The Lazy Genius Podcast - #251 - What's Saving My Life Right Now

Episode Date: February 28, 2022

This kind of episode is one of my favorites to put together. Barbara Brown Taylor coined the phrase “what’s saving my life right now,” and I love the idea of thinking beyond favorites and splurges to find what’s grounding us and making us feel like ourselves.   Stuff Mentioned Preorder The Lazy Genius Kitchen and get access to a fun Internet party on March 22! Details here. Peter Thomas Roth Retinol Fusion PM Night Serum Episode #196: How to Lazy Genius Adult Screen Time Moleskine Pro Weekly Vertical Diary // Pilot G2 0.38 pens // Mildliner highlighters Olive & June x The Lazy Genius // Lazy Genius Polish Quiz You’re invited to The Lazy Genius Kitchen Pub(lication) Crawl Get on the Lazy Genius VIP List to receive the next Latest Lazy Letter (out on Wednesday) 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

Amazon presents Laura versus Fruitflies. Swarming your fruit and terrorizing your kitchen, these little freaks multiply at a rate that would make a rabbit say, yo. Chill. But Laura shopped on Amazon and saved on cleaning spray, countertop wipes, and fly traps. Hey, fruit flies, your baby boom ends here. Save the Everyday with Amazon. Hi there, you are 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 one of my favorite episodes. Episode 251, What's Saving My Life Right Now? That phrase was coined by the amazing Barber Brown Taylor, who's writing I love so much, that this idea is to help us think beyond favorites and splurges, which can totally still save our lives, but to think about what is actually grounding us, making us feel like our

what is making our lives feel good or even at a bare minimum, just function. What is saving my life? I have a list that I'll share with you now and I encourage you to make your own, whether you share it with others or just name it for yourself. As we know, the naming is often where the magic happens. We think things are terrible all the time and while they very well could be, naming what is saving our lives changes our posture towards our circumstances. Just so you know, one of the things on this list is a very exciting lazy genius kitchen related announcement. So keep your ears peeled for that. Also, if you listened to last week's episode about how I make this podcast, you learned that sometimes I record a couple of episodes at once, this episode included.

And at the time, this episode has to be recorded is when my neighbor is building a garage. So there will be some light hammering as you listen. Do not be alarmed. Also, I am so sorry. So let's jump into what's saving my life right now. Number one, pants that fit. Pants that fit are very much saving my life on many levels. So I hold most of my weight in my middle. So one big meal, it moves me up a pants size. Like that is not a joke.

I can wear two different pants sizes within a week, sometimes a day easily. But most of my pants are the smaller size. And I have one pair of jeans. for big meal days. Well, I think my big meal days have officially become a regular days. But because I only have that one pair of bigger jeans, I have been reaching for sweatpants a lot more than I usually do. I have this feeling every day of, I don't want to wear those pants again. Now, I love soft pants. They are a gift from above. But on certain days, when I need to get a lot done, or I want to feel a little bit more polished than what sweatpants can give me, I want hard pants.

but I want hard pants that fit. The one pair is fine. And a lot of people have only one pair of jeans and they survive just fine. But because it was mentally my backup pair, I have a mental block in choosing it daily and wearing it as plan A rather than plan B. No matter your size, pants that fit and are comfortable on your body should always be plan A. Always. So once I made that shift in my head, I started wearing those jeans more and more.

Now I begin my slow process of going through my existing pants and seeing what's still wearable and what never is. Like I have a pair of high-waisted blush colored wide leg jeans that I adore, but they are for days when I am very much not bloated. They only work occasionally. Well, those occasions are officially over now. Like those were my small pants and my big pants are now my regular pants. So we're done.

A lot would have had to change in my body for those pants. to work again, even though I could wear them a year ago. So I already gave them to a friend. But that is the process. I will go through my pants knowing what matters most, that my pants comfortably fit. And then I'll get rid of what's in the way of that. Once I see what's left, I'll know what new pants to start looking for. But it is amazing how a day can feel more alive when your pants are not too tight. Number two, eating lunch. So a couple of weeks ago, I was sharing with therapist about how I was doing managing the stress in my life of which there is much right now. And she said, taking a lunch break has always been good for you. Are you doing that?

Shots fired. I see you. I had not been doing that. Now, I had been eating lunch and sometimes even really like wholesome nourishing food. I will share one of my current favorite lunches and number three that even though I have been eating food I love, I've been. I've been. been eating quickly on my way out the door or while I'm working. In the last month or so, I have not been stopping to eat lunch, to read a novel or sit on my porch or eat slowly and in silence. Part of the reason for that is kind of obvious because of that whole, you know, your books might be in the ocean situation. We've had to shift the launch date of the lazy genie's kitchen from March 22nd to May 3rd. And things have understandably been a little crazy since then.

I'm cramming a lot of extra work into my standard working hours. So lunch has been the first thing to go. But once my therapist called me out, I was like, yeah, okay, I should stop for lunch. I have been for a couple of weeks now and it has literally saved my life. Number three, salmon in the air fryer for lunch. Really, it could be salmon in the oven or even salmon on the stove. But the ease of it in the air fryer for me has been just the best thing. Okay. One of my favorite meals on the planet. And also one that I always feel good after eating.

Like it just my body's like, thank you for this. This is magical is steamed white rice. And I'm a rice knob. I married a Japanese man. We use cocoaho rose, which is K-O-K-O-H-O. Cocoa-H-O. Yeah. K-O-K-O-H-O, like the flour rice that we get at the Asian market. I'm a rice knob. It's just the way it goes. We have a Japanese rice cooker. I can't tell you the model I use. It literally has like Japanese characters on it. There you go. but I love eating steamed rice, a piece of salmon that is marinated in like East Asian pantry ingredients, you know, or even just plain soy sauce. And then spinach that is quickly sauteed with sesame oil, just a little bit. It goes a long way. If I have avocado, cucumber, or pickle

ginger, I'll sometimes throw that in there too. But white rice, flavorful salmon, and spinach sauteed with a drizzle of sesame oil is stupid good, that the air fryer has made this a more accessible lunch on a weekday for me in ways I never thought possible. So what I do, I buy like a big salmon filet at the store. And I like sock eye salmon. I cut it into a few pieces. I season those pieces with a little salt. And then I marinate it in a plastic bag with usually soy sauce and then a little Mirin, M-I-R-I-N. It's like a sweet, it's a little sweet. It's like a sweet rice wine sort of situation. Recently, I had some extra Korean barbecue sauce from takeout we had, and I just use that as a marinade, though. Like, it's kind of whatever. There's no real measuring or anything.

But I put salmon and the marinade in a freezer bag, and then I put it into the freezer. Then when it's time to make lunch, I turn on the air friar to 400 degrees and I cook the one piece of frozen salmon from frozen for about eight minutes. While that cooks, I heat up some rice because we always have extra rice in the fridge, always, always, always. And I sauteed the spinach. It's just a touch of canola oil because that's what we have. I let the spinach wilt a little, sprinkle it with a little salt, and then I add a drizzle of sesame oil, better yet hot sesame oil. If you've ever had that, it's so good. The whole thing, the whole meal takes like 10 minutes max, and it is magnificent. I've eaten it so many times, and every time I am so happy. So that's number three.

Number four is a skincare product. It's the Peter Thomas Roth Retinal Fusion PM Night Serum. I cannot always remember Peter Thomas Roth, let alone the whole thing. And I have been known to accidentally call it the Philip Seymour Hoffman. Retinal serum. I really miss him, by the way. Anyway, the most important thing I do for my skin is to use sunscreen every day. Without question, I learned from Jamie B. Golden and then also from Caroline Hirens, who is a skincare expert, that most of the skin damage we experience is from the sun. It's from the sun. So I wear sunscreen every single day, no matter the weather, no matter if I'm going outside, I always wear it on my face. The second most important product that I started using behind sunscreen

is retinol. I'm not an expert, and I'm probably going to say something wrong, but retinol, it can be harsh and you need to work your way up to it. I don't fully know what it does. I mean, I think it helps a little bit with fine lines. I think it helps with brightness. I don't really know. I just know it's great. But you do need to work your way up. You don't go from no retinal to prescription retinal. You have to ease into it. Now, I have been easing into it with Olay regenerist retinol max cream. You could just get that at the drugstore. And that was good. It was. But it wasn't great after a while. I was just kind of like, I don't know. Is this really doing anything? So I decided to level up my retinol game a little. I read a ton of reviews. And I tried this

Peter Thomas Roth serum. And I have never seen such a radical difference in my skin's texture and brightness. Even some of my wrinkles are chilling out. Now listen, this needs to be I'm fine with wrinkles. Like aging is normal. We don't have to be against it. Like you can be. You can do whatever you want, but I'm not against it. I also think it's okay to care for the skin on your face and keep it looking as bright and healthy as you'd like it to. If that means injections, do it. Like do whatever matters to you. But for me, what matters is to tend to my skin in intentional ways with good sunscreen and good retinal and then just let time do its thing. Like those are the two things I'm going to do that otherwise whatever happens is fine. This product is something else.

And I am really loving how it makes me feel. Like I like using it. Again, it is okay to look older. I feel like I got to say this again. It's okay to look older. We're all getting older. I am not against that. I think I just like feeling like myself. And when my skin is bright and glowing and healthy, I do. I feel a little bit more like myself. I'm so in love with this product that it's the one I would choose to the exclusion of all others. I would find something else in all the other categories except for sunscreen, even though I love my skincare products. I would go on the hunt for other things. This one is just so good for me. For me. It's good for me. It doesn't have to be good for you. And it might not be. Not everything works for everybody's skin. But I really

look forward to putting it on every night. And that alone has been a nice thing, too, that's saving my life right now. Number five, not using my phone in the afternoons. I've mentioned this before, but I started actively ignoring the internet for the couple of hours between the end of school and when I start making dinner. My kids come home at different times. They have different amounts of homework. They need different things at the end of the day, like emotionally. There's a lot to be present to. And when I'm distracted by important and unimportant things on my phone, like work emails or answering a Vox or whatever it is, I become resentful when my kids need something, which I do not like that. I do not like feeling that way. So I have been actively

ignoring my phone between like 2.30 and 430 most afternoons. I do have an Apple watch so I can see when text and calls come through, but unless they are legitimately urgent, I just leave them for later. It has been, as is appropriate for the theme of this episode, a lifesaver. Also, if you would like some helpful, non-shaming thoughts on adult screen time, we have an episode for that. It'll be in the show notes. We'll be right back. RBC Training Ground has discovered potential in over 20,000 Canadian athletes and county. Your story could be next. If you've got the drive, they'll help you find your path to the Olympics. Let's see what you've got. Sign up for free at rBC training ground.ca.

There's something else here now. Something new. From exclusively on Paramount Plus, it's the series Stephen King calls Scarious 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. 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. your podcasts. Number six, my planner, my pins, and my highlighters. One of my favorite things about getting older is finding things I really love and then just sticking with them. I think that happens more as we get older because it's like we've had more time to experiment and try stuff. So when you find something, like when you find a planner or a pen or a highlighter that you adore, it truly is magical because you've had years of trying planners and pens and highlighters. You have the receipts, that these choices are your best choices. And that's where I am with my personal office supplies. So I use my paper planar every day. I have for years and years. But this particular planner,

which I have mentioned in several places now over the last couple of months, is my favorite ever. It's ever. It is the moleskin, mulskin. How do you say that? We're going to say mulskine. Moleskin pro weekly vertical diary. And I am obsessed with it. I just got it on Amazon. It is exactly what I need. I also have decided to go all in on pilot G2.38 pens. I have other pens that I do like, but if a 38 is close by, I'm going to use the 38, always. So that is my writer-dye pen, and I love writing with it. I will search far and wide to write with one when writing is needed. Like even when a good pen is sort of close by, I'm like, I wish I had a 38. And then finally, on the highlighter front, I've never actually been a huge highlighter.

person, mostly because I'm not a fan of neon, like as a concept, but I prefer to highlight things that are done on my to-do list rather than cross them out. I prefer highlighting in books as opposed to underlining with a pen, even if I have a G2 pilot 38. And the way that I use my favorite planner, it lends itself to some simple kind of color coordination using highlighters. I was using craola markers. for this task that were not super great, like in my planner. I tried actual highlighters that we have at home that were just too bright and clunky for me. But here's the thing. I had the practice. Remember, I mentioned this in the Five Essentials of Time Management episode a few weeks ago. I also mentioned it on the on Instagram. Focus on the practice, not the planner. If you don't already have a

practice of making your list a certain way or making a list at all or meal planning or whatever it is, whatever the thing is that you want to do. A fancy new tool is not going to give you the practice. It's probably just going to clutter your desk. So focus on the practice first. Well, I have a practice of how I make my list and read my books and use my planner. And I have tried a few different tools, highlighter tools in particular to enhance that practice. But like I said, creola markers just weren't cutting it. So I have tried the mild liner set, mild liner instead of highlighter, mild liner from the brand zebra. And I'm in love. These highlighters are in like super chill muted colors. They're really beautiful. They go in so clean. They're double-tipped. So there's

a chisel end and a fine end. They're skis. They're skis. I just love them. I use them every single day with great affection and enthusiasm. So my planner, my pens, and my highlighters are super dupe saving my life right now. Number eight is my husband cause. This is maybe a sappy part of the list, but also it would be completely disingenuous to not mention cause as a vital part of my life, always, but especially right now. So the last two years have been hard for everyone, obviously. And my family's not an exception. The last two months especially have been particularly hard around here. And Kaz has been an incredible partner in that. We share the household chores, which we have for a long

time. He asks me how he can help me, like specifically on purpose on days that he knows I'm stressed out, which has been pretty much every day the last couple of months. He does not complain in the slightest when we have spaghetti twice in one week. He rubs my back when it hurts. He plays with the kids, he listens to me when I verbally vomit all over him. I wouldn't want to have a life without him that these last couple of months, I believe that even more. Like, I would not have made it out of all the things we have experienced the last little bit without him being who he is. So he gets a mention. Don't let the fact that it's number eight fool you. Number nine, the collaboration with Olive and June. I mentioned this last week, that there is a lazy genius

Olive and June nail polish collection. We have three new colors called TLG for the lazy genius. Start small and you're doing great. I love these colors so much. I love the quiz that we developed to help everyone choose their best six colors for their mini system. But really, the life-saving thing has been how fun it's been to put it together. The team at Olive and June is ridiculously talented at marketing and PR and creative things, all the things that go into a lot of what we all see on the internet. internet that don't fully grasp how it kind of came together, how much work there went into putting it all together. There is just so much thought and talent and time that goes into the tiniest thing that we see on TV or in an Instagram ad that seems effortless because of all the effort that it took.

And working with this team has just been amazing. They have been incredibly collaborative and supportive and patient and excited and generous. Even when I was drowning a little bit, with like all the books at the bottom of the sea news. I had this collab to be excited about and it's just been the best. And number 10, something that's been saving my life is planning stuff to look forward to. Some of that is personal, like a family trip to Disney that we're going to take this year and a spontaneously planned but kind of a long time coming trip out west with some new internet friends that we get to like meet in real life.

Planning fun stuff is so very fun. It is. but one of the fun things that I have been planning that has been giving me so much life has to do with the release of the Lazy Genius Kitchen. Drum roll, please. I wish I could do the. Oh, I kind of did. I kind of did.

I would like to invite you all to the Lazy Genius Kitchen Pub crawl. More specifically, a pub location crawl. We are going to party and crawl from one pub. publication date, March 22nd, the original release date of the Lazy Genius Kitchen, to May 3rd, the new release date because of the whole boat thing. All the information, it can be found at the lazy genius collective.com slash pub crawl. But let me give you a few highlights and one important date. We have four events for this pub crawl, a virtual event on March 22nd, a live event in Chicago on April 7th, a cooking demo event with Bree McCoy in Washington, D.C., on Washington, D.C.,

on April 22nd and then a launch party in Greensboro, North Carolina, which is where I live, on the release date, May 3rd. Those last three events are ticketed. And then the first virtual event is free for everyone who has pre-ordered the lazy genius kitchen. All the details are available at the lazy genius collective.com slash pub crawl. And tickets for the three events go on sale this Wednesday, March 2nd. Because I'm recording this episode a little bit early, I don't know the exact time of day that those tickets are going to go on sale. But if you join the mailing list and or pre-order the book and let us know you did at the lazy genius kitchen.com, come tell us that you did, enter your pre-order information and all the things. You will get an email the minute tickets are available.

Also, when you go to the website, we will have specifics there. Like, I just, don't know what they are at this exact moment of this recording because that's how podcast recording goes sometimes, which we have learned last week. But I am just so excited to see y'all in the human person. We will crawl from one publication date to another and we will have the best time doing it. And if you can't travel to any of the three events or the tickets aren't in your budget, remember that the virtual party is available for free for anyone who has pre-order the book. and I will be visiting some independent bookstores in the Carolinas in late May and doing some signings and stuff. So if you live in the South, that could also be a great chance for us to meet.

All the details will be on the website. And again, we will also contact the mailing list first with that stuff. So if you don't want to miss anything, head to the lazy genius collective.com slash join. And those are the 10 things saving my life right now. I hope this inspires you to make your own list or to start small and even name just one thing today, there is good to be found in many, many forms. Even in retinol, we can be grateful for retinol. Okay, y'all, that's it for today. Thank you so much for listening. And until next time, be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. I'm Kendra. I'll see you next week. 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, you ever felt like you're living in, 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.