Happy Monday and welcome to another issue of Good Things!
We’re deep in quarantine, people are protesting safety precautions, and it’s very hard to keep our peace of mind. So before we dive in, let’s get this music going in the background:
And maybe mute notifications for a bit. Give your mind a break! I promise that there will be only positivity in this letter. So take a few minutes to set your intentions for the day, maybe do a morning meditation. Repeat as needed. And of course, keep scrolling!
Good Things
Nothing is more exciting to human beings than the prospect of living forever. The next best thing for the non-AI among us seems to have been found in Japan. With a combination of retaining a healthy passion for competition and desiring to live independently so as not to be a nuisance to society, Japan’s aging population seems to have cornered the market on being insanely more in shape than me. According to the BBC, the fear of being a nuisance is ingrained from childhood. Even when help is offered, it’s turned down and only accepted when that same help is offered a second time.
This fear manifests as a strong incentive to keep working as a cog in the social wheel for as long as possible. According to the Cabinet Office’s Annual Report On The Aging Society, a staggering 70% of people aged 60-69, and about 50% of people aged 70 and above are either working or engaged in volunteer activities, community activities and hobbies. To account for this shift, 70% of companies have extended the retirement age, influencing a higher employment rate for seniors throughout the past decade.
So beyond keeping a healthy lifestyle, it looks like being somewhat competitive (even if it’s just with ourselves) and striving to be able to take care of ourselves are ways to try and increase our life expectancy. Convenient, since that’s basically all we can be doing right now anyway.
*Image and Quote Credit: BBC
It’s nice to remember that history ebbs and flows with events that happen around the world. I like to pretend that I know anything about art, but really I’ve just seen several seasons of White Collar. So this content is perfect for a person like me: an aspiring member of the bourgeoisie who might one day impress the masses with my knowledge of old art, a la Neil Caffrey. This is art that was made during the Belle Epoque, or a “beautiful era” without war. Click through the link from NPR to see more images and read a little about this peaceful era.
*Image Credit: NPR, Pierre Bonnard
I’ve been spending my weekend catching up on documentaries from Disney Nature (thank you Disney +, and this is not an ad). Today we went from learning about dolphins very assuredly having a culture to the various ins and outs of drama in the lion kingdom. I highly recommend these nature documentaries if you’re subscribed to Disney +. They are rated G (although some of the realities of nature on the African savannah might be a touch aggressive for kids under 5.) But until then, take a look at these lions taking a cat nap on a road that’s usually populated but now mostly empty. There are many examples of nature seeming to spread out a bit more now that humans are the ones cooped up. This is a good time for all of us to think about our impact on the world and how we can come to exist and thrive alongside the flora and fauna, rather than bulldozing it out of the way.
*Image Credit: USA Today
Funny Things
Zeus the Stubborn Husky has captured my heart. The way in which huskies howl and whine like children will never cease to amuse me, and Zeus here has me looking up Husky rescues in our area. I think we can all relate to the temper tantrums! PS - this is another excellent rec from my Mom, the Queen of Quarantine Content (TM).
I know I said this is a safe space, so be warned that the following contains comedy related to the recent protests against stay at home orders. However I’ve found that comedians are so helpful in giving us a way to process our frustration using humor, and Jenny Zigrino really hit the nail on the head with this sketch between a Founding Father and a modern day “freedom fighter.” Check this out and enjoy a good laugh. It really is the best medicine!
Kids Things
My son is obsessed with cooking lately, and as a very social almost 6-year-old stuck in quarantine, he needs a lot of projects. Jamie Oliver has a series of videos on his YouTube channel called “Kitchen Buddies,” where his son Buddy shows kids how to cook. These are huge hits in my house, and I have hopes of shortly being able to toss the dinner reins to my son a few nights a week.
It Sounded Like a Good Idea at the Time
Tune into the latest episode of your gal pals trying to figure out quarantine! We’re tackling the topic of schedules. Are we doing it? Do we care? What’s a schedule these days? And women have been up to quite a lot lately (as we always are!) so we’re spending some time hitting on the news that’s caught our attention.
Thanks for tuning in for this week’s Good Things! If you’re enjoying this newsletter, I’d love if you shared it with a friend. And if you’re looking for more content, head over to our site Good Idea Girls! If you have any feedback, shoot an email to hello@goodideagirls.com, or find me on IG @hannahpremaratne!
Until next time, have a great week!