Jessica's Friday Five: How not to say the wrong thing
Published 2 days ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader,
Earlier this week, my aunt passed away after a brief fight with cancer. I found myself seeking out advice from my past self that I'd written after losing my mother earlier this year. I will travel this weekend to remember her with family, and try to take care of myself and my people throughout. Send me luck for smooth travels during a time of year when airports are not known for being calm and easy to manage. I suggest considering how you might find even half an hour to do something lovely this coming week for yourself - whatever that might be. And if you're celebrating Christmas this coming week, here's my favorite playlist.
Let's get to your Friday Five, shall we?
How to Not Say the Wrong Thing: My friend and colleague Christine shared this awesome article with me this week with the concept of "ring theory" that I thought was brilliant. It's a concept that immediately makes sense when you read it, but is not always common in practice. Check it out for the next time you want to be supportive of someone struggling.
Stop Doing Laundry That Way: I recently answered a question from a friend who felt like she was drowning in laundry. I gave a bunch of ideas to her in a text and decided it might be helpful for others, so here's my advice to her in blog form. If you need permission to shift things about your laundry approach, check it out and pick one of the ideas that sounds good to you - maybe you stop putting laundry into closets or have everyone's clothes in a single closet if your kids are tiny, or just stop folding lots of categories of clothes (I personally fold zero pieces of clothing in my own life - I've just decided I don't care enough).
Annual Reflection Tools: It's a great time to reflect and plan for the coming year. Here are 3 great free tools that might be helpful for you - I recommend picking one that sounds good, downloading it, and putting a time on your calendar when you can get some space to give yourself the gift of time to think. YearCompass is a free booklet that helps you reflect on the year and plan the next one. With carefully selected questions and exercises, YearCompass helps you uncover your patterns and design your ideal year. The Unravel Your Year workbook is filled with questions, prompts, monthly reflection pages and so much more, it'll help you take stock of 2024 and prepare for a new ride around the sun. My friend Lia's 2024 End of Year Reflection Guide offers you an opportunity to reflect on the lessons of 2024, including what - and how - you want to carry them into 2025. Although you can’t possibly predict exactly what is around the corner, you can start the year with some clarity on what you’re looking for - and the tools you’ll use to try and find it.
2 Tips for Parents: If you've got kids, here are 2 suggestions for the next few weeks: 1) Use Outschool to give kids interesting things to do during school breaks. It's a platform for all sorts of online classes, and both of my kids love it. They've taken drawing classes, cursive classes, cooking classes, joined book clubs, sports trivia classes, LEGO building classes - so many options. My friend link gets you $20 off which is enough to try at least one class free - I suggest searching by your kids' age and interests to find something worth trying out. 2) Get an Essential Calendar to help everyone in the family visualize the upcoming season or year. For 2025 I got the Sunday-start bound calendar, but they're all great. Be sure to get the erasable gel pens + stickers and use code JOYFULLYMANAGED for 10% off.
Culture and Systems Coming Together: I shared on the Daily Influence podcast a few weeks ago about why there's true magic in teams with both great systems and an intentional culture. You can listen here if that topic sounds helpful - it's a quick 15-minute episode.
P.S. I don't watch much TV because I care a lot about making time for sleep, but I LOVE a great show and would love to find one for the winter season. I've enjoyed these in the last few years: Handmaid's Tale, Night Agent, Black Doves, and The Diplomat. Got any recs for me? Hit reply because I need some ideas and get overwhelmed with all the options.
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