Jessica's Friday Five: bedtime hack that's saving my sleep (plus why I labeled three days "May 15th")
Published 7 days ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader,
Is anyone else confused about what day it is? My to-do list for Wednesday was topped with the word "Tuesday" without me even noticing until after 5 pm that day. A few weeks ago, I labeled Tues, Wed, and Thurs in my plan as "May 15th". Who even knows what is going on in my brain? I did find a little time to work with my family to make our Summer Fun List, so that's something that feels on track at least. Let's get to your Friday Five, shall we?
Add weather to your calendar: If you'd like to see the weather for the day in your calendar, this simple, free tool makes that straightforward. Be sure to set it to Celsius or Fahrenheit based on your preferences, and ensure that if your city has a common name, the correct location is set (I initially got this wrong and was very confused about the chilly weather it told me I should be experiencing, but was not). Enjoy!
Sunday Supper: Last week, I mentioned offhand that we host a monthly potluck at our home, and one of you replied to ask me to share more about how we approach that (hi Katie!). So I decided to blog about it this week. In it, you'll find the language we use to describe our gatherings, a few places where we drew inspiration for different aspects of the evening, and non-dinner options we've used for similar, repetitive gatherings in the past.
Bedtime prep tip: This week and last, I led sessions on "Managing Your Energy to Avoid Burnout" for teams. One tip that emerged organically during the workshop, as participants discussed sleep strategies, was to complete your "bedtime" steps well in advance of bedtime to make it easier to climb into bed. Sometimes, when I'm tired, the idea of standing up and having to brush my teeth and apply skincare feels daunting, and it counterproductively causes me to avoid those steps, which in turn delays bedtime and results in me getting less sleep. So do those steps right after dinner! Getting into pajamas, brushing your teeth, and washing your face can be done much earlier, and then you can fall into bed when it's time.
Mental Load: I got this question this week from one of you (hey Kelly!), and I thought the answer might be helpful for others. She wrote, "Hi Jessica! I’m a longtime follower and subscriber - thank you for all you do and put out into the world. I’m a very successful working mom of 3 and my biggest struggle over the years has been inequality of mental load and emotional labor with my husband. Have you written about and/or addressed this in a past post or article? I’m trying to solve for this in a proactive and solution driven way. Thank you in advance!" I love Qs like these, so keep them coming. Here's what I wrote back, "I totally know this struggle! Have you read Fair Play? In my opinion, it's the best book on this topic (Bookshop | Amazon). There's also a documentary about it. I'm a certified facilitator for the Fair Play method, and I've thought about creating a course on the topic for couples - it's on my list to consider doing that this summer!" By the way - if that course on balancing things more equitably at home sounds helpful to you, hit reply because if there's a lot of interest, I'll move it up the priority list. Equity in the world starts with equity at home, in my opinion.
Anyone else going to Craft and Commerce? I'll be attending the Kit conference in Boise in a few weeks. If you'll also be there, please let me know! It's a conference for creators, and this is my first time attending. I've made a note to share my experience in my Bite-Sized Business Boosts email series, so sign up for that if you're a small business owner and would like my tiny tips for making this business life easier.
Bonus Sponsor Resource: Cakes. Y'all, I love these things and wear them every week for the last few years, no joke. I have two pairs of these - the grippy (not sticky) kind, which are great for when I'm wearing a tighter top and want to skip a bra, and they also add a little extra structure (without discomfort) to my most comfortable lounge bras. They've just added sticky versions for really flowy blouses when you need a little more oomph to keep them in place, and also some volume-adding ones for anyone in the itty-bitty community. Use code JESSICA for 10% off, and apologies for neglecting to mention this since 2023. Whoops, my bad. This resource is from one of our Friday Five sponsors - thank you to them for keeping this newsletter free for readers!
Last Friday's Most-Clicked Link:The foot-peeling spray. I just ordered another bottle last night because we've somehow run out, as my entire family is obsessed. I'm glad you're all interested too, haha.
