anything goes with emma chamberlain - joy in the mundane
Episode Date: June 15, 2025[video available on spotify] i just did an episode about pet peeves. but today it’s time to be positive and do the opposite. i’m going to be sharing mundane things that bring me joy. Brought to y...ou by Dove Plant Milk Body Wash. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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So I lost my voice this past weekend because I was driving around with my friends. We were listening to music
Windows were rolled down. We were having an incredible time and
It came time for my friends to put on musical theater music. Okay
All of my friends love musical theater. They love Wicked. They love West Side Story
They love Little Shop of Horrors. They love Wicked, they love West Side Story, they love Little Shop of Horrors, they love
Hairspray, they love Hamilton.
My friends love musical theater.
And so every time we're driving around and listening to music and singing Windows Roll
Down, musical theater music will come on at some point. Now, this is the time in the car ride
where I sort of quiet down and keep to myself
because I didn't grow up doing theater,
I didn't grow up watching theater,
I know nothing about musical theater
and I definitely don't know the lyrics.
So it's not really my thing.
However, on this particular weekend,
last weekend, my friends were extra generous and decided to hold up the lyrics for me so
that I could learn some of the songs with them so that I could participate. Very generous,
very nice. And we put on Wicked, specifically the Wicked movie soundtrack.
And even more specifically, the song Defying Gravity,
which went very viral on the internet,
because Cynthia Erivo, Elphaba, in the musical movie Wicked
does this unbelievable vocal riff thing in that song,
and it went viral.
So you probably heard it.
Anyway, that's like the only thing I know about musical theater is that Cynthia Erivo
in the wicked movie did this like insane riff in the song Defying Gravity. That's like the
only thing I know about musical theater. Anywho, they put that on and I got excited because
I knew that in that song, I'd be able to participate wholeheartedly at a certain point. When that
riff came around, I knew that that was my moment to shine with my musical theater loving
friends. Anywho, to make a long story short, that part of the song came up and I hit it
as hard as I possibly could because you have to imagine, I have wanted to participate in the musical theater adornment
for months, for years.
And I haven't been able to, because it's not my thing.
And so I think this weekend when that song came on, I had all this pent up energy that
I've been waiting to expel from months know, from months and years of listening to musical
theater music with my friends. I've been waiting for this moment for me to be able to enjoy
it too. And so I hit it a little bit too hard and I completely busted my voice. My voice
is gone. But I will say it felt amazing to enjoy musical theater with my friends for even just a moment. For even just a moment.
It was sort of euphoric, and I have no regrets.
I hate when I lose my voice,
but I think it was worth it.
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Now back to the episode.
Anywho, that's not what we're talking about today.
Okay?
I don't know why I just did a full on like 2018 YouTuber story time about losing my voice.
No one cares. I don't think you care about
that. So let's move on. The last episode I did on here was about some of my pet peeves.
And I think I had a little bit too much fun doing that episode. Like, I love talking about
things that piss me off. I love a little bit of drama, a little bit of gossip.
And listen, you know, discussing pet peeves
is ultimately harmless.
Like it's not that toxic.
I don't really think it's hurting anyone,
but it is in some ways, sort of a form of gossip, you know?
And I know myself.
So I put a limit on how much I'm allowed to gossip, how much
I'm allowed to talk shit. Because if I don't put a limit on it, it actually ends up hurting
me. It makes me feel bad about myself, blah, blah, blah. So after I finished recording
that episode about my pet peeves, I was like, I guess it's time to be positive. You know?
Like I gave myself an hour or two to talk shit. Now it's time to be positive. You know, like I gave myself an hour or two to talk shit.
Now it's time to be positive.
And it gave me the idea for this episode that I'm recording right now.
Instead of talking about my pet peeves today, things that piss me off, I'm going to be talking
about the opposite.
I'm going to be talking about things that bring me joy.
And to be honest, this is a cringe idea
Like I'm cringing at this idea the second I thought of it. I was like you
Why would I ever do that?
But then I was like wait, but it's really the same concept as sharing my pet peeves. It's just positive
So why do I think that's cringe? It's not cringe. It's literally the same exact
concept reversed. And the fact that I thought it was cringe made me realize that I really
need to do this episode. You know what I mean? Like this is a challenge I need to take on
because in a weird way, I feel like we've been trained to think that being positive
and being joyful is cringe. I don't know when it happened or how it happened, but I feel
like especially young people really get cringed out by positive, happy, joyful things. And
that really came to the forefront of my mind when I thought of this episode idea.
I was like, wait, wait, this feels really cringe to me, but it shouldn't.
Do you know what I'm saying?
I don't know.
There's something cool and edgy and punk about hating everything, right?
And that's why young people are always like, ew, like, I want to talk about the stuff I
hate. And I actually think the punk thing to do is to talk about joyful things, to tell positive
stories.
Listen, it's not wrong to talk shit sometimes, but we need balance.
And so today I'm going to be sharing mundane things that bring me joy.
And listen, this is going to be a challenge for both of us.
Okay. I know a lot of you are clicking off right now thinking to yourself, I'm not going
to be entertained by what Emma enjoys. I don't care about little mundane things that bring
Emma joy. That's boring to me. I'm going to go watch a drama video. You know what I mean?
Like one of those drama videos about like, TikTokers getting canceled. Like I get it.
You're turning my podcast off right now to go watch that.
Part of me doesn't blame you
because those videos are entertaining.
But this is a challenge for the both of us.
I challenge you to listen to this episode
and find entertainment in it.
But also I'm gonna challenge myself
to make this episode entertaining,
even though there's no drama, there's no gossip,
there's no talking shit.
Let's see if we can do this
together, okay, let's begin.
Starting with matching, okay, I absolutely love matching.
For example, I love when my fingernail polish matches
my toenail polish, I love when my bra matches my underwear.
Not that I wear bras a lot,
because I really don't, but I'll wear a little bralette. I love when my bralette matches
my underwear. I love when I put on an outfit that I feel like matches perfectly. Let's
say I'm wearing an outfit and I have a pop of red in this outfit. I have a red bag and
a little red pair of shoes.
I love when the little red shoes and the little red bag are the exact same shade of red. Wow,
that feels good. Wow, that brings me joy. I love showing up to dinner with friends and we're all
wearing outfits that kind of match, kind of have the same vibe. I love matching. And it's interesting because I'm definitely
a matchier person than most, I would say. I actually think some people probably think
I'm too matchy. I think some people probably think that my outfits are too cohesive color-wise.
There's too much matching going on. But I just have always loved it.
It puts my mind at ease.
But also like, there's something really powerful
about sort of like the vision of matching.
Does that make sense?
Like there's something powerful.
You feel powerful when your bra matches your underwear.
You feel powerful when you have the same color on your fingernails as you do on your toes.
You feel powerful walking into a party if you and all of your friends are kind of matching.
You know, like the vibe and the outfit is kind of matching.
There's something powerful about it as well.
I've always loved matching and it's something that I'm not just doing for other people's gaze, right?
I'm not just matching to look like I have my shit together to other people. I like matching
for me. I like looking in the mirror and being like, oh, I'm matching. Everything matches.
Even if I'm completely alone. If somebody were to lock me in my house for six months,
I think I would still put on outfits that match every day.
A good example of this would be when I go out on a walk, like around my neighborhood,
I will put on a hideous outfit.
All right, like sweatpants, sweatshirt, running shoes, little active crossbody bag, like not
a cute crossbody bag, like an active cute crossbody bag, like an active wear
crossbody bag, sometimes a baseball cap, sometimes like a headband.
Like I don't look cute.
However, I always match.
Always.
Even though no one's going to see me, I always match because I just love it and it makes
me feel good.
Okay, next.
Doing chores efficiently brings me immense joy.
Okay, let me give you an example
of what doing chores efficiently means.
Okay, let's say I wake up in the morning.
All right, 7 a.m.
The chores start immediately.
First thing, I kind of clean up my bed a little bit.
I wouldn't say I make my bed,
but I kind of clean up my bed a little bit.
You know, put the duvet sort of back in its place, whatever.
And I always have like cups next to my bed.
Like I'll have a Stanley cup,
and then I'll have like a reusable water bottle
that I brought up so I could refill my Stanley cup. And then like maybe I'll have like a reusable water bottle that I brought up so I could refill my Stanley
cup. And then like maybe I'll have like a mug if I had like a glass of tea or something
like I always have cups and shit. So I'll gather all those things up, grab my phone,
whatever, and walk downstairs. And I start heading towards the kitchen. But as I'm heading
towards the kitchen, I walk past my dining room table and I notice a few dirty dishes on the dining room table that I didn't put in the sink last night.
So while I'm on my way to the sink to co-put all of the cups and bottles and whatever that
were by my bed in the sink, I then grab stuff from the dining room table so that I can do
it all at once in one fell swoop.
So I get all that stuff and then I go to the
sink and put everything in there. And then while I'm over by the sink, I notice, oh,
there are my pills right there next to the sink. So I take my pills that I have to take
like my allergy medicine and my PCOS medication or whatever. So then I go and I take my pills
and then while I'm taking my pills, I notice, oh, the cats need to be fed. So then I go and I take my pills. And then while I'm taking my pills, I notice, oh, the cats need to be fed.
So then I feed the cats and everything is all happening
in one fail swoop.
Is that the term, one fail swoop or one fell swoop?
It's one fell swoop.
Okay, I'm totally using that term wrong.
Whatever.
Anyways, do you get what I'm saying?
Like I love doing chores in a really efficient way.
And it brings me so much satisfaction.
And it makes chores fun when it's efficient like that.
And it's like every step is intentional.
And I just get into flow state like that.
And I really love that.
It weirdly brings me joy.
Who would have thought chores would bring me joy, but I think that's just a little part
of growing up now, isn't it?
Okay next.
When there's an actual plot twist in television or movies that I didn't predict 10 seconds
before because I am the annoying person who does that.
I'm the person in the group who's like,
okay, he's gonna get shot in the head.
And then 10 seconds later, he gets shot in the head.
Or I'm like, it's their mom knocking at the door.
Because in the show, somebody knocked on the door
and everyone's like, who could it be?
Who could it be?
And I'm like, it's the mom.
And then we open the door and it's the mom.
You know what I mean?
Like I'm the one who's predicting what happens next.
And I try to keep that to myself these days.
Okay.
But I can't help it because a lot of television and a lot of movies are predictable.
And I get tempted to say it out loud because if I don't, then no one will believe me if
afterwards I'm like, I knew it.
They're like, no, you didn't.
So if I say it beforehand, then I'll get credit for predicting.
Anyway, I'm trying to not do that as much anymore,
but I genuinely love a good plot twist.
And I only bring this up because it's so rare.
It's so rare that my jaw is on the floor
about something that happens in a TV show or movie. Usually
I see it coming. That doesn't mean that I don't enjoy TV shows or movies that are a
little bit predictable. There's actually something kind of fun about that sometimes too, like
maybe even a little bit comforting. I'm not against that. Okay. I'm not like immediately
turning something off if I feel like it's too predictable. That's not always a bad thing.
It's just really rare that you don't see something coming.
And that feeling of adrenaline and excitement when you get surprised, there's nothing better.
It's so fun.
That's when the true escapism begins, when you get shocked by what you're watching.
When you're shocked by what you're watching. when you're shocked by what you're watching.
I think the last time I was truly shocked while watching something was when I was watching
Severance, okay? The TV show Severance. And in the last episode, actually, in the last minute of the last episode of season two, there was a huge plot twist that I didn't predict. And then
they left us on a cliffhanger. And it, I mean, it brought me so much joy. I mean, it was
stressful, you know, but it brought me a lot of joy. Okay, moving on. It really brings
me joy when I'm thinking about something or thinking about someone. And then what I'm
thinking about in some way sort of shows up.
Okay?
So let's say I'm out shopping.
Maybe I'm on vacation.
I'm shopping around a new little neighborhood that I've never shopped around in before.
And I think to myself, oh, I'd really love a matcha.
Like I really just want a matcha.
And then five minutes later, I turn a corner and there is a matcha shop.
There's a shop that specializes in matcha drinks.
I love that shit.
Or let's say I start thinking about somebody randomly
in the middle of the day,
just start thinking about somebody.
And then an hour later, they text me and say,
oh, I've been missing you.
Love that, love that.
Like, I'll actually give a really specific example
that happened to me the other day.
The other day I was at my favorite brunch spot
in Los Angeles, favorite brunch spot.
And at this particular brunch spot,
I usually order breakfast tacos,
and then I'll get a few little pastries
from the pastry case because they
have really delicious pastries. And I'll have a little bit at the restaurant, but then sometimes
I'll get too many and bring them home. But it's like a tradition. Like I am always loading
up on their pastries. And on this particular day, I got there a bit later than usual. And
so the pastry case
was almost completely empty. And I was so bummed because I was like, wait, I really
wanted, like, I don't know, a little something, but there was almost nothing left. And so
while I was in line to order, because this is the type of place that you like wait in
a line, you order, you get a number, and then you sit down at a table and wait for it to
be brought out for you. And while I was waiting in line, I order, you get a number, and then you sit down at a table and wait for it to be brought out for you.
And while I was waiting in line, I was like staring at the pastry case, like dreaming
that I had gotten there earlier and not missed the pastries.
And then all of a sudden, right as I'm about to order, someone comes out from the back
with a huge tray of pastries and starts reloading the pastry case.
And I was like, no way, no way, no way.
And it's funny because I've been to this place so many times and usually when they run out, they're out.
Like I've never seen them reload it before ever in my life.
And there's been times where I've gone there and
had to get something that maybe wasn't my favorite or whatever because they were sold
out. Like usually when they're sold out, they're sold out. So it was so bizarre that they had
more in the back. That's never happened. Anyway, but it was like on this particular day, I really
wanted pastries and they came out. I just love that shit when you're thinking about it, when you're kind of manifesting it and then it just happens. Moving on, it
brings me so much joy when I convince myself that I'm sick or I have a disease or that
I'm pregnant or some sort of health related situation and then it turns out not to be true, okay?
For example, my period is very irregular,
and every other month it's like off,
and it doesn't come on the right day,
or I just skip a month completely.
Like some months I'm right on schedule schedule and my period tracker on my phone,
my period tracker app, predicts my period perfectly. And then some months it's completely
off. And it's just because I have some hormonal issues. But every time my period comes late
or I miss it all together, I convince myself that I'm pregnant. Okay.
Now listen, the older I get, the less scary that is to me. Like I'm almost 24. I'm not
trying to have children, but I think I could handle it now. You know, however, when I was
19, not so much. That would have been a mess, you know? So, but even still, even today,
I don't want to be pregnant.
I'd like to have a bit more years of learning and growing before that.
And also, I want to choose when I get pregnant.
You know what I'm saying?
I want to stop my birth control and make a plan.
I want it to be planned.
I like planning.
I'm a planner.
You should see my Google Calendar. It's miraculously planned. I like planning. I'm a planner. You should see my Google calendar. It's miraculously organized.
Okay, I like planning.
So I don't want an unexpected pregnancy, right?
It's just not my vibe.
So every time my period is late or I miss it
because my body is being weird,
I freak out and convince myself that I'm pregnant.
And it causes me so much anxiety.
And usually I try to just calm myself down and like, I don't immediately take a pregnancy
test usually because I try to self soothe myself and remind myself that I have an IUD,
I'm on birth control, you know what I mean?
The likelihood of me getting pregnant is very low, but also I have hormonal issues.
It's normal for me to not get my period on time,
blah, blah, blah.
And I try not to enable my own sort of paranoia
and health anxiety.
So I try not to take a test,
but usually eventually I take a test.
Like if my period doesn't come, I'm gonna take a test.
And the feeling I get when the pregnancy test says negative, it brings me so much joy, okay?
Or you know, if I have some sort of health scare, something weird happens and I go to
the doctor and I'm fucking terrified and the doctor says everything's fine.
Truly the most joyful experience.
It makes me so grateful every time.
And I'm so, it's such a reset.
Every time I get freaked out by something like that,
that could be life-changing in a way that isn't ideal,
and it ends up not coming to pass, it's just,
I almost feel like I have a brand new approach to life.
I'm so positive and filled with joy and gratitude in those moments.
Okay, moving on.
It brings me immense joy when my cats like the guy that I'm dating.
Immense joy. Because I really do believe that animals
have a sixth sense. Sixth sense. Okay? They don't just have the five senses. They have
a sixth. I can't say that word. Sixth. They can sense if someone's a good or bad person.
I really do believe that because I don't know, the people who I think are the most wonderful
in my life are the most loved by animals.
And I just don't think that that's a coincidence.
I don't.
And it's so funny because people that I don't really like don't get along with animals as
well.
You know what I'm saying?
Like I've, I have seen this in real life, okay?
I've watched a dog snarl at someone that I don't like
who I think is not a good person.
And on the contrary, I've seen cats
who are normally really shy rub up on the leg
of people that I love.
Do you see what I'm saying?
I don't know.
I just feel like animals can tell.
And I've noticed that throughout my life.
And so when my cats like a guy that I'm dating, I'm like, oh yeah, this is good.
And they actually don't like every guy I've dated.
It's been a mixed bag.
I mean, one of my cats is pretty nice to everyone.
The boy cat, Declan, he's a people pleaser.
Like, he just loves everyone.
However, the other cat, Frankie, my girl cat,
she's a bit more moody, she's a bit more skittish.
And so when she likes a boy that I'm dating,
I'm like, oh shit, this is good.
This is good. This is a good sign.
Listen, does it mean that they're the one? No, but it's a good sign.
Even though I really do believe that my cats can tell if people are good or bad,
I still don't really listen to them. You know,
like I dated somebody for a long time that my cats didn't like.
I could tell my cats didn't like them that much.
And I was like, eh, it's fine.
Did they end up being right?
Sure, of course they did.
And I should have listened sooner, but I didn't.
But you know what?
I think I listen to them more now
because I've seen them be right enough times
that now I know.
But it's like, there's something so heartwarming about seeing this is, this
is specifically what brings me joy. My little moody bitchy girl cat, Frankie, who literally
doesn't like anyone except for me. She has bonded with one guy that I've dated and it
literally I felt so mushy inside about that.
I don't think I've ever like swooned more in my life.
Like that, yeah, unbelievable.
I mean so precious, such a green flag, like everything about it, just amazing and joyful.
Speaking of my cats, another thing that brings me joy is when I get into bed at night
and my cats jump into bed with me.
And then the next morning I wake up and they're still there.
They slept with me the whole night.
How sweet is that?
Like, there's something really sad about going to sleep
with like an animal in your bed
and then like waking up and they're not there.
And you're like, where'd you go?
Like, what?
I thought we were like gonna hang all night
and like cuddle and stuff and then they leave
and then, I don't know, it's just sad.
There's just something so wholesome and joyful
about the thought of the cats being on the bed all night
and everyone's sleeping in the bed,
like one big happy family. There's
something about that that just brings me joy.
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All right, moving on. Customized items. Okay. Like for example, I have a few items in my possession that are perfect examples
of this. Number one, my laptop. Okay. I did something unhinged when I got my latest laptop.
I painted it with acrylic paint. Yeah, I did. And then it started chipping a little bit
so I had to put like a clear plastic case over it to
protect the paint, but I painted my computer.
Yeah.
It was like a weird impulse.
I've never felt that way before.
I've always had just plain laptops.
Actually, not always.
When I was in high school, I had a bunch of stickers on my laptop.
That was the cool thing to do in high school.
But I grew out of that.
And then for many years, just had a plain laptop,
like no decorations on it at all. And then this last one I got and I was like, I need
to do something to this. Like I'm, I'm, I need to spice it up. I need to make it mine.
You know, like I want to be at the airport going through TSA and see my laptop come out
the other end and know that it's mine. You know what I'm saying? I don't know why that
was my thought process, but I do travel kind of a lot. And it always kind of stresses me out when I have
to take my laptop out and put it in its own bin that I'm accidentally going to take somebody else's
laptop because for so many years I had a basic laptop that literally looks like everyone else's
and it stressed me out so bad. Usually I'd open it and make
sure it's mine, but sometimes I'd be in a rush and I wouldn't, and then I'd be so anxious,
and then I'd get on the plane and check and be freaked out. My heart would be beating.
It's just like nothing. So I wanted my laptop to feel mine, so I painted it. I painted it
white. I wanted the paint to look sort of chunky and like I wanted you to be able to see the brush strokes.
So I did like thick, chunky white paint.
And then I painted on the Apple logo,
a realistic looking Apple.
To be honest, it looks so cool.
I'm obsessed with it.
Like I love it.
It's funny because when I first did it,
people in my life were like, you are weird.
What are you doing painting your laptop?
Get a case.
And I was like, no, I want to commit.
I want to paint on the metal.
Anyway, I have no regrets.
I think it looks amazing and cool and unique.
I love that.
I love that little personal detail on my laptop.
It makes the laptop feel
Like mine. I also
Recently bought a little tote bag
that has my initials
hand-painted onto it. I
actually think I bought I'm not I'm I really try not to impulse buy things anymore
But I I think I got an ad on Pinterest
for these hand painted tote bags.
And I was like, oh, I think I need that.
I think I need that.
So I ordered it and I have no regrets.
I use it all the time.
I also have an LL Bean tote bag
that says Miss Emma on it that I got embroidered. It's like a red boat tote
bag, you know, the classic boat tote bag. And I got the words Miss Emma embroidered
in sort of a cursive-y font. And I absolutely love those tote bags. What other personalized
things do I have? That's all I can think of right now.
But like, I love personalized items.
I love things that feel unique to me in some way, even though like a monogram tote bag
is not that unique to me, but like just that little detail makes it feel more special.
And I tend to cherish it more. And I especially get excited
about personalizing things that usually aren't personalized, right? Like my laptop. Like
most people aren't painting their laptops. I love personalizing things that aren't normally
personalized. And I'm constantly trying to think outside the box of how I can personalize things. Yeah, because it just brings me joy and it makes me love the item even more.
Okay, moving on.
It brings me so much joy when I'm going out to eat and I'm really hungry and excited.
The worst thing in the world, okay, not in the world, but one of, I absolutely hate when
I'm going out to a restaurant and I'm not that hungry because if I'm going to a restaurant,
I want to experience the culinary experience. I want to experience the food and not only
does food taste better when you're hungry, but also I don't like eating if I'm not hungry.
Like it's not fun. Like I don't want to eat if I'm not hungry. And I hate eating when I'm, I hate eating just to eat
because then I get a stomach ache. I have a very sensitive stomach. So there's nothing
better than having a solid appetite and going out to eat. Like that is so fun. And then
you're like reading through the menu frantically, trying to figure out what to get because you're
so excited to order. Then the food comes and you eat it and you're so, and you're like reading through the menu frantically, trying to figure out what to get because you're so excited to order.
Then the food comes and you eat it and you're so,
and you're like excited because you have a good appetite
and it tastes even better because you have a good appetite.
That is the best.
It's the best.
And so on days when I know I'm gonna go out to eat,
I plan accordingly.
I'm like, all right, I'm gonna have a solid breakfast,
you know, perhaps a lighter lunch so that I can be hungry
for dinner. I want to be ready. I want to be hungry. I want to have an appetite. I want to feel
excited. Speaking of food, another thing that brings me joy is when I eat something delicious
and it doesn't hurt my stomach. Okay? Because usually delicious foods sort of hurt my stomach. All right? Like fried foods, dense foods hurt
my stomach. I have a sensitive stomach. And so if I like go out to an Italian restaurant
and I have pasta and I have pizza and my stomach doesn't hurt after, it's a miracle. It's a
miracle. It actually happened to me the other day. I went to this pasta place in Los Angeles and they import all of their stuff from Italy,
which is cool and sort of unusual.
They specialize in pasta.
So I ate a lot of pasta and usually pasta doesn't agree with me.
It just like sits in my stomach like a brick and it hurts.
And I'm crampy and I'm like bloated and I'm uncomfortable
and I'm gassy or whatever.
I ate this pasta and felt fucking nothing.
I felt nothing, no stomach pain at all.
And I was filled with joy, filled with joy.
Another thing that brings me joy is when I'm really thirsty,
okay, like parched.
And maybe I was just doing something.
Maybe I was doing some chores.
Maybe I was working, whatever.
And I look around and I find my Stanley cup and I pick it up and it's heavy.
It's full.
There's nothing worse than being thirsty and then looking around finding your cup with
water in it and it being empty.
That sucks.
It sucks because it's like, I just want a sip of water, ice cold, yummy water, but now
I have to go fill it up.
I don't want to go fill it up.
I want to have my water now.
There's something so nice about, oh, you know what a good example
that is? This is a great example. When I wake up in the middle of the night, maybe I have to pee
and I'm super thirsty and I like haphazardly start reaching around, try to find my Stanley Cup
and I pick it up and it's heavy and there's still lots of water left in it and I get to just chug water the best feeling
It's amazing. It's amazing
And I think it's actually particularly satisfying for me because I'm very particular about my water
Like I am somebody who really likes to spice up my water. Okay, I
very rarely fill my cup with just plain water, which some people might
think is weird, but I don't know. I just don't really, I don't drink as much water if there
isn't something interesting about it. And so some of my fun waters that I drink, I love
drinking water with electrolytes in it. I don't overdo it because you can definitely
overdo it. But I do a lot of hot yoga. I sweat a lot. So I can kind of justify consuming
a good amount of electrolytes. So oftentimes I have electrolytes in my Stanley cup. Other
times I'll do sparkling water with apple cider vinegar, which is really weird to some
people.
To me, it's delicious.
I also have recently been enjoying sparkling water with a little bit of lemon juice and
a little bit of ginger juice.
Delicious.
If I'm at a restaurant, sparkling water with lime, but I never put that in my Stanley Cup.
Those are my waters of choice, and there's nothing better than lifting in my Stanley Cup. Those are my waters of choice. And there's nothing
better than lifting up my Stanley Cup. And there's still being a lot of my fun drink
left in there. Yeah. Makes me feel good.
All right. Moving on. This is really broad, but anything involving sweet, wholesome little
cartoons, anything, if there's a cartoon involved, I'm in.
Okay?
The sky's the limit when I say cartoon.
Okay?
This could be a hand-drawn cartoon.
This could be a cute little like graphic design-y little cartoon.
This could be a little claymation sort of cartoon.
This could be, I just love little cartoons. Okay?
Do you know what I'm saying? Little cartoons. I love little characters. I love an animated
movie. I love an animated TV show. I love claymation. I love little items like cups
or notebooks or purses that have little characters printed on them. I love little
stuffed dolls that look like little cartoons, little cartoon inspired dolls. I love art
with little cute cartoons. I just love little sweet little wholesome cartoons. I always have, like some of my favorite movies are animated movies.
I love Coraline. I love Fantastic Mr. Fox. Those are both sort of claymation vibes. I
love, there used to be a YouTube series called Simon the Cat. I think that was like a cute
little animated, like hand drawn animated series of a little cat.
Love that. I don't know. I just love little doodles and little cartoons and little stuffed
animals and little like, I just love that stuff. And it brings me a lot of joy. And
it especially brings me joy when the little cartoons are actually catered to a slightly more mature audience,
you know? Not like they're inappropriate, but they're mature, they're chic, you know?
Like I think Coraline and Fantastic Mr. Fox are great examples of cartoons that could
appeal to an adult visually. Although I don't know if those are considered cartoons. Those
are like little characters, clay characters, but you get what I'm saying. I just love anything
with a little cute cartoon involved. Ooh, this next one's really good. This brings me
a lot of joy. When I get on a plane and listen, the sentence does not end there because getting on a plane does not
bring me joy.
I have severe flight anxiety, which has been actually getting better recently.
It's kind of dissipating, which is good.
I'm exiting a phase of being afraid of flying because I go through phases with it, but it
still stresses me out. I absolutely love when I get on a plane. I sit down, I
get buckled in, and I put my headphones in and I start watching my downloaded YouTube
videos. And then I slowly close my eyes and I fall asleep. And then I wake up to the plane
descending into our destination. Oh, it's like time travel to sleep for the
whole flight. It's literally as close as we have right now to time travel. And there's
nothing better. I actually had the most incredible sleep on the last flight I was on. I was flying
home from New York and the flight on the way back from New York to LA was five hours. And it was
actually a flight during the day. I think my flight was at like 2 PM. And so I was like,
I'm probably not going to sleep on this flight. I'll just try to get some work done or whatever.
But I ended up sitting down and I got so tired that I was like, you know what, maybe I'll
just nap for half of it and then work the other half. I slept the whole time. It was amazing. And I woke up in Los Angeles
like nothing ever happened. It's truly to sleep an entire flight. It's a euphoric experience.
It's amazing. Especially one that's long, like a five hour flight or I've actually slept
the duration of a flight to Europe, which is 10
hours. I've slept an entire flight to Europe before. Amazing. Amazing. You wake up rested,
ready for the day. It's the best feeling. Moving on. Repairing a piece of clothing myself.
Okay. I'm talking about patching a hole, sewing a button back on. You get the
idea. I love noticing something's wrong with my clothes. Listen, I don't want my clothes
to be falling apart, right? That's not ideal. But I love when I notice something's wrong
and I'm like, oh, I can just fix that right now. And then I go and I sit down and I fix it and it's sort of this calm, relaxing activity.
But then there's also a reward at the other end because now I can wear that piece of clothing.
I don't know.
There's something about it that I really, really like.
I like taking care of the things that I have and it brings me joy to mend them because the things that I own these
days I really like.
There was a period of time where I had a lot of clothes in my closet that I didn't really
care about.
I was like, I could do without this.
I don't really care.
But I've since donated all of the stuff that I don't really like, kept all the stuff that
I really, really like, and now I'm left with clothing that genuinely means something to me.
So if there's a rip, if there's a hole, if a button fell off, I want to fix it because
that's a piece of clothing that I care about.
And that's how we should all feel about our clothes ideally.
But I had a little shopping addiction for a little bit, so I had a lot of clothes.
I don't know.
There's just, it almost brings you closer to the item when you fix it.
It's almost like relationships.
Like if you get in a fight with your friend
and then you both get over it,
your relationship is gonna be stronger
at the other end of that.
And it's weird, it's like the same thing with clothes.
If you notice a tear or something like that in your clothing, and then you sit down and
you mend it yourself, you feel more attached to that piece of clothing as a result because
you put in effort to take care of it.
And I don't know, like there's something really beautiful about that.
And not only do I find joy in feeling sentimental and close to my items, but I also
genuinely enjoy the process of like sewing a button, sewing a hole. I actually enjoy
that experience. I like sewing. So I don't know. There's just something about that that
brings me joy.
Okay, moving on. Kind of actually a similar vibe to the last one I just said,
getting to enjoy or use something that I made. Okay? Like painting a painting and then hanging
it up on the wall or sewing a piece of clothing or an accessory and then wearing it out or, you know,
baking banana bread and then cutting myself off a slice. There's something about making
something and then getting to enjoy it that's so wonderful. I don't know, I really love
that experience. A great example of that would be a few months ago, it was Coachella and
I sewed myself a lace bonnet a month prior to Coachella. Then Coachella and I sewed myself a lace bonnet like a month prior to Coachella. And then
Coachella came around and I was picking out my outfits and I was like, I get to wear my
lace bonnet. It'll match perfectly. And it was just so exciting. I also really want to
buy a big canvas and paint a really big painting because I want to, I don't know, I think that
would be really fun to paint like a big statement piece and hang it up in big painting because I want to, I don't know, I think that would
be really fun to paint like a big statement piece and hang it up in my house because I
know that that'll bring me joy. I don't know, like creating things is so much more fun if
you get to use it in some way. I don't know. Not that that's like mandatory. Like there
are times when it's fun to make something just for it to sort of go away.
Like an example of that would be, you know, when I was a kid, I used to really love making
fairy houses.
Like when I would go on summer vacation on the East Coast in Maine, there was a lot of
forest.
And I used to go hang out sort of in the forest and I would
make little fairy houses.
You know, I'd use sticks and moss and weird little stumps from trees and whatever and
make a little fairy house for a fairy to live.
And it was really fun to make that even though I didn't personally get to benefit from that.
I still enjoyed making that.
I don't know.
It's really rewarding to make something that's going to be enjoyed.
Ooh, this next one's a really good one.
It brings me so much joy when a bird moves into one of the birdhouses that I have in
my backyard.
I've always had bird houses around.
Like growing up, I think there was a bird house
in my backyard.
My mom has little bird houses at her house.
Like everyone around me has bird houses.
There's something so incredible
about a bird moving into the house.
Like one day walking past the bird house
and seeing a little nest in there,
it's like, what? I'm a landlord?
It's so exciting. It's so exciting. And it doesn't happen often. The birdhouses I have now,
I think I've only seen a bird in there once. I haven't had a bird living in one of my birdhouses
in a really long time, but wow, is it exciting.
I don't know, because we put out those things for the animals because we want animals among
us.
I have a bird house strategically placed by the window that is next to my kitchen sink.
When I'm doing dishes, I look out that window and there's
a beautiful tree there. And so I hung a birdhouse there because I was like, how wonderful would
it be to be doing dishes, watching a little bird? That would be so wonderful. That's why
we put out birdhouses because we want the birds among us. And so when they move in, it's so exciting.
It's like, I, it almost feels like you're communicating
with the animal.
It's like, hey, I invited you to come hang out here with me.
Anyway, speaking of birds, another thing that brings me joy
is seeing a rare animal when I'm out and about, okay?
A rare animal, not meaning like, like super rare, like, you know, like I'm out and about. Okay? A rare animal, not meaning like super rare, like
I'm in my backyard and all of a sudden a wild boar shows up. It's like, wait, what is that
doing here? That's not supposed to be here. That's really rare. That's weird. Or it's
not even rare. It's just not supposed to be here. I'm saying like this, okay? I'll give
you an example. It was a rainy day and I was walking around my house doing chores.
Starting to sound like all I do is chores. It's kind of true. I spend a lot of my day cleaning
up after myself, honestly, but that's because I really like to have an organized home. So it's
sort of my own doing. But anyway, I was walking around doing chores. It was a foggy day and
Anyway, I was walking around doing chores. It was a foggy day and I love fog.
Okay, I think fog is probably my favorite weather.
Actually, now that I'm getting older,
I really love like a hot sunny day,
but I really love fog.
All right, anyhow, tied for first place
with a hot and sunny day.
I love a hot and sunny day. I love a hot and sunny day,
and I love a really comfortable, windless, foggy day.
Like 75 degrees, foggy, no wind.
I really like that.
Well, actually, maybe like 65 and a little bit of a brisk,
a slight little breeze, but not cold.
Anyway, it was foggy, and I was like, wow, what a beautiful, but not cold. Anyway, it was foggy and I was like, wow,
what a beautiful foggy afternoon.
So I walked up to my window that looks out on my pool
and I look in the pool and my jaw dropped
because there were ducks in my pool, ducks.
I've never seen ducks on my house property.
Definitely not in my pool. I've never seen ducks on my house property. Definitely not in my pool.
I've never seen ducks remotely, even near my house.
I was so excited.
I literally, I got out my camera.
This is actually kind of sad.
I got out my camera to film them.
And the second I set up my tripod, they flew away.
I wanted to take a clip of them swimming around in my pool
on my camera, but they flew away. It was really sad, but you know what? It's just, it's my memory now. Only I've seen it. And it was so exciting. Cause I was like, what are you guys doing here?
Do you know what I mean? But it's the same thing as like, if I'm on a hike and all of a sudden I
see like a weird frog or like, actually that might
scare me a little bit. Frogs are a little bit weird. Maybe I see like a turtle or something
or a toad. Oh wait, a toad is a frog, a tortoise. Sorry, not a toad. I don't know. I see like
a tortoise or a turtle or something or I'm driving through through a forest and I see a moose, or I'm driving through
the countryside and I see a bunch of pigs.
That's not really a wild animal, but I just get excited when I see animals that I don't
normally see.
I never see ducks in my backyard.
I don't often see turtles or tortoises when I'm on
a hike. I don't get to see pigs very often. I just love seeing unusual animals. It's so
satisfying and fun. I really love to see deer as well. Sometimes when I'm driving around
at night, I'll see deer running around in people's front yards and I'm like, what are you guys
doing around here?
It's just fun.
Oh, another good one is seeing a bunny.
Like being on a hike and seeing a bunny.
That's exciting.
I love bunnies.
I never had a pet bunny, but I do love bunnies.
Okay, next. I love when I find a song that's so good. It makes me feel so euphoric that
I play it over and over again for a month straight. It doesn't happen to me very often.
In fact, it only happens a few times a year, but when it happens, it's so incredible. What's
the last song that that happened to me with? You know what? Finn Wolfhard. Finn Wolfhard has
really put out some bangers recently. His song, Trailers After Dark, really good song.
Finn Wolfhard has put out some songs recently that I've been playing on repeat. Yeah, I'm
into it. I'm fucking into it. So that's probably the last time that happened to me. But it's just so rare that a song will hit that nerve. And so when
it does, it's just, and it's so fun to have a song that you are excited to play. Do you
know what I mean? I hate when I get in the car and I'm like, ah, I'm kind of in the mood
to listen to music, but nothing really appeals to me right now. Like I'm like, I'm kind of in the mood to listen to music, but nothing really appeals
to me right now. Like I'm not really into anything right now. It's so fun to get into
the car and be like, I want to play music and I know exactly what I'm going to play.
I don't know. That's fun. Although I will say I'm somebody who drives a lot in silence.
And yeah, I exist in a lot of silence, but there are moments
when I really want to listen to music and I'm in the mood for it. And it feels so good
when I have a go-to song of the moment.
Next, when I'm staying at a hotel and they have a buffet breakfast, there is something
about a buffet breakfast. I feel like a kid again. I feel, okay, how do I explain this?
I feel the same way as an adult when I go to a buffet breakfast that I did as a child.
It just feels like a free for all.
I'm like, I get to have all of this.
I can grab whatever I want.
I can have a little bit of this and a little bit of that.
I don't have to crack open the menu and commit to something.
I don't have to commit to eggs and avocado. I don't have to commit to ricotta
pancakes. I can have it all. I still get the same excitement now as an adult as I did as
a kid. And I don't know. I just, I love a buffet breakfast. I love being able to go
up for different rounds. I'll go up and start out with, you know,
maybe some with some protein, like some eggs,
and then I'll, you know, sit for a second and be like,
all right, you know, I'm craving something sweet.
Go back up, have a yogurt parfait, eat that,
get a little bit full, let it digest for a minute,
go back up, get some hash browns, fuck it.
Realize, you know what would be really good?
A chocolate croissant, get back up really good? A chocolate croissant.
Get back up.
Go grab a chocolate croissant.
Sit back down.
My dad and I, when we're traveling,
we hang out at the breakfast buffet for hours.
Hours.
Just hang out, eat a little bit,
chat a little bit, digest a little bit,
get back up, eat, sit.
Like we're doing it all, you know? We try a little bit of get back up, eat, sit. Like we're doing it all. We
try a little bit of everything. We spend hours at the buffet. It's so much fun. And it's
even better when the seating is outside. Oh, and the weather's warm and I'm eating a breakfast
buffet and it's warm. Wow. That's one of the best experiences.
Next, it brings me a lot of joy
when I think that I don't like someone, okay?
Maybe I had a bad experience with them.
Maybe I don't like their presence online
or maybe my friends don't like them or something like,
I just don't like someone.
I think I don't like somebody.
And then I have an experience that proves me wrong
and makes me rethink it.
I love that.
I don't like not liking people. I do like talking shit and I do like a little bit of gossip and I do
like a little bit of drama, but never when it's that serious. I don't really like disliking
people. I don't want to dislike people. So it brings me a lot of joy when someone proves
me wrong. And it's happened to me many, many, many times. I remember there was this one person who
was kind of rude to me once and then I decided I don't really like this person.
And then the next time I saw them, they were a bundle of love. And I was like, wait, this person
is great. I shouldn't have jumped to a conclusion so quickly. And it was so rewarding. It made me
feel good. I was so happy to have one less person to dislike because again, I don't like disliking
people.
I don't want to dislike people.
So to be proven wrong is joyful.
Oh, this next one's really good.
It really brings me joy.
I'm at a party or a bar or something like that and music's playing, it's bumping really loud.
And then all of a sudden,
they start playing Tongue Tied by Group Love.
Sorry, call me fucking basic.
Okay, call me basic.
But every time I'm at a party or a bar
or something like that, or I guess a club,
but I don't really go to the club,
and Tongue Tied by Group Love comes on.
It is euphoric for me. I love that song.
Everybody loves that song. The second the song comes on, everybody in unison screams
every time. Everyone's so excited. And I'm excited because I genuinely love that song.
And you know what? I often don't like the songs that everyone likes.
And I'm not saying that I'm fucking different.
So different, I'm not like other girls.
I don't like the song that everyone likes.
But I'm genuinely not being a pick me.
You can fucking call me a pick me.
You will call me a pick me.
You're gonna call me a pick me.
Because of what I'm saying, you're gonna clip this,
you're gonna put it on TikTok,
and you're gonna say, I'm as a pick me, okay? I get it. All I'm saying is you're going to clip this, you're going to put it on TikTok and you're going to say, Emma's a pick me.
Okay?
I get it.
All I'm saying is there's a lot of times when I'm out where everybody gets really excited
about a song and I'm like, eh, I don't like that song that much.
Group love, tongue tied, I love.
So every time it comes on, I'm like, this is amazing.
It's communal, but it's also personal.
Like I get excited when that song comes on when I'm alone, but when there's a bunch of people
around who are also excited, it's amazing.
Okay, next.
Moving on.
It brings me so much joy when someone randomly takes a picture of me, like maybe one of my
friends or I don't know, my parent or something, when they randomly take a photo of me
and then they show me and it's such a good photo,
I look unbelievable, I look hot, I look cool,
I look candid and I wasn't even trying,
they just took a random photo of me
and suddenly I now get to post this on grid.
It's going straight to fricking Instagram
because it's that good.
How awesome is that?
Because I swear, it's so hard to get a good photo.
It's always when you're like posing and you're like trying to figure out the
lighting and you like picked a spot to take the photo and it's all planned and
stuff that the photo just doesn't work out.
And then every once in a while, randomly a candid one will work out.
And it's like, why do we ever even try?
You know? The
magic happens when you're not trying. The best photos are taken, candid, I think. It's just
hard to get good photos. And so when one happens on accident, and no planning went into it,
it was just easy. It was an accident almost. So awesome. I love when that happens. And
I really need people in my life to be taking even more photos of me because I want to experience
that feeling more often.
Okay, and last but not least, we have the classic summer day.
You all know what I'm talking about.
The classic summer day brings me so much joy. Okay, I'm talking about waking up at like eight, nine a.m.,
having a relaxed morning, okay, hanging out by the pool,
maybe going to the beach in the afternoon,
getting a tan, swimming, talking shit, listening to music,
then at around 5 p.m., getting in the shower, looking
tan, looking hot, getting ready, then going out to dinner.
Perhaps sitting on a patio having dinner.
Wow.
Wow.
Then going out and the weather's still warm.
You're wearing like a cute hot outfit and you're not cold because it's hot out.
And everybody looks hot because it's summer and everyone's sun kissed and happy. Sorry
that that's as good as life gets. To me, that's what heaven is. I hope when I die, I go to
an eternal summer where every day I get to wake up, have a little coffee, hang out by
the pool, hang out by the beach all day, then go to dinner and sit on a fucking patio, then
go out, then go to bed, then do it all over again the next day because it's fucking summer,
baby.
That is one of the most joyful experiences I think a human being can have.
It's unbelievable.
And I don't even
really like going out anymore. Like I don't like partying like that. But there's something
about the summer day. It's just magic. It's magic. And that's it. Those are all the things
that I could think of. But listen, maybe I'll do this again. Okay. I've made like 10 episodes
about all my different pet peeves. So maybe this will
become a new series. Anti pet peeves, joy in the mundane. Okay. And I actually encourage
you all to write down a list of things that bring you joy. You could write down five things,
10 things, 20 things. I today listed 23 things. So maybe if you want to one up me, you could do 25.
But I really think it's a positive exercise to write down things that bring you joy because
it can sometimes be easy to be pessimistic, to be nihilistic, especially nowadays.
And I think it can be really valuable to remind yourself what brings you joy.
And so I suggest that you try it.
And so that's it for me today.
I hope you enjoyed hanging out with me.
I absolutely enjoyed hanging out with you.
And if you want to hang out again, new episodes every Thursday and Sunday, you can listen
anywhere.
Although video is on Spotify and YouTube.
Check out anything goes on social media at Anything Goes.
Find me on social media at Emma Chamberlain on YouTube at Emma Chamberlain and check out
my coffee company, Chamberlain Coffee.
Today I was drinking a little matcha latte, a little homemade matcha latte using our matcha.
Disgusting sound.
Anyway, I love you all.
I appreciate you all.
It is always a pleasure to hang out.
And luckily for us, we get to do it all over again in a few days.
So I'll talk to you then.
All right.
Love you all and goodbye.