Morning Brew - 🍻 Ramps

Building your career through a self-care lens

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A coworker of mine recently shared that even her most ambitious friends are confessing to coasting at work right now. I, too, find myself in this situation every once in a while. You almost feel like you’re sleepwalking through your job. 

Andy J. Miller (aka Andy J. Pizza) is a NYT, Washington Post, and Google illustrator and the host of the podcast Creative Pep Talk. In one of Andy’s latest episodes, he breaks down five steps to falling back in love with your work: 

1. Start subtracting, not adding. Dig up an old project you loved, and reread it—it’ll remind you of your potential. 
2. Find the signal in the noise. Search for even more projects that add up to the “hardwood floor of [your] creativity.” In other words, rebuild your foundation. 
3. Look below the surface. Shine the black light on the invisible ink of the work—the inspiration, technique, and hidden themes—all the things that give it a heart and soul. 
4. Enforce deadlines. Pull out that blank planner and create a schedule that works for you. It’ll force you to get new work done. 
5. Create patterns. Andy’s advice: “Style is just plagiarizing yourself. Keep showing up.” 

Fun stuff to do outside work

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• Rumor has it this might be the Cybertruck of chocolate chip cookie recipes. (Elon allegedly came back for seconds.) 
• It’s ramp season, but if you don’t know your ramps from your onions, garlic, leeks, or shallots, Melissa Clark has a beginner’s guide for you.  
• A sentence I never thought I’d write: These gas stations are worth the extra mile. 
• Find a weekend watch on this list of the best movies based on true stories. 
• If you’re prepping for thigh guy summer, consider Rafael Nadal’s workout routine. And give his breakfast of champions a try: bread with olive oil and orange juice. 
• A collection of furniture projects for the design lover with beginner DIY skills. I’m totally making the translucent fruit bowl.
• How often are you washing your towels? Probably not enough.

Exploring new skills for the sake of personal growth 

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I wouldn’t have stayed somewhat sane throughout the pandemic if it weren’t for rituals—small, intentional practices that help you stay present. For me, daily morning walks, group Zoom workouts with friends, and weekly NYTimes crossword sessions (on Mondays, of course) always got me through all the “yet another day stuck at home” days. 

In a recent article, cognitive therapist Sadaf Siddiqi suggests these grounding rituals are key to overcoming post-pandemic anxiety. Research shows that “people who engage in rituals report less anxiety and even show fewer physiological symptoms of arousal, like heart palpitations.” 

If you didn’t create any pandemic rituals, it’s not too late. Odds are you already have a few and you just don’t realize it, so it’s more about deepening your experience with them. A few ways to get started: 

1. Set an intention. Could be as simple as “I’m going to move my body today.”
2. Reset when you feel least grounded. Siddiqi suggests setting an alarm for 5-15 minutes and reducing distractions around you. 
3. Design your own ritual...that’s actually enjoyable. Don’t force yourself to meditate for 20 minutes. And make it specific...time, place, duration. For example, call a friend every Wednesday on your 3pm walk. 

And finally, share your rituals—either by telling friends or family, or by writing them down. You can even share them right here. Let me know! 

Find a very serious wine ad below. 

Hey. It’s your ad writer again. In Monday’s Sidekick, I wrote about how the wines Bright Cellars delivers monthly make people want to become the protagonist of a finding-yourself movie. 

My boss and I had a chat, and we’ve agreed this one will be different. Here, simply, are some incredible facts about Bright Cellars. 

First, you take a fun, easy quiz. Then Bright Cellars sends you wines (just in time for National Wine Day on 5/25). You will love those wines. This is because Bright Cellars’s algorithm learns taste preferences. You will also learn about your wine from a wine education card provided in each Bright Cellars box. 

Get serious about wine with 60% off your first order of a 4-bottle box, plus a corkscrew.

Products that just make life better 

Farmer's Fridge

• Sad desk lunches aren’t so depressing with Farmer’s Fridge. What started as a vending fridge is now a meal delivery service with salads galore, plus healthy cookie dough bites (delish) and a burrito bowl with fresh guac (and it doesn’t cost extra $$). 
• When balsamic vinegar isn’t cutting it for you, aka most of the time, Acid League’s living vinegars are the best way to jazz up your greens. The Mango Jalapeño flavor is a tangy, summertime dressing that’s both sweet and sour, and it goes perfectly on a taco bowl. 
• Ditch the plastic wrap and easily preserve your three quarters of a cucumber with Food Huggers. They come in lots of sizes (with ones big enough to cover your bowls and containers), and they’re made of silicone, which means cleaning is a breeze.