It’s a real mixed bag this month: escapism, ADHD, leadership, living by our values, philosophising, and being real!
| 🎞️ | White Lotus |
| 🎧 | ADHD & How Anyone Can Improve Their Focus |
| 📖 | Dare to Lead |
| 📱 | BeReal |
| ➿ | Living by my values |
| 🎒 | Nothing is permanent except change |
🎞️ Watching
White Lotus (TV show)
I’m an escapist television watcher. When a show feels like a holiday, it’s for me. White Lotus is probably the best exemplar of this… ever? It’s HBO and the second season stars Aubrey Plaza, so if that’s enough for you then YOU’RE PROBABLY ALL OVER THIS but if not, watch it here.
‘White Lotus’ is a fictional high-end resort with locations in Hawaii (season one) and Silicy (season two), and the show follows the story of its employees and guests as they holiday is some typical and some very untypical ways.
The characters are all so relatably dysfunctional, and the stories unfold with a good dollop of mystery, but I would probably watch for the scenery and cinematography anyway.
— Jess
🎧 Listening
ADHD & How Anyone Can Improve Their Focus (podcast episode)
A colleague of mine recommended this podcast episode and my goodness I’m glad they did. It’s a little over 2 hours long but in that time Dr Huberman gives a well rounded explanation of ADHD (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder): what it actually is, in science-y terms and human terms, as well as some things that are misunderstood, with tips that can help anyone focus to boot. A must-listen if you or someone you know has been diagnosed with ADHD, or has seen the TikToks and is wondering if maybe they should be.
— Jess
📖 Reading
Dare to Lead (eBook)
In her own words: “When we dare to lead, we don’t pretend to have the right answers; we stay curious and ask the right questions. We don’t see power as finite and hoard it; we know that power becomes infinite when we share it with others. We don’t avoid difficult conversations and situations; we lean into vulnerability when it’s necessary to do good work.”
I’ve literally just started this one so it barely counts as ‘reading’ and more like ‘about to read’ or ‘intentions of reading’ but one chapter in and it’s giving great lady leadership energy!
— Jess
📱 Using
BeReal (app)
Once I hear enough about some new social app, I always want to give it a whirl. Which is kindof funny as I’m becoming less and less social in terms of IRL hangtime. That might be a pandemic hangover situation? I digress.
I tried BeReal and now I’m a bit hooked.
— Jess
➿ Practicing
Living by my values
In the latest YouTube vid, How to live by your values (with help from your calendar) (8min), you’ll get:
- A method for figuring out what your values are
- An example for how you can apply your values when planning your time
- Some reflective questions to ask yourself
…but if you’re more of a reader than a watcher, then the blog post version has all this too: How to live by your values with help from your calendar
🎒 Learning
Nothing is permanent except change
Time for this month’s philosophy class. My gut troubles came back (yes, like 5 minutes after I so boastfully gloated about how they had been gone for 6 months) and it had me realising how quickly things can change from good to bad, but also back to good again.
I had been feeling healthier than ever and assumed I had put my Ulcerative Colitis into remission, then outta nowhere BAM. Symptoms. (I will save you the gory detail but they are unpleasant.)
Anyway, I managed to get onto my medication quickly and it’s settling down. It was just so cruelly perfect in its timing and reminded me to be grateful for every healthy day. If I’d never been diagnosed with this thing, I’d still have far less appreciation for healthy days. I wouldn’t say I’m glad that I have it, but it’s certainly not all downsides.
— Jess
Just because things are bad today, doesn’t mean they won’t be good tomorrow. Just because things are good today, doesn’t mean they won’t be bad tomorrow.
Me.