Hi friends! This week had so much going on: it was our 9th(!!!) wedding anniversary, my mom’s birthday, and my 10-year Book Riot anniversary. We had brunch with friends and quality time with family. We had massages and tacos and went to the Sonoma County Zine Fest where I got really inspired. We did zero chores or errands the whole weekend so we’ve run out of most of our grocery staples and we have been squeezing things like laundry in when we can, given we have full-time day jobs. I do look forward to getting groceries this weekend to once again have bread in the house and literally anything resembling a fruit or vegetable.

Newest EEDA Pod: No Good Time for a Hard Talk (But So Very Many Bad Times)

In this episode of Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice, hosts Patricia and Nicole cover more practical communication skills, focusing on how to choose the right environment and timing for difficult conversations. We also share some book recommendations, including an inspiring new release.

You can find our show, Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, and wherever else you get your podcasts. You can also support the show on Patreon, where we have some perks for paid subscribers with even more coming this year. You can also just make a recurring donation through subscribing to our Patreon, as our show is independently run and without ads. It helps keep us going!

Reminder that over on the EEDA Patreon, we do weekly accountability check-ins and quarterly goal check-ins for paid subscribers. Subscriptions start at $3!

Here’s what I’ve harvested for you this week:

Resource 1: Kill Yr Substack Browser Extension by Jason Cosper

Many thanks to one of our wonderful Patreon subscribers for this resource! As the link above explains, the browser extension will intercept every Substack link you click and redirect it to archive.is. Why would you want to do that? Because Substack gleefully platforms white supremacists and funnels money to the right wing, all things I’ve mentioned numerous times here and there are also some details at the Kill Yr Substack Browser Extension link.

Resource 2: Want to lighten your mental load? First, let go of these gender myths via NPR LifeKit

This is mostly information from Drained: Reduce Your Mental Load to Do Less and Be More by Leah Ruppanner PhD which came out in April and I have not yet read. Buried in here is the Mental Load Measurement tool created by the author to assess your mental load and offer tips on how to lighten it, which is pretty cool and free to use.

Bonus: Tony Rex's Seven Stomps to Success: A Dino's Guide to Crushing It by Alex Latimer

This is one of the funniest picture books I’ve gotten to read this year (so far). It’s a self-help parody by a very “encouraging” T-Rex. This isn’t out until July but you can preorder at my Bookshop link.

Essay: One of the Things My Mom Got Very Right