EEDA Newsletter Vol 5, Iss 7: Breakfast Sandwiches & Two Easy Ways to Increase Joy
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Hi friends! Both Nicole and I are taking the day off for my birthday on Monday and I’m still trying to figure out what I want to do. The amazing Italian restaurant I want to go to isn’t open on Mondays so that’ll happen later in April. We have a couple plans but I’m also thinking that maybe we can drive around and try some breakfast sandwiches off this list. I effing love breakfast sandwiches and I can’t exactly tell you why. I love them exponentially more than I do a sandwich that I would have for lunch, though I've had some pretty amazing sandwiches in my life. Even a mediocre breakfast sandwich brings me so much joy. When I was going to the office for work every day pre-pandemic, there was an amazing breakfast sandwich spot that used pandesal for their buns. I went almost every day and it got to the point where not only did the guy know my name but he programmed a button for my specific order so he wouldn’t have to type it in every time. Literally, a button on the touchpad that just said, “Patricia.” This is my idea of community care. This is what liberals want.
Anyway, happy birthday to me! Read a book, go outside and look closely at some plants, compliment someone, bake something, make some beans, and don’t forget to listen to our podcast. I got my first goth tulip to bloom this week, by the way. It is my first time planting tulips in a container and I’m glad it worked.
I don’t have so much of a cohesive essay today as I have two tips that I want to share that have improved my life.
The first works especially well if you work from home but it can also apply if you work in person, as long as you get creative. My tip is this: do something enjoyable during at least one of your work breaks. It doesn’t have to be your longest break but I implore you to do something that is fun and not just “not work” or scroll your phone mindlessly. This is probably not sustainable for every break nor even every day but maybe once in a while, do something you find fun. Yesterday, I stepped away from the computer and put on a song I like to sing and I performed a whole scene from Dreamgirls. Today during a short break, I took six minutes to write a postcard. Tomorrow, I’m going to run through this 10-minute vocal warmup because singing makes me happy. I’ve found that taking this small bit of time and doing something indulgent (i.e., not productive) improves my mood and how I think about my day at the end of the night.
My other tip, and I’ve written about this a bit before, is to use your nice things. When my cousin was over the other day, she was shocked to see that we had some small vintage Franciscan Ware Atomic Starburst plates in the cabinet with all our other plates. “You use these?!” she asked. I said, “Yep, we tested them for lead and we don’t put them in the microwave or hot food on them, but, yes, we use them for desserts or biscuits and things.” Using them reminds me of how excited I was when I spotted them from across the flea market aisle and I practically ran over and gave the person all the cash I had in my satchel.
Don’t get me wrong, we have many things around here collecting dust but I’m trying to be better at actually using stuff because it makes me happy to use them. Otherwise, I pay a lot of money for something and then it sits on a shelf and collects dust and then I die? No thank you. As someone who is still paying an exorbitant amount for her deceased mother’s storage, I have had a year of thinking hard about my priorities.
Use your nice things. Wear your pretty things. Utilize your cute stuff. It’s not only fun and sparks joy, but it’s much more environmentally friendly than acquiring more things.
That’s it for this week! You can shop many books I’ve mentioned in this newsletter at my affiliate shop, The Infophile’s Bookshop, and support independent bookstores. In fact, any Bookshop, Amazon, or Etsy links in this newsletter are affiliate links so if you shop through those, it helps support my work. Or you can leave me a tip on Ko-fi, Paypal, or Venmo.
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