The Brightside Vol 10

March 20th, 2020

ON REPEAT:

Carolina in My Mind, James Taylor

WELCOME TO THE BRIGHTSIDE

Hello my loves. What a time. I hope this finds everyone well today - that you're staying safe, healthy, and hanging in there.

Zach and I are down in Florida at his parent's house for the time being, waiting out the storm. We feel extremely fortunate to be here, camping out in the sunshine. We're settling into our work from home routine, enjoying time with his family & Louie.

Sending immense love, positivity, and strength to everyone during this confusing and scary time. If you want to talk, vent, cry, do some virtual yoga together, I'm here for you.

How's your mind today?

Getting out of NYC has done wonders for my mental health - being in a real house with sunshine (and dogs!) feels a lot better than my windowless apartment did. That said, every day is touch and go. One minute I'll be feeling super optimistic, and then I'll see a headline that brings me to tears. Just trying to do the best I can, taking it one day at a time.

Highs:

Verayoga, my beloved second home/yoga studio launched a digital streaming service on Monday! You can ask Zach, I cried a lottttt of tears last week when everything was hitting the fan and I realized I probably wouldn't be able to go in person for a while. But of course, the Vera team is beyond incredible and I'm so excited to stay connected with my practice. It's only $30/month to access their digital content, and i recommend checking it out!

Lows:

(Keeping this low non-COIVD related): About a month ago, I left my trusty pink Hydroflask in an Lyft. Lyft has a lost & found building in Queens where they hold items for up to 30 days, and I was planning a rescue mission, but at this point, I'll be in Florida once the 30 day threshold is passed. I've already replaced my sling (and I stole the hydroflask I got Zach for his birthday in the interim) but knowing mine is lost for good is a bummer.

GUEST FEATURE: KIM ASENBECK

I'm soooo excited to introduce the Brightside's very first guest: my lovely, amazing, smart, beautiful, inspiring friend Kim. Today she's sharing a bit about herself, how it feels to be experiencing current world events from Seattle, and some fun links & resources to keep you entertained this weekend (FT. GUIDED MEDITATION BY LIZZO!) Enjoy!

Hey everyone, I'm Kim! As a major Brightside fan, I'm super honored to get a little corner of my own to share some thoughts with you all this week. Erica and I went to high school together, and have been friends for over ten years now. Today, I live in Seattle with my cat Billie and work as a software engineer at Uber.

All right... like most of our lives these days, this going to be coronavirus themed. Seattle got hit with the coronavirus panic pretty early. The first case that was detected in the United States was actually in the Seattle area, and things escalated quickly after dozens of people got diagnosed at a local nursing home. From there, it seems like things unfolded similarly across the country... companies started mandating work from home, then the city slowly started shutting down. I'm enjoying spending all this time at home with my cat, but I know that for a lot of people, this has been really hard. My heart goes out to everyone who's feeling the hit financially, emotionally, and - of course - health wise.

For a bright spot, I want to leave you with a couple gifts --- I've been collecting these resources, and want to share them with all of you! I hope that maybe you find some peace, entertainment, or joy amongst these links. :)

1. NPR is keeping a running list of live streamed virtual concerts. Never been to the opera? Tune in to the Vienna Opera while you work! There are also plenty of great options that are not yet on this list. Seattle Symphony is broadcasting live performances, and Chris Martin kicked off a livestream series called #TogetherAtHome which other artists (like John Legend!!) are participating in as well.

2. 2. Calm usually charges for their app, but they've posted a list of free resources to help folks stay, ahem, calm during this challenging time. If that's not your style, maybe this guided meditation by Lizzo will be more up your alley.

3. 3. The Cincinnati Zoo is doing a daily home safari via Facebook live. I tuned in on the hippo day while I ate my lunch, and it was awesome.

4. If you're feeling some wanderlust, check out these 12 museum virtual tours. I'm particularly excited to "tour" the Van Gogh museum.

All right, that's all for now. Please feel free to reach out at [email protected] if you want to connect, share resources, or commiserate. Stay safe, everyone, and please remember to do what you can to support local business!

Thank you so much Kim! Are you interested in guest posting, or do you have something you want to promote? Email me: [email protected] <3

I gotta come clean everyone: I did a lot of stress shopping over the past week.

I ordered a new swimsuit from Jcrew (which sadly arrived at my apartment just after we got to Florida), picked up this Glamglow mask, and impulse bought these leggings. SO, I'm on a spending PAUSE right now and hoping these next few weeks of quarantine will help restore my bank account :')

happy brightsiding my loves.

if there's anything I can do to help get you through this crazy time, don't hesitate to reach out.

Always here for an email pen-palship, even if (especially if!) we haven't caught up in a while. <[email protected]