March 01, 2019 at 07:56AM by CWC One of the most popular topics discussed at Well+Good HQ is sleep. Sometimes we’re drooling over cozy, fluffy, hygge-heavy bedrooms on Instagram, and other times we’re trying different hacks to get the R&R that we need, but one thing is constant: the pursuit of grade-A is a THING. And, based on the results of a survey we conducted on the topic, it seems some of us are blaming our partners for our less-than-stellar zzz’s. When asked if it would be an issue if your partner had a different bedtime, 43 percent of respondents said yes (though only 14 percent noted a bedmate as a main cause of sleep disruption). The discrepancy created a lot of chatter in the office—so we took to Slack to figure it all out. (Slack chats are how we’ve recently delved into such mysteries as the real meaning of fish photos in dating app profiles and why astrology is suddenly everyone’s not-so-secret obsession.) Here, senior lifestyle editor Alexis Berger, Los Angeles editor Erin Magner, audience development manager Celine Cortes, and client services manager Caprice Serafine help me get into the real challenges that come when you share a bed with someone night after night (and not necessarily a set bedtime). ERIN HANAFY: Hi everybody! So if you had taken the survey, what would your answer be: Would it be an issue if your partner had a different bedtime? And why? ALEXIS: YES—huge problem. My husband and I are (maybe weirdly?) codependent when it comes
Tag: WFH
Microbags are great, but this new supersized tote trend has stolen my heart and all my money
February 28, 2019 at 05:23AM by CWC I have a confession: I was one of the kids who had a rolling backpack in middle school. I know. But at the time, I liked it because it was practical. Why haul all my books and notepads around—oh yeah, I was also the kid who took all her books to every class—when I could conveniently roll them behind me in the world’s nerdiest suitcase? While my tastes have become decidedly less practical in other areas of my life, I’m still prone to carrying around literally everything I own when I go anywhere. For obvious reasons, the microbag trend that’s been happening doesn’t work for me. And now, the pendulum is beginning to swing back toward the opposite: giant bags that can hold your entire life in them. Brands like Jacquemus—who debuted a teeny, tiny microbag last year—sent huge totes down the spring 2019 runway. And then there’s the Dior Book Tote that’s been blowing up all over Instagram—plus, the Bottega Veneta Maxi Cabat, which takes the trend to the extreme. I’m here for it. All of it. I basically want the equivalent of an Ikea bag when I buy a tote. I want to need a flashlight to find that one specific lip balm among the 24 lip balms buried at the bottom of my bag. I need snacks. Maybe a La Croix. Probably some workout clothes. Definitely, a bag containing concealer, blush, bronzer, highlighter, powder, and mascara in case I need a
I was just promoted over someone with more experience and I feel like an imposter
February 25, 2019 at 11:13AM by CWC So, your hard work and dedication at the office was rewarded with a promotion? That definitely deserves a fist pump and a toast—cheers! But when the sparkly feeling wears off, you might find that it’s followed by a wave of self-doubt. In this week’s Good@Work column, all-around boss babe Amy Odell—whom you may know as the former editor (AKA HBIC) of Cosmopolitan.com and founding blogger of New York magazine’s The Cut—counsels a letter-writer struggling with the fact that the team they’re managing now includes someone older and with more experience. Question: I was recently promoted at work (woohoo!), but as a result of this promotion, a woman who is significantly older and more experienced than I am is reporting directly to me. How do you manage and provide feedback to someone that has more life and work knowledge than you do? Answer: Before you give yourself over to imposter syndrome, take time to feel proud of your promotion. Assuming you don’t have one of those jobs where promotions are handed out to 23-year-olds like doctor’s office lollipops (I’ve heard stories), you probably got this new role because you worked hard and made some sacrifices. Having that effort recognized feels nice. So, take time to feel nice. Go out to dinner, have an appletini or two, and try to distance yourself for at least two hours from the anxiety a promotion like this will inevitably unleash. If you didn’t have anxiety about a promotion that came with more direct reports, you might
Yes, Netflix, I’m still watching—despite feeling nothing but pure sadness afterward
February 01, 2019 at 03:30AM by CWC The “Watch it again” section on Netflix might be the single most dangerous spot to land on the web, at least for me. I’m currently cringing internally at the embarrassing number of minutes I’ve spent there catching up—again, and again—with my old pals Winston Schmidt (New Girl), Elena Gilbert (The Vampire Diaries), and Cristina Yang (Grey’s Anatomy). Sure, my Netflix squad never says anything that I haven’t heard before, but there’s something strangely comforting about passing an hour or five with them and their familiar zingers, love triangles, and once-fashionable #lewks. It’s all pure streaming bliss. That is, until I’ve come to the end—or the death—of the show, and the final credits roll, leaving me in a state of mourning. Then Netflix promptly tries to shove a new binge-able friend in my queue, but I’m simply not ready (leave me to grieve, would you!), and I have no idea what to do next. Should I eat dark chocolate and PTFO? Throw my laptop at the wall? Start a Pinterest board of the most iconic Nick and Schmidt moments? Dance to the Grey’s Anatomy theme song in my underwear? You could say that I’m at a loss of the melodramatic variety. Recently, after I once again fell into a marathon-streaming pit of despair after concluding a spur-of-the-moment rewatch of Stranger Things season one (yep, this post-watch sadness lends itself to movies and single seasons of shows, too), I decided that it was time to get to the
Here’s what happened when I spent 48 hours at a fancy wellness commune in the woods
January 29, 2019 at 08:12AM by CWC When I first opened my inbox and saw an email about Serenbe—a wellness community located 30 minutes outside Atlanta that that promotes an active lifestyle, face-to-face interaction, organic food, and eco-friendly living—my mind instantly conjured a ’60s-era hippie-dippie commune where people live with the sole mission of spreading peace and love. I quickly realized the neighborhood wasn’t exactly that (for starters, this place seemed upscale), but intrigued I remained. Here’s the deal: Back in the early ’90s, founders Steve Nygren and Marie Lupo Nygren moved from Atlanta to a quiet, countryside respite in the woods. But when bulldozers started razing surrounding forest land for development, disrupting their serene slice of life, it broke ground for a big idea: Develop a sustainable community to not only preserve that 40,000 acres right outside the major city, but to also create a place unlike any other where people can thrive. After working with other landowners, developers, and conservationists, they devised a plan to keep 70 percent of the land as green space and work with the natural landscape to develop on the rest. The first house was built in 2004, and since then, Serenbe has grown into an increasingly self-sustainable place with essentially everything you need to live comfortably. And technological advancements have made never leaving even easier. While plenty of residents work in or around Atlanta, many have full-blown careers right inside the comfort of the community, either by working remotely or owning businesses and shops. Now
This black-and-white doodle perfectly captures my close relationships
January 24, 2019 at 12:14PM by CWC When I woke up this morning, I really didn’t expect to get emotional over a few squiggly lines. But here I am, red-eyed and very much so feeling a certain type of way. Over the years, our relationships go through plenty of changes, and looking at them all laid out so simply is almost too much for my heart to handle. View this post on Instagram Closeness lines over time A post shared by Olivia de Recat (@drawingolive) on Jan 23, 2019 at 6:56am PST //www.instagram.com/embed.js Cartoonist Olivia de Recat‘s drawing entitled “Closeness Lines Over Time” struck a cord with me for a handful of reasons. The simplistic visualization beautifully captures the lifespan of common relationships—those with family, friends, therapists, pets, and first loves. In the course of our lives, some stay close, some drift apart, and some turn into straight-up scribbles. And because relationships can be incredibly fragile, I’m reminded to appreciate every single one of them. Here’s how my most personal relationships sync with this graphic. 1. My best friends View this post on Instagram So, so thankful to have these people in my life. Another amazing reunion with the BFFs! If only it could be more than once a year. A post shared by TEHRENE FIRMAN (@tehrene) on Dec 24, 2017 at 6:49am PST //www.instagram.com/embed.js The drawing hits on two important types of friendship: the best friends we’ve had since childhood and those we made in college. But for me,
The time has come for women to just say no to backless chairs
January 03, 2019 at 10:22AM With every passing year, your head may ache more after a single glass of wine, your desired bedtime may inch its way down, and your back may make you feel another year older—but definitely not wiser. One place to channel your anger regarding that last notch on the blah belt of aging? The stupid barstools you often have to sit on in order to be an active, social member of society. So, feel free to join my in on my New Year’s resolution to say “no” to backless chairs in 2019. Maybe you’re thinking “sure, whatever, sounds great,” while quietly noting its status as low-priority among heavy hitters on your list of health-related goals—like doing Whole30, attending SoulCycle often, and swapping craft beer for kombucha. Well to that point, consider this: Barstools wouldn’t survive decor evolution if women built the world, according to a Refinery29 piece analyzing how ladies would optimize common designs. That’s because backless chairs are one of the many things in this world that don’t give women support—in many ways, but particularly, lumbar support. And by the way, the body, like, needs lumbar support. “When you sit for prolonged periods of time without having proper lumbar support, many things can happen, such as increased muscle tightness, leading to aches, pains, and general muscle fatigue,” says Lynn Bauchiero, a chiropractor at Thompson Healthcare & Sports Medicine. She adds that these fatigued muscles in question are attached to the naturally curved lumbar spine, and when they get
The easy financial habits to form in 2019 that will pay off big time
January 01, 2019 at 01:00AM Chase Financial Education Ambassador Farnoosh Torabi is here to help you make dollars and cents out of your financial goals for the year ahead. Embark on a four-week journey in which she helps you assess your current situation, plan for what’s ahead, and set yourself up for financial success throughout the rest of the year. However many of your 2018 to-dos remain undone—and no matter how many glasses of Champagne you drank on December 31—January 1 still manages to feel like a fresh start. The pages of your brand-new planner are clean, crisp, and totally blank; and 12 gloriously empty months stretch out in front of you, open to all kinds of possibilities. Maybe you’ll move to a new city, or leave a job you can’t stand, or run a marathon. Or maybe you’ll dedicate 2019 to (finally) getting your finances in order. With most goals—but especially when it comes to your personal finances—it’s easy to set yourself up for failure by only giving yourself a week or a month to create new habits or change bad behavior. But a whole year? That gives you enough time to make some strides. Especially if you start strong in January, and especially if you get specific about what it is you want to accomplish. I’m a big believer in setting smaller goals along the way—they can create a lot of momentum to help you feel confident about doing the bigger stuff. So instead of saying, “I want to get out of
The one tiny change I made to my workday that has had a huge mental-health payoff
December 22, 2018 at 04:00AM This year, I planned my wedding and got married; I tacked on a restorative vacay to the tail end of trip for a friend’s destination wedding; and when a role opened up at work that aligned with my personal interests and general career goals, I raised my hand to make the shift. But I wouldn’t call any of those things the most impactful wellness change I made for myself in 2018. That, rather, would be my conscious decision to leave the office at lunchtime each day for a break. Dream big, right? Well, it’s actually a bit tricky when taking that break—to stretch your legs, breathe some fresh air, give your mind a break, and grab some nourishment—directly conflicts with another priority: packing a lunch to benefit your financial health. And sure, when I have a hankering, I treat myself to a designer salad or poké bowl or grain bowl or whatever other lunch option is available near Well+Good’s headquarters in New York City (most likely, it’s in a—you guessed it—bowl). But I want that to remain the exception to the rule because, frankly, my packed lunches generally do fulfill me. Alas, the arrangement was flawed: I routinely let pass entire days, which gave way to weeks and months (yep, months), without leaving the office at all from the time I arrived in the morning until I left for the day. I’d barely even get up from my desk. Worse than not leaving the building to
How Megan Roup ditched perfectionism and followed her gut to become a fitness phenom
December 04, 2018 at 06:30PM In the Follow Your Gut® spotlight, The Sculpt Society creator Megan Roup shares how listening to her instincts helped her turn her dream job into a reality—and the daily habits (like sipping Health-Ade kombucha) that she counts on to mentally and physically recharge. Whether you’re experiencing Megan Roup’s infectious energy in the studio or in your living room (via obé’s streaming workout platform), one thing is clear: She’s got megawatt energy and a style all her own. But before she took on New York City’s fitness scene—and then conquered laptop screens everywhere—it took a leap of faith. “Often, we’re overwhelmed with the idea of change or don’t want to start until everything is perfect,” says Roup, who swapped a professional dance career for fitness entrepreneurship. “But unless you start, nothing will happen. There is power in action, it doesn’t have to be perfect and you don’t have to have all the answers, you just need to start.” Fast forward to today, and the The Sculpt Society—Roup’s answer to an approachable, empowering, and welcoming boutique fitness method—is one of NYC’s most buzzed about classes, with celeb clients like supermodels Elsa Hosk and Shanina Shaik. “There is power in action, it doesn’t have to be perfect and you don’t have to have all the answers, you just need to start.” But to get there, Roup had to learn how to listen to her gut. “My biggest hard-earned lesson (something I’m still working on) and something I hope to help clients