Jessica's Friday Five: Generosity, stress, and toy donations
Published 13 days ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader,
Whew. Tough week for so many of us. If you've been around for a bit, you know that I cared a lot about how the elections in the US went this cycle. I know that these results impact not only us here in the States but people around the world, as I've been hearing from friends in other countries about how worried they are as well. A few things that have helped me this week are this piece about situating this election in a larger story from a Howard University Professor shared by my friend Atnre and this slivers of hope about positive election results from Ben Samuels. Here's to taking care of ourselves and each other through the tough years to come as we continue to bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice.
Here is this week's Friday Five, especially curated for this moment in time:
Decide the next smallest step: Whenever you want something big that feels far off, consider just determining one tiny step you can take towards that thing. Whether it's moving your family abroad or writing a book or running a marathon, what tiny action could you take towards that (chatting with ChatGPT about which countries you might move to, setting up coffee with someone you know who is already a published author to learn more, downloading a running app). This is described in more detail in this article from the Behavior Gap.
Manage stress and overwhelm: I know you're managing a lot, and I'm constantly looking for new ways to make your life simpler and more joyful. My friend from high school and CEO Tera Wages has an excellent resource I've been using since she shared it with me in a hot tub conversation at a work conference a few years ago. She specializes in helping women manage stress and overwhelm - and her team's free, science-backed Core Emotion Guide can teach you how to process emotions in just 4 minutes. It's so meaningful for individuals and has also been meaningful for conversations with my husband too. Don't miss your chance to grab this simple, fast, and effective system for your emotions while it's available.
Donate toys to Homies Empowerment: My friend Cesar runs a mighty nonprofit in Oakland, and every year, that team does a toy drive. If you're looking for a concrete way to do some good in the world this week, pitch in money here or send toys to them directly at 7645 Macarthur Blvd, Oakland, CA 94605. Here's a link to toys currently on sale on Amazon, and it's hard to go wrong with a classic game like Connect Four, Trouble, or Guess Who.
Approach to Thanksgiving: If you have children in school or know a teacher, this is a resource for educators for November (Native American Heritage Month) and Thanksgiving. It includes an email you can copy and paste to ask about how these topics are taught at your child's school and encourage them (with the support of resources) to center Native voices. We can all take this meaningful action if we have children or know educators.
Act on your urge to be generous: I haven't gotten a chance to really announce this much, but surprise! I started a podcast. Episode 12 is about acting on your urge to be kind or generous, even when you're worried it'll be awkward. It's only 2.5 minutes long, so I hope you'll listen today and take the message to heart.
P.S. I'm grateful you're here. This newsletter's subscriber list has more than doubled this year and, earlier this week, surpassed 10,000 subscribers. Subscriber count is undoubtedly a vanity metric, but I feel so lucky you're all here. Let's keep this good thing going, shall we?
Share Friday Five and get rewarded.
Share your link (below!) with your people and once they sign up, you will get rewarded as my thanks to you. Get your first reward after 2 signups, then another after 7, and a big reward after 25 referrals!
There may be affiliate links in this email which means I may receive a commission if you purchase something through a link. However, please be assured that I only recommend products I have personally used and love!
