The Sunday Digest 107
"Picture a bright blue ball just spinning, spinning free."
Welcome to The Sunday Digest — a free Sunday newsletter featuring long (and some short) reads, original columns, things I’ve saved over the last week, relaxing playlists, episodes releases, exclusive product drops, and more. Yes, you can reply to this email. I’d love to hear from you. Or, if podcasts are more your speed on Sundays, we’ve got that too.
Sunday Read: How to Be More Present
by Emily Laurence for GQ
Well, what a week. I don’t think it’s a surprise to any readers that my Wednesday was probably not as good as… some others. But that’s okay — since my punk phase in high school to my Dead phase in adulthood, I wouldn’t say I often agree with pretty much anything anyone in power does. Easily the worst part of any recent election cycle (for me, at least) is the endless doomscrolling we all find ourselves doing. It’s a tangled web I get caught in all-too-often; one I try to remedy by simply deleting certain apps in an effort to cleanse my brain even if only for a night.
In a recent therapy session I had, I was implored to simply “focus on nothing but the task directly in front of me.” Or, as this week’s Sunday Read puts it, “being present.” The reasoning behind this has only grown larger for me since having children. And I think this week’s read hit at the exact right time for a lot of people.
Here’s the thing about being present: The more you remind yourself to do it, the easier it becomes. “The moment you notice you not being present, you are present! The hardest thing is to realize that you are not present,” Dr. Wolf says. In these moments, she recommends pausing, taking a deep breath, observing what’s happening, and proceeding in the present moment. If other thoughts (like worries) start distracting you, she says to simply recognize the thought, but not to dwell on it.
Read in full here.
The Sunday Haiku
Empathy has gone,
all in favor of themselves,
guess we should have known.
New Episode › Retail Therapy 094: The Brotox Episode with Caleb Martin and Sally deFries
This week, we were joined by nurse practitioner Caleb Martin (and, of course, Sally) to talk all things brotox, botox, filler, mini-facelifts, thread lifts, and more.
Listen to Retail Therapy on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube (see above), and anywhere else podcasts are found. And a reminder to follow Retail Therapy on Substack!
Things I Saved This Week
Additional Reading
We released our new Everything Candles last Sunday which I wrote about here. Or, if they’re still in-stock, you can buy one here.
We have zero cozy fall vibes in Austin right now which means I simply need to channel them through my sister’s newsletter since she lives in Montana.
I sneakily put up all my New York film last week because I had already posted the photos so many times on the Scaries Instagram page. But you can view the Postcards entry here.
“How can I support Sunday Scaries?”
Listen to our Retail Therapy.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Subscribe to all Washed Media Podcasts.
Or, you can simply subscribe here:
My best help in staying present and tackling a daunting challenge is from Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird: “Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he’d had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, ‘Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.’”
what a week indeed. woof 😔