Happy New Year! For 2021, I’m going to try weekly faves recommendations. Just a few discoveries I’ve made or am making each week. So, here goes week one.
Book
Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets by Andy Stanley – This is Andy Stanley’s latest book and it is a winner. His point? Our life is impacted by one decision after another and most of us aren’t really great at considering the impact seemingly small decisions have on the trajectory of our lives. In his typical style, Andy makes the case for asking ourselves a series of questions as we make decisions. The goal is fewer regrets. And that’s something I can get behind.
Podcasts
3 Steps to Restarting Your Life-Giving Rhythms on The Right Next Step – I’m new to this podcast and this was the first episode I listened to. Fantastic. Brief, soothing, and on my walk listening I kept opening my notes app to dictate notes to myself. That’s a good sign. Will be exploring more episodes from this one for sure.
What’s Negative about Positivity? on Terrible Thanks for Asking – This is a great look at toxic positivity and why it is bad for us. And, yes. I’m usually the Pollyanna type, but if a divorce in the past and then the pandemic have taught me anything, it is that acknowledging what is hard is actually healthy. Norah welcomes Susan David who has been researching toxic positivity for years. After a year of really, really hard, it is refreshing to hear a reminder that we can still have a positive outlook and fully acknowledge the negative impacting our lives.
Wind of Change – OK. Stick with this one. It seems like an insane premise, but these guys spent years investigating if a heavy metal ballad of the early 90’s could have been the product of covert psychological operations by the CIA. Roll your eyes. And then listen. Note – this one has a few words my mom doesn’t like, so you’ve been warned.
Movies
So, my people and I ended up quarantined…over Christmas break. Yeah, that’s about as much fun as it sounds.
We watched so. many. movies. Some were new, some were new to us, and some we’ve watched many times. For context, I have an almost 13-year old and almost 11-year old. Here are a few that we really liked.
Safety – This is one of the few new movies we watched. On Disney+, this one is based on a true story out of Clemson’s football program. We all loved it, and the messages in this one are good.
Bridge of Spies – This is a great historical look at the Cold War. It was super eye-opening for my kids who thought what I’d told them to date about the Berlin wall was an exaggeration. This movie is PG-13 and there is some violence and a little language. The (almost) 13-year old is a history buff and was hooked from the start. It was a good movie to process together.
Hidden Figures – My math-loving gal loves this movie. I love the eye-opening history of NASA. This is a great movie. We’d seen this one before, but it is one we will watch again and again.
Back to the Future – My boy is probably the last of his friend group to see this one, but I finally let him watch it over our quarantine. I fast forwarded through the two parts that had kept me from letting him watch it earlier (ahem…peeping tom and attempted sexual assault in the parking lot of the dance). He missed none of that and loved the movie.
Instant Family – This one is a candid, funny, and at times heartbreaking. It is based on a true story about an unlikely foster family. Note – there is some language in this one that I wish wasn’t in the movie. But, it is. My people are of the age that I’m reminding them that they don’t have to use every word they hear and that I have test results to prove their vocabulary. Hoping the positive message outweighs some of the vocabulary choices.
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