It's go-for-a-walk-to-get-ice-cream season
In a world full of nuance, I have uncomplicated feelings about ice cream
I hope you have a safe and meaningful holiday. The Fourth of July used to be my favorite, and I’m still obsessed with fireworks. But these days it makes me feel a little introspective.
I grew up in a highly patriotic family. Just to paint the picture: I had a small American flag in my bedroom so I could say the Pledge of Allegiance on the weekends. Truly.
But today, unexamined patriotism makes me a little uncomfortable. There are plenty of things to love about the United States—the Golden Gate Bridge, bagels, Beyoncé, Dolly Parton. And also: we can do better.
So, I’ll enjoy the fireworks. And I absolutely live for a neighborhood 4th of July parade with kids’ dance troupes, firefighters with water guns, dogs in costume. And on Monday I will call my representatives again to rail about Medicaid.
Okay. On to this week’s vitals!
What I'm Reading: I just started Orbital (affiliate link), which is a short novel about six people living on the International Space Station. I keep finding myself pausing to google “has anyone ever floated away doing a space walk,” or “youtube space station tour,” because the idea of living in space just brings a lot of curious questions to my mind. This is not a long book, but I find myself re-reading some beautiful passages. A line that stuck with me was something like, humans polish the lenses of our ever-larger telescopes to discover we are ever-smaller in the universe.
What I'm Eating: It’s let’s-go-for-a-walk-and-get-ice-cream season! Ice cream tastes better when you take a walk to the shop, pet a cute dog on the way, and then eat it while you walk around the neighborhood talking about how good it is. We did this twice this week! And since I’m super focused on protein lately, I can tell you my small scoop of cookie dough ice cream has 4 grams.
How I'm Moving My Body: I tried a Pilates reformer class recently and then this week I convinced my partner to join me for my 4th class. I finally felt like less of a drunk baby deer on the machine! My partner looked kind of dazed by the end. I have tried a lot of different workouts in my life—everything from Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred DVD to SoulCycle—and this is quite humbling. I’m a little obsessed.
What I'm Watching: It’s been a full week, and I don’t think I got to watch any TV. I did somehow end up on the side of the algorithm that was showing me a lot of fitness influencers pouting about how Pilates isn’t real strength training and it made me sigh. First, “Women need to do more strength training!”
Then, “No, not like that!”
I am reminded that there’s always a buck to be made by telling you you’re doing it wrong.
What I'm Obsessing Over: My partner and I have started a new evening ritual where we share how each of our mental health issues felt that day (depression and anxiety, respectively), something we accomplished from that day, and something we’re looking forward to for tomorrow. It an absolutely delightful way to end the day.
Sending you love, my friends. Be safe out there.
xoxo
Liz