Last week my friend Judith wrote about the five things that she can’t live without – specifically, the five things she can’t live without as informed by COVID-19, things which the past six months have either revealed or confirmed (not counting family, friends, pets, or facial coverings).
This inspired me to do the same. Here are my five things I can’t live without right now.
- Scented candles. I live by Aveda’s Shampure candles and love the ritual of lighting them first thing in the morning, and lighting them again in the evening. I have them on between 5 am and 8 am, and after 7 pm. Somehow, they have become signs of “this is not work hours” when working from home.
- Non-alcoholic beer. I committed early this year to not drink alcohol three days per week. And global pandemic or not, I am sticking to this! It’s hard, perhaps harder because of the current state of the world, so I trick my brain into thinking that my delicious Heineken 0 (my favorite of all of the brands I have tried) is just as magical as a glass of chardonnay.
- Fiction. I usually read 75% non-fiction, but have been reading mostly fiction for the past six months. I am still trying to finish the last non-fiction book I started two months ago… I think my brain needs to escape more than usual, and non-fiction is not an escape. I am particularly addicted to anything written by Victoria Hislop, whose historical novels set in Greece take me to my happy place.
- My 9-grids. I have planned and replanned 2020 about seven times, and we are only in early September. This planning and brainstorming tool which I love and have been using for years has been particularly useful during these times of constant change, and help me feel in control.
- Webinars and virtual conferences from leading industry sources. I miss learning about my industry, I miss hearing from other brand founders and beauty subject matter experts. I have particularly enjoyed the events from CEW, Beauty Independent, and Glossy+ – from weekly webinars to day-long conferences (and the beauty of these events is the presenters are on camera, but I am not!).
What are the five things you have (re-)discovered that you can’t live without these days?
