The Lazy Genius Podcast - #190 - My Favorite Discoveries of 2020

Episode Date: December 28, 2020

I want to mark the end of this year here with you by sharing my favorite discoveries of 2020, and maybe it’ll make you want to remember the good things that you discovered and enjoyed and learned. So that’s what we’re going to do. Here are my favorite discoveries of 2020. Stuff Mentioned Join me over on Instagram (@thelazygenius) for more of my favorite discoveries. Two podcast episodes by others that offer a great perspective on reflection: The Next Right Thing: Walk At Your Own Pace and 10 Things To Tell You: 10 Questions for the End of the Year Hear more about the Daily Delete from Miss Freddy in this recent Lazy Genius episode. Olive & June asked me to curate a collection for them, and I haven’t been okay since. (And here’s my review on Instagram) Hear me say words about skincare in The Lazy Genius Guide to Makeup and The Lazy Genius Skincare Routine. P.s. the brand I mention is Sunday Riley Good Genes The ultimate lounge set: Vuori joggers and Richer Poorer robe TV Shows: Schitt’s Creek and What We Do in the Shadows POV Comedians on Instagram: @lukemillingtondrake, @hicaitlinreilly, @dmichaelburke, and @vinn_ayy Soma Vanishing 360 Perfect Coverage bra Download a transcript of this episode.   This podcast is hosted by Kendra Adachi and executive produced by Kendra Adachi, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's something else here now, something new. From exclusively on Paramount Plus, it's the series Stephen King calls Scary as Hell. Everything here is impossible, but it's also real. Sci-fi Vision calls it the best show streaming right now. We're running out of time and we still don't know the rules. Don't miss what the movie blog calls something you need to watch. Saving those children is how we all go home.

From binge all episodes exclusively on Paramount Plus. there you're listening to The Lazy Genius podcast. I'm Kendra Adachi and I'm here to help you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. Today is episode 190, my favorite discoveries of 2020. There is appropriately so much language this time of year about looking back. I've been sharing my own favorite albums and books and fun things on Instagram at The Lazy Genius. Magazines and podcasts are doing wrap-ups and roundups of pop culture favorites, as well as a list of all the things we've gone through this year. That's been fun. There are actually a couple of really fantastic resources from people I know whose work I

love that are beautiful perspectives on reflecting in a way that's hopeful and soulful and not wrote or stupid. I will put links to those in the show notes. So don't worry. They're both podcast episodes. The first is from Emily P. Freeman's podcast, The Next Right Thing. It's episode 108 from last December actually called walk at your own pace. That one is so good if you're feeling a little unmoored with all of the past reflection and future goals and you just need a beat. It's such a good permission giver. The other episode is from Laura Tremaine on the 10 Things to Tell You podcast. It's episode 95, 10 questions for the end of the year. Both of these women are my favorite guides to reflection and questions and thoughtfulness.

And I know that both of them and these particular episodes would be a great help to you. But when I was thinking about the podcast schedule and what the last episode of the year could be, there were the obvious choices, right? But there are just so many other people like Emily and Laura who talk about reflection far better than I do. So I just didn't want to do that. I just wanted to send you to them. Also, I didn't want to do like kind of what I did last week, which was to remind

is how hard this year has been. I mean, you is. We don't need a downer two weeks in a row. As necessary as that downer can be, you know, so that we can experience kindness and patience towards ourselves and processing how hard it's been. That is important. I think you should listen to the episode if you haven't. But I want this one to be different. And as we all do, when we're trying to focus on something and make a decision, we open Instagram and mindlessly scroll Instagram. So that's what I did. And then I started laughing at a video from someone I have found such joy in this year. And then I realized that was it. I wanted to mark the end of this year here with you sharing my favorite discoveries of 2020. And maybe it'll make you want to

remember the good things that you discovered and enjoyed and learned this year too. So that's what we're going to do. Here are my favorite discoveries of 2020. The first is the daily delete. The Daily Delete is this, it's just a routine. It's the tiny, tiny routine of deleting unnecessary photos from your phone every single day. I learned this from Miss Freddie, also known as Casey, that's like her actual name. She was on the podcast on episode 185, how to think about holiday photos. Miss Freddie is a professional photo organizer. And this little tiny, tiny thing that she calls the Daily Delete has been so amazing ever since I heard about it. I use it every single day. Fancy that. I have an alarm set on my phone for the time of night that I'm

usually just hanging out on the couch. And every day, I go through the photos I took from that day. I add my one second to my one second everyday app that captures one second of every day in a video and then makes like one long video. It's so, so great. I pop photos in the right order that I want to keep and then I delete the rest. It's like my photo app gets a reset every single day. I can find stuff because of the folders that Ms. Freddie taught me how to make. It is, it's just changed my life. It really has. It has been such a good discovery of 2020, Ms. Freddie's Daily Delete. So that's number one. And you can do it like right now. No money required. You just need to set like an alarm somehow. So that's number one. The second one is, I've talked about this in a ton of places, a ton of them.

But it has to be included. And that is Olive and June nail polish. I discovered this polish so hard in the early days of the pandemic. that I now have a page, like a personal lazy genius page on the Olive and June website, where I chose my favorite colors. Like I chose my own collection. I put together my own collection. And it's on the website. And I've become friends, like good, lovely friends with the founder, Sarah Gibson Tuttle or SGT. I have an Instagram post in the feed that explains why I love the polish.

There's a highlight on my Instagram profile with some Olive and June stuff. There is a video in my IGTV. of my four-year-old Annie unboxing the winter collection a few weeks ago. There's just a lot. I've talked a lot about all in June. But this polish is so lovely. It lasts a long time. They have fantastic colors and all the things you want from nail polish.

But part of the discovery that's been so great is how therapeutic and calming and centering doing my nails has been. It takes a little time and it takes my being slow. It requires slowness. but it's also completely frivolous and not productive in the traditional sense. So it's just been the perfect discovery for this year in particular to just go slow and not produce and do something for me that's just really fun. I don't know if I would have processed my joy of nail polish the same outside of 2020

or the slowness that it has brought me. So I am particularly grateful for it. By the way, not all of these are products, just for the record, even though the Daily Delete is not one, but there are several products coming, but they're not all products. Okay. Number three. Number three is product and it is Sunday Riley good jeans. I do really enjoy skincare and makeup. I don't have a ton of products or maybe more accurately. I don't buy new things to try if I have found something I like that does the job. So if you're curious about how makeup and skincare from the lazy genius perspective, I have done two episodes in the past.

One is the lazy genius skincare routine and the other is the lazy genius guide to makeup. That's where I talk about using the lazy genius principle from my book, The Lazy Genius Way. The principle decide once where I essentially have three makeup faces and I decided one time what they are and then I choose the best one for the day. They're called Basic Face, Ready Face and Fancy Face. I'm not kidding. I think it's actually a super, super fun episode. but my point, I have episodes about both things, and I like skincare and makeup a lot.

You know, it's funny. I don't feel like I use a ton of products. So in many ways, it would be easy to tell you what I use, but then I start to tell you what I use and it feels like a lot. So I'm going to take this opportunity to share my favorite skincare slash makeup discovery of 2020, and that is Sunday Riley Good Jeans. It is not a discovery in the sense that it's new to anyone but me. It's been around a long time. People talk about it a lot. It's kind of a cult favorite. It's just my first time using it. And it's really fantastic. It is a lactic acid treatment that goes on as like a thin cream. And it does what it claims to do. At least for me it does. It brightens my face. It does feel important to say that not all skincare works for everyone. So just because it works for me doesn't mean it's going to work for you. But I think it was worth trying for me. And it's turned out great because it's bright in my skin. it tingles just enough to let me know it's working, but not so much that I feel like my face is coming off with some lactic acid treatments I've done. It's pricey, but it's not impossible, and a little goes a long way. So it is a great, great product that I highly recommend. Okay, the fourth thing is

kind of a duo. It's both items of clothing. It is Viori joggers and then also just a robe, like the concept of a robe. Okay, so first the pants. Bree McCoy shared these pants on Instagram at the beginning of the pandemic, having done all the research to find the best joggers out there. And she wins, though, because they're amazing. Now, they are not cheap, like all, they're not. But after having bought one and then wearing it so much that I bought another and then maybe another, I can say with great conviction that these are the best joggers out there. They are light and soft. They are made so well. They don't look cheap and they stay up. I've been wearing them almost every single day since maybe April and they kept me cool in the summer and warm in the winter. I walk in them. I sleep in them. I go to like grocery pickup in them. I do a porch sit with a friend in them. They are perfect. They are so perfect. And I'm so glad I discovered them this year. The second part of this is like I am now a robe person. I have never been a robe person. In fact, in the past I found robes quite superfluous. Like, why?

do you need a robe? Just put on more clothes. I don't understand. And the sleeves are so long. So like, what is the point? I don't know. So I just want to say, I'm sorry to all of you robe lovers out there that I doubted you, that I questioned you. You have my deepest apologies and the recognition that you deserve. So I bought a robe that was super on sale during Black Friday. And it was from a company that I really like that I've bought from before called richer, poorer. I have a couple of T-shirts from them. I did splurge on. I did splurge on this robe. It was a Black Friday sale at a coupon from a previous purchase. It was, it was a lot cheaper than listed, but it was still like 40 bucks, which is a lot to spend on a on a glorified

blanket when I already have those. A robe is not a blanket. I have learned it. It is not a blanket. It is not a sweatshirt. It is not the same. A robe keeps one warm. A robe is always ready for you. A robe is like, I don't know, weirdly stylish, depending on the robe. And it makes my bed hair and my mismatched not real pajamas look sort of on purpose. A robe just makes me feel like an adult. I don't know. That might be my favorite part of it, actually, is I feel like how it makes me feel. Plus, the sleeves are great. They don't ever get in the way. I don't know what I was thinking. So that's number four. Aw, isn't something we need to travel for. It's something waiting for us in everyday life, whether in a city street or a moment with a work of art. I'm Dr. Keltner,

host of the Science of Happiness podcast. Join me for Cities of Aw. A special series on how our public spaces can spark awe, wonder, and enhance the quality of public life. You can find us wherever you listen to your podcasts. Number five is two TV shows. We'll make them one point instead of two.

The first show is Shits Creek. If you watch it, you know the magical journey I am on. I'm in season two. it is surprising to me how emotional it makes me. It's not like a laugh out loud comedy, but it's so very funny. It's absurd, but it's also very, very familiar and human. I honestly don't understand how it is what it is, but I love it deeply and I'm taking it slow. It's like if a rest of development was more tender. That's how I think, how I describe it. So Cause and I We'll watch like one or two episodes every couple of nights.

No more than that. So it will last. And it's just been the best thing. The second show I discovered is what we do in the shadows. So Jamie Golden from the pop cast with Knox and Jamie, she told me to watch this one. And she was right. And it's my perfect sense of humor. If you like dark comedies, I cannot imagine a world in which you would dislike what we do in the shadows.

It's on Hulu. It's about a group of vampires who. live in Staten Island and try to have dominion over mankind. But they're like bumbling and lazy. And it is beyond ridiculous. It is dark. It is very adult. It is the opposite of Sirius, which is always a nice thing to have in 2020. So both of these shows have been amazing for me to discover this year. That leads me to my number six favorite discovery of 2020. So in terms of things that make me laugh and what we need. It's point of view comedians on Instagram. Okay. So these four

brilliant humans have kept me laughing. And this sounds dramatic, as I say it in this moment, but they have kept me laughing when I didn't have anything else to laugh about. I also didn't know that this particular kind of comedy existed. It feels very appropriate for something like Instagram or TikTok where a person is acting from a certain point of view or POV, as they will say in the description. So I will put links in the show notes, you know, to all these things, obviously, but to these accounts, so you can follow them if you want. But my favorites, I have four. My favorites are Luke Millington Drake.

He does a couple different kinds of videos, but his best are him pretending to be Kira Knightley. And he nails it. I think that the one where Kieran Knightley is taste testing wedding cake is my favorite. But he is such a joy. It's so specific. It's so amazing that you could find a niche pretending to be Kier Knightley. The next one is Caitlin Riley. her handle is high Caitlin Riley.

She does several characters as well. But my favorite, well, it's either her L.A. mom or her wasp mom. Both are impeccable. The third is David Michael Burke, who he does the best POV of teenagers crushing on someone. He also has an entire series where he plays a man who accidentally falls in love with the Prince of England. But he always says like, but I'm just in New York. You know, it's so perfect. It's like so obvious because it's rom-commy, but he just nails the genre.

It's just masterful. And then finally is Vinnie Thomas. Vinnie Thomas, he often takes the point of view of an insect. And they're just incredible. His emperor penguin is really special. But one of his last videos, it had me absolutely dead. It's him as a member of the Galactic Federation interviewing Earth for membership. And it does not go well.

It's just so good. So these videos from these people have been beautiful because they make me laugh. Obviously, they're so creative, which is inspiring. And they're always there. So I go back and watch them all the time when I need to laugh. I watch them a lot this year. And I'm just so, so happy that I discovered them. Okay, number seven.

In 2020, I discovered alcohol in the form first of cocktails. I made a lot of cocktails in the beginning of the pandemic. And then I just moved to neat bourbon. That's just, I just sit bourbon now. And it's been so lovely. My last discovery, I'll share in a second is something about myself, but there's been this interesting process of this year, revealing how I like to live and exist and find rest and joy. And sipping bourbon is one of those things. It just makes me feel like myself in a weird way. I drink very little because I don't like to feel out of control. I don't like to even feel close to drunk or even barely buzzed.

But I've learned how to enjoy bourbon in a way that is really, really lovely for me. It's like I've discovered a little piece of myself that I didn't know was missing. I've just really enjoyed discovering bourbon. Okay, number eight, I found a bra that I loved. Okay, so if you're a friend of mine who's a dude and this is weird, I'm about to talk about my booze because I know some of my guy friends listen to the show. I'm just giving you a heads up. for the next minute. So I am a larger-chested woman and it's always been hard to find bras that work the way a bra is supposed to work for me. So I'm going to share some brands that I have tried,

not to say that they're not good brands, but more they just did not work for me. So if you are still having trouble finding a brand, maybe this one will be helpful for you. But no brand, no single brand works for everyone. So this is not a knock on a brand. Some are just not a good fit, right? So the brands that I've tried are made in form, Bali, Bali, Polly. Third Love, Knicks, Cup with two U's, Dominique and Bravado. And none of them worked. The best of those for me was Third Love. It was a good bra.

There were a couple of details in the construction that were a little uncomfortable, and they didn't last as long as I would have liked, but they were fine. And I was sort of resigned to it. I just wasn't going to be a person who had a bra that was perfect. It was fine. Until I found soma bras. Soma bras for me are spectacular. My favorite is the vanishing 360 perfect coverage bra. I will put a link in the show notes. If you have bigger boobs and are annoyed at your bra life, try this bra. Change my life. Okay, two left that are slightly more personal, deep discoveries. number nine is I discovered how beautiful the hearts of my friends are.

These months have obviously brought a lot, a lot to process about things. I didn't really know. I could have listed that a discovery of 2020 was everything I've learned so far about anti-racism and systemic racism and the presence of it in the American Church. And the Church's complicity and a lot more about politics and I've ever sought to know in so many things that have been devastating. hard. But it doesn't feel great to say that my favorite discovery of 2020 was systemic racism, right? That's not the vibe here. But what does fit in the language of favorite discoveries is how

beautiful my friends' hearts are. I have been so moved at how they have been moved, at how we've all been clumsy in our processing and how we're not afraid of asking questions, the empathy that I've seen come from my real life friends and community, even people who have a different view or perspective than I do. It's just been really incredible. I know a lot of us didn't, you know, maybe we didn't know how racist our Uncle Gary was until so much came to light in 2020, at least for me. And I think that at the start of that learning, I was afraid of some of the people that I love that they would come down on a different side than me. And some did, to be honest. and there's a lot of learning for us all still to do together.

But the softness that I've seen and the people that I do daily life with has been absolutely a favorite discovery. As people are who I thought they were, just full of empathy and kindness and not running away from questions, it's just really, really been beautiful. And then my 10th and final, for this list anyway, my favorite discovery of 2020, is that of myself. Now, I feel a little strange and vulnerable saying this now, but I think that 2020

was the year that I really came to like myself. Like, I like who I am. I really like what I like. I'm more confident in my own skin. I'm less afraid of things. I used to be terrified of. And I rarely feel uncomfortable walking into a room. There is a comfort with myself that I've discovered this year. that again, I don't know that I would have really found it this quickly in a different year. So much has been stripped away, right, for all of us. I've had to kind of deep dive what I'm about, what I believe, what I enjoy, what brings me rest, what makes me laugh, what really, really matters. And I really like what I've discovered.

I've always been this way, but 2020 has brought a release of what I've been carrying to maybe cover some of the things that I've always been or a release of not necessarily not caring what other people think, but not letting what other people think change how I think about myself. I can care about what other people think, but it doesn't change the core of who I am. At the beginning of the year, I remember saying how sick I was of being with myself because of like all the slowness. There was nowhere to go. That was around April or May. And I can say that that's just not the case anymore. And while it's risky to sound kind of self-indulgent and saying this, it's not really. It's the truth. It's one I'm really grateful for. I discovered myself

this year. And I really like her. I like me. She's great. And so are you. And I hope that you have been really gracious in discovering yourself this year to you and kind of giving yourself kind of a high five and some kindness and love in what you've learned about yourself. I just hope that you found some discoveries big and small, like skincare and your own character. They can help you see this year with new grateful eyes. Well, that is it for today. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you for sharing 2020 with me in this space.

I'm just really, really grateful for you. have some fun things happening next year, a lot to look forward to, even more to wonder about. There's still a lot of things that are unknown. But I'm so humbled that you invite me into this space with you week after week. I will never ever get over it. So until next time, be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. I'm Kendra, and I'll see you next week. Have you ever felt like you were living just a B or B plus life? It's so dangerous to live that, more dangerous than a B minus or a C plus life because when you're living a B or B plus life, you don't change it. You think it's good enough. Is it? I'm Susie Welch. I host a podcast called Becoming You. People think,

okay, an A plus life is not available to me, but there is a way. We are all in the process of becoming ourselves. Listen to Becoming You wherever you get your podcasts.