The Brightside Vol 14

April 17th, 2020

ON REPEAT:

That Green Gentleman, Panic! at the Disco

Been indulging in Pretty. Odd.-era Panic! At the Disco and enjoying every second of it.

WELCOME TO THE BRIGHTSIDE

To everyone who filled out last week's survey - thank you so much! I loved reading everyone's feedback and I'm really excited to work your recommendations into upcoming content. Our winner was Phoebe Hall - s/o Phoebe

And to anyone who's new today, thanks for joining. I'm so glad you're here!

How's Your Mind Today?

This is mostly common knowledge, but I do therapy every Monday (been going strong since November of 2018!). It's nice to start the week with it so I can reflect on what came up throughout the workweek, but this Monday's session left my brain feeling like scrambled eggs.

This happens sometimes. You think you're addressing one thing, but it turns out to be so much more complex than you imagined. Anyway, what came up was how much time I spend worrying about other people's reactions, to the point where it causes a lot of anxiety & decision paralysis. Any other empaths out there with me?! Anyway, it was helpful to build some awareness on that and keep it in the back of my mind this week.

Long story long, I'm good. Thankful for therapy. Thankful for phone calls with friends to unscramble my brain. Hope you're hanging in there, wherever you are.

Highs:

Welcoming everyone who's new this week - seriously, thank you for being here! I'm so excited to be connected. This newsletter is my baby, my favorite distraction from everything happening in the world, and I hope it makes you smile.

Another high was finishing The Good Place with Zach! I freaking LOVED this show. I revisited this article that I'd read a while ago, which profiles the creator Michael Schurr and gives a lot of awesome background on all of the magic that went into the show. It's a great read.

Lows:

Otherwise, you know, lows consisted of watching the news. Feeling the weight of all of this insanity. Feeling helpless to a certain degree. To everyone out there impacted by the virus, or fighting this madness as a healthcare/essential worker: I love you. I'm here if you want to talk. Sending all the good vibes.

Career Coach Update

On Wednesday I had another session with my beloved career coach, Sheila. We met for the first time at the end of February, and it's pretty incredible how much progress we've made together over the past 2 months. I am so thankful I took a chance and explored this - I feel like for the first time in a long time (maybe ever?) I have some clarity about my career path and the confidence to go after what I'm really interested in.

On that note, something that surprised me the most about our work together was discovering how much confidence I needed to build. I've always struggled to internalize positive feedback, and I've spent the greater part of my career focusing on addressing "areas of improvement", without taking the space to honor progress and growth. It felt good to build understanding on what brings me alive (problem solving! collaborating!) and realize what my strengths are.

During one of our first sessions I remember telling Sheila "I feel like I know myself, but I don't understand myself." Looking back it's pretty clear that I'd been looking for that "understanding" all over the place - anyone remember when I really wanted to "get into tarot"? It turns out all I needed was the space to look inward with someone who is trained to facilitate some really productive conversations. I've gained a lot of clarity about what makes me me and it's been such an empowering journey.

Thanks for being the best, Sheila! <3

Anyone else out there working with a coach or have tips on career exploration?

Guest Post: Audrey Gaynier on Skincare

To end today's Brightside, I'm excited to introduce everyone to Audrey Gaynier, who is legitimately my oldest friend. Today she's chiming as Guest #2, talking all about skincare. Audrey works for the Coast Guard, and currently lives in Mississippi with her boyfriend and adorable puppy. Take it away, Aud!

Hi everyone! I'm Audrey. As Erica mentioned, we go wayyyy back. Last week I messaged Erica about they HeyDay cleanser she linked since I've been on the hunt for clean, reliable skincare products for a long time. In the last two weeks especially my skin has gone to complete sh*t - I'm no stranger to skin fluctuations and I know that being stuck at home with nothing to do but worry about the fate of our world and pick at my face as a manifestation of my anxiety is why my face currently resembles a pepperoni pizza.

Anyway: right now I use Glossier products (jelly cleanser, super glow, and toner), which were nice initially, but eventually my skin hit a plateau. When even my eyelids started to feel dried-out, I tried to remember why I bought these products in the first place. Was it just the trend factor...? I realized I needed to put more research into the products I'm using since my skin is very dry and sensitive. (By the way, I think Glossier is a great company with clean products. It just stopped working for me.)

So my 'research' began. This "research" started as a deep YouTube spiral of celebrity skin care routines, which lead to a lot of product reviews focused on serums & moisturizers (highlights included Claudia Sulewski, Ashley Tisdale, and Zoey Deutch!).

Despite some alarmingly high celebrity-endorsed price points, I learned a few things:

• Hyaluronic acid is the golden ingredient. This is naturally occurring in the body and has a HUGE molecular weight (capable of holding 1000 times its own weight in water -- hello hydration city!!!), so adding that in will really help with my dryness.

• Vitamin C and Retinal are essential for brightening & and night-time rejuvenation, respectively.

• Toner is a super important morning & night step to help with balancing out your skin's PH.

One thing I splurged on after all this was a hydrating gel moisturizer from BIBA Los Angeles. I haven't been using it long enough to note long term effects, but so far I'm in love. I threw together this Google Doc organized by celebs, product, price point, and notes too, if you want to see my "research notes". The results may surprise you!

My main takeaway, people: ingredients over internet trends! if you want to chat skincare (or anything, really) my personal email is [email protected] - I'd love to talk!

This week I've been holding back from pulling the trigger on this Saje sleep kit.

To get in touch, contribute, or just chat, reach out at [email protected] 

To share the sunshine, feel free to pass on this link: https://mailchi.mp/04ccf65ea193/thebrightside 

happy brightsiding,