Five Things Making Me Happy these Days

In this post, five things I recommend right now to bring a little more joy to your life!

Update: The Adele team has decided to make some tweaks to our publishing schedule. In order to give ourselves more time to focus on our fiction, we’re going to cut back to one newsletter a month starting in November. If you want more Adele in the interim, check out her books!

Now for today’s post!

Here are five things that are making my life happier right now and that might bring joy to you, too!

The Barbie Movie

ICYMI — Barbie is streaming on Prime now!

I loved the Barbie movie. I went with my hubby to see it in the theater and we both enjoyed it. As we left, hubby turned to me and said, “We’ll have to rewatch it when it’s on streaming.” Well, friends, now is the time!

Don’t have time to watch the movie? Just crank up “Closer to Fine” on your stereo and enjoy this New York Times article about how that feminist anthem wound up being part of Barbie’s soundtrack.

A book that promises to teach you to “Build the Life you Want.”

Arthur C. Brooks and Oprah have joined forces for this science-backed guide to leading a happier life. I have found it to be an enjoyable and helpful read.

An app to help you reclaim your brain from the tyranny of your phone

Addicted to your phone? Checking email and social media zillion times a day even though you know there won’t be anything new there? Feeling unfocused and frenzied and nostalgic for life before smartphones (even though you’d never actually want to go back there)? ScreenZen is a free app to help you reclaim your power over your phone. Stop letting your devices and apps use you and start using them in ways that are healthy and happy. It’s done wonders for my dysfunctional relationship with Instagram.

Comfortable earplugs to tune out the noise

Lately, I’ve been feeling like there’s an awful lot of noise in my life, both figuratively and literally. While I’m using mindfulness techniques on the figurative noise, there’s a simpler solution to the literal noise: Earplugs.

Historically, my reaction to earplugs has been a resounding, “No, thank you.” I think it goes back to the horrible, frequent, painful earaches of my youth, but I just can’t handle normal, squishy earplugs that you ball up and shove into your ear holes. So when Wirecutter recommended these earplugs as so comfortable that people forgot they were wearing them, I was intrigued. Maybe they’d be just the thing to tune out my hubby’s podcasts, tv shows, and phone calls, not to mention chatter in the faculty room at work, so I can be a calmer and more productive human. So, I tried them—and I’m here to tell you that they work, are comfy, and are helping me stay sane.

Austin Kleon’s Substack

I’ve been a fan of Austin Kleon’s work for a long time. I recently learned he was on Substack and I was so happy. His posts always give me something interesting to think about and also tend to be cheerful and uplifting.

What’s making you happy these days?

Tell us in the comments! And thanks for reading and supporting the Adele team.

Spreading a little joy is part of Adele’s mission. So if you’re like us—afraid to read the news to see what fresh hell the day has brought—we invite you to skip the doom scrolling and settle in with one of our stories. Because you know there’s gonna be a happy ending. And if you enjoy our books, please take a moment to leave a rating or review on Amazon. It really helps us out!