Issue #156: How to Get Things Done When You Just *Can't Even*

Plus, the joys of leftover salad with Caroline Chambers.

📚 The Divorce by Moa Herngren: This just-released novel by a bestselling Swedish novelist documents the aftermath of a seemingly solid marriage that falls apart over one summer (I’m admittedly drawn to stories that, um, mirror my own life.). Similar to Fleishman is in Trouble, it’s told from both perspectives—beginning with Bea, as she spends a series of sleepless nights, alternating between rage and concern, when her husband Niklas moves out after a small argument. Not much happens in the first half, but I found myself completely immersed in the accuracy of the way Herngren documents a marriage/life falling apart in slow motion. I listened to it on audiobook in two marathon stretches, hardly able to put it down. (Don’t just take my word for it.

Pandora Sykes

and

Michelle Martin

loved it as much as I did!)

📺 “Industry” on Max: When this show premiered in 2020, I wasn’t ready for it. I was more “Ted Lasso” and “Bridgerton,” whereas “Industry” was a high-stress drama about interns competing for a position at an investment bank on London. The buzz around the third season, which came out last night, convinced me to give it another try. Although I’m still catching up, I’m already gripped by the highs, lows, and sex lives of the Gen Z interns (and obsessed with Myha’la Herrold who plays Harper). Eager to see where it goes!

🎧 “Hysterical” Podcast: In 2011, teenage girls at a high school in New York began experiencing verbal outbursts and physical tics, that some compared to scenes out of The Exorcist. In this seven-episode series, journalist Dan Taberski interviews the girls impacted, and the adults who faulted and supported them, defaulting to a medieval diagnosis of “mass hysteria.” What was really going on? And how likely is it that it happen somewhere else?

She is beauty, she is grace, she did not anticipate sharing this photo publicly

On my flight home from Salt Lake City, I couldn’t take my eyes away from my seat mate’s screen as she watched ‘Nyad,’ the recent film about Diana Nyad’s swim from Cuba to the United States. After an attempt where she is almost killed by a box jellyfish, she makes another, only to be battered by cartoonishly large waves. “I’m staying in, I can do it!” she defies, as the captain shouts to her that it is physically impossible. At that point, even the boat is taking on water.

“Same,” I thought, watching the waves crest on the tiny screen. I was completely wiped from the weekend, which ended with a hilarious but exceedingly late night out (evidenced by the very dramatic photo the bride took of me, using my suitcase as a pillow, as we waited for our ride to the airport).

Okay, maybe it’s not quite the same, but the feeling of swimming against a current feels like an apt comparison lately. As I prepare to depart on a mostly solo six-week trip (!), there are about a thousand things I still need to do. Even as I stay on top of most of it, it can feel synonymous to one stroke forward, two strokes back. Add to this the fact that the motivation to swim (yes, we’re still in the metaphor) often isn’t always there. On the tail end of a packed summer, I’d rather languish on a beach than jump in with the waves. This week’s issue is entirely devoted to finding that motivation when you just can’t even. Read on for 9 tips for getting things done (including being okay with just… not), an interview with

Caroline Chambers

about her perfectly named cookbook, What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking, and an effortless, late summer salad.