3 Sneaky Reasons You Wake Up Feeling Tired + A Financial Pro's Advice For Designing a Rich Life
Plus holiday gift ideas galore. 🎁
Happy December and welcome back to What’s Good!
Due to the holiday, I took last Monday off—but this dispatch is fully loaded with news to make up for lost time!
Last time we connected, we were previewing Thanksgiving menu deliciousness to come with my best easy apple pie recipe. Since then, I enjoyed a long weekend in my hometown to share the holiday (and plenty of turkey, sourdough and macarons) with my family.
Back in Des Moines, I was honored to be voted onto the board for the Wallace Centers of Iowa, and will have much more to share come 2023 about this exciting new partnership! A few friends and I celebrated in a very fitting way Saturday evening at a stunning farm-to-table dinner at Grade A Gardens; chef Katie Porter from the Wallace Centers just so happened to be catering.
In between all of that feasting, I’ve also been spending a lot of quality time on at my desk covering the latest in nutrition, fitness, mental health and food news. Let’s dive in!
What to Read…
About 45% of Americans confirm that insufficient sleep affected their daily lives at least once during the last 7 days, according to the National Sleep Foundation. But even if you do rack up the recommended 7 to 9 hours, a new study suggests that there might be a few daily habits that hinder your ability to approach the day feeling alert, chipper and sharp from morning to night. (Yes, one of them has to do with breakfast—and what you fuel up with in the a.m.!)
Check out my summary of what you need to know about this research, then get some holiday gift ideas, expert wine recommendations for the season and so much more.
EatingWell: 3 Sneaky Reasons You Wake Up Feeling Tired, According to a New Study
EatingWell: Lowering Blood Pressure Might Help You Feel Less Anxious, New Research Suggests
EatingWell: The Health Benefits of Walking Backward, According to Fitness Experts
EatingWell: Jennifer Lopez Shared the Recipes Her Family Enjoys Every Christmas
Everyday Health: 8 Ways Mental Health Experts Prep for Days They Know Are Going to Be Stressful
dsm Magazine: 11 Local Shops for Your Holiday Food Gifts
dsm Magazine: 4 Restaurant Egg Dishes Worth Trying
Better Homes & Gardens: How to Use an Instant Pot as a Slow Cooker
Better Homes & Gardens: How to Thicken Chili 7 Ways (And How to Prevent Thin Chili)
VERANDA: 7 of the Best Winter Wines, According to Sommeliers
What to Listen To…
Healthier Together: Ramit Sethi Answers Your Money Questions
Many of us have probably heard financial gurus on talk shows talking about the importance of little habits and how they impact our bottom lines. Remember that whole “millennials and avocado toast” theory about our investment in lunch was hampering our future ability to buy a house? Or how about that “skip your $4 Starbucks everyday—you’re ‘wasting’ $1,460 per year” advice?
Hey, I get it: These buzzy talking points are very easy to slot in during fast-paced news segments, and are certainly simple to shoot out into the world via a tweet (that can be shared ad nauseam). But the truth is that we earn money to save money, true, but also to spend and to enjoy it while we’re here on Earth.
I’m so grateful that my Dad gave me a solid education in finance 101 as a teen. The plot thickened, though, as I started my career—and especially as I took the reins of planning for my future on my own back on January 1, 2019 (the day I embarked on my entrepreneurial journey).
Since day one as a full-time freelance writer, and as my business has evolved, I’ve been examining my relationship with money. I’ve learned a lot about how I still had (and admittedly have) some fear about “treating myself” at times. These avocado toast and latte schticks, while offered in service, probably aren’t helping me or any of us in terms of our long-term financial success, stability and overall life happiness.
I loved this episode of journalist and author Liz Moody’s podcast, Healthier Together, and appreciate Ramit Sethi’s unconventional-but-long-overdue advice about investing, setting aside a “guilt-free spending” account and what really matters in terms of building wealth.
“Get curious about what elements are part of your richest life,” Sethi says, because “what’s the point of all this money if you’re not using it intentionally?”
