healthful, constructive way.
And in case anyone was wondering, yes, you really do do this.
I see you do this when I'm with you quite often.
And you'll get me to do it too.
Yeah.
Well, we are very, very excited about this annual challenge and we're really interested to hear from listeners.
What are you doing with this?
How are you planning to work it into your schedule?
Are you going to do the same thing?
Are you going to change it up?
We're always really intrigued by how crazy creatively people approach these challenges and how they take it in all different directions.
We can all learn from each other.
So if you have like a great idea, let us know.
We hope that everybody will join us for Move 26 in 26.
Let us know on Instagram, Threads, TikTok, Facebook.
Drop us an email at podcast at gretchenrubin.com.
Or as always, you can go to the show notes.
This is happiercast.com slash 564 for everything related to this episode.
Coming up, we have a science-based happiness hack.
But first, this break.
I'll see you next time.
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The holidays are a time of traditions.
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Maybe you're a person who doesn't have many traditions around the new year.
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Yeah.
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Gretchen, it is the season of gifts, and you know I love personalized gifts.
Yes.
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Okay, Gretchen, we are back with this week's happiness hack.
And this is science-based, which I always find interesting.
Yes.
This is about soothing an itch in a way that's better than scratching.
And this comes from an article that was in the Washington Post.
I'll post a link to it in the show notes about how to stop itchy skin.
And it's about how to get rid of an itch rather than scratching.
And this really caught my attention because I'm really a bad scratcher.
I will scratch and scratch like in a mosquito bite until it leaves a semi-permanent mark.
So this is something I really have thought okay, I should figure out a better way to handle itchiness.
And it turns out that if you scratch an itch, not only do you damage your skin, as I found, but it can often make it even worse.
And so what works better is to rub the spot or brush it with a soft makeup brush, which is interesting.
And you don't even need to touch the precise spot that's itchy.
Scientists have found that you can use those techniques around the site.
And so that's especially helpful if there's kind of a sore spot that you want to avoid making worse.
What they found is that the stroking sends a counter signal that inhibits the itchiness.
So it stops the itchiness from reaching the brain.
There's something called the itch-scratch cycle, which is once you start scratching, you can't stop.
That's what I have.
And that's just not good.
So if you rub it or use a makeup brush, that works better.
Just discussing this is making me itch different places.
I just scratched my arm.
Right?
I mean, it's true.
But if you rub it not even rubbing the exact spot, but you rub around it it tricks the body into getting rid of the itchy spot.
So anyway, for anybody like me who really is a scratcher, try that.
Okay.
Okay.
It's time for demerits and gold stars.
And this week, Alyssa, it's your turn to talk about a demerit.
Yes.
Well, Gretchen, this has already come up in this episode.
Our challenge is move 26 and 26.
And as part of that, I want to get back on the treadmill desk.
And as you noted, you and I made this beautiful, clear desk of my treadmill desk.
We had it all beautiful.
And I have once again piled it with items like scripts and random picture frames that aren't being used, and paperclips and sweatshirts and all sorts of things.
Things that need to be returned was a category that I noted.
Yeah.
Yes.
So I have to clean off my treadmill desk so that I can get back on it for move 26.
But so my question is, why aren't you using the treadmill desk, do you think?
I really don't know.
And I get inertia.
You know, I started just sitting down on the couch and I just keep doing it.
And I even just forget about getting on the treadmill desk, which is why I'm glad we're doing it as the actual challenge.
And I have a really good reason to, because I will tell you, the more I sit on the couch in one position, I absolutely have physical effects from that.
Mm-hmm.
I'll even get like numb feet from that.
So I need to, on many different levels, be moving on the treadmill desk.
So I'm hoping that, now that I've stated this, when I go home I will clean off that treadmill desk, which will probably only take me about five minutes.
Let's be honest.
Yeah, this is just a good reminder of the fact that you can be doing something very, very consistently where you feel like it's a rock solid habit, and then something will happen.
And sometimes you don't even notice that something has happened and something changes and you fall out of a habit overnight.
I think it's really surprising sometimes to people how easy it is to fall out of a habit or into a habit.
But then, once you're in the habit of it again, it might just spring right back and you would slip right back into it because for years you did use the treadmill desk.
So that's what I'm hoping.
Yeah.
So I'll keep you posted as that unfolds.
Yes.
Keep me posted.
Give us a gold star.
And I want to jump in with you on this gold star, too.
Yeah, this is a gold star to all the nurses.
Our father's in the hospital and the nurses have just been so great.
They're so considerate.
They're so thoughtful.
They're so gentle.
They're so informative.
They're so patient.
We've had a lot of questions.
We've had a lot of fear.
And they've just been this constant presence that's so reassuring to us.
And it's so important to us that we feel like our father is... surrounded by tender care.
And we've really felt that.
Yes.
So thank you to all the nurses.
I feel like we spend a lot of time thanking teachers, but sometimes we don't give as much credit to the nurses.
So glad to take a minute to say thank you to all the nurses and especially the ones who've been taking care of dad.
Yes.
The resource for this week, there is a Design Your Year Guide.
If you want more tools for designing your year, the Design Your Year Guide.
It brings together all the things that we talked about in one place, like the 26 for 26 list, which we'll be talking about coming up, the one-word theme, the annual challenge.
And this is an actual workbook that you can flip through and write in.
A lot of people we know really still like physical books and writing by hand to map out and plan the year to come.
Now, it did sell out pretty quickly last year.
So if this is something that's interesting to you, just know that there's kind of limited supplies.
And it's also a good gift, obviously.
If you want to check that out, it's at happiercast.com slash shop.
And Elizabeth, what are we reading?
What are you reading?
We are coming to the end of War and Peace, so I am just trying to keep up with that.
And I am reading Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift.
And that's it for this episode of Happier.
Remember to try this at home.
Join our annual challenge, Move 26 in 26.
Let us know if you're planning to join us and if it's going to work for you.
And also let us know about how Read 25 for 25 worked for you.
That's super fun too.
Thanks to our executive producer, Chuck Reed, and everyone at Lemonada.
If you haven't subscribed to Lemonada Premium yet, now is the perfect time because guess what?
You can listen completely ad-free.
Just tap that subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, or head to LemonadaPremium.com.
And here is your rhyming reminder.
If you like what you heard, spread the word.
Until next week, I'm Elizabeth Kraft.
And I'm Gretchen Rubin.
Thanks for joining us Onward and Upward.
Listen, it's so odd to be talking to you in the usual way to do the podcast, but instead of being three hours behind me and on a different coast, you are two rooms away.
I know.
It feels like you're in a whole other realm, but really you're just across the hall.
I know.
I think I'm going to be startled when you emerge behind the door.
From the Onward Project.
Hi, Gretchen, Craig Robinson, and my little sister Michelle here.
We host a new podcast called IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson.
We know you're the queen of giving advice, so we wanted to get a few tips from you.
You know, Gretchen, a lot of our listeners are going through some major life changes.
What advice do you have for folks who are trying to stay grounded in the midst of major life transitions?
Craig and Michelle, I am so happy to be talking to you.
Here are a few questions that might help us gain perspective.
So consider questions like this.
What activities take up my time but are not particularly useful or stimulating for me?
Do I spend a lot of time on something that's important to someone else but is not very important to me?
If I could magically change one habit in my life, what would I choose?
And here's a question.
Would I like to have more time in solitude restorative solitude or would I like to have more time with friends?
You know, just thinking about questions like this can help us start to figure out how we might make our lives happier.
With greater self-knowledge, we're better able to make hard decisions that reflect ourselves, our own nature, our own interests, our own values.
In my own case, I have found that the more my life reflects my nature, the happier I get and the more grounded I feel when I'm going through a period of major change or transition.
For more great advice, search for IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson wherever you get podcasts.
You can listen to Issa Rae on letting go of certain friendships, Kiki Palmer on why disappointment is actually the key to career success, Seth and Lauren Rogan on caring for aging parents, and so many more.
