Issue #200: Why Our Lives Feel Over-Full Yet Undernourished

The endless cycle we're all in.

🧄 Garlic Scape Pesto: It’s garlic scape season, the elusive three-ish week window that arrives just once a year, in early summer, when the distinctive green flower stalks shoot out of bulbs. At the market on Sunday, one of my favorite farm stands was carrying containers of garlic scape pesto which was so good, I decided to recreate it with this recipe—both use pumpkin seeds, Parmesan, and plenty of the lightly garlicky scapes. I tossed it that evening in a pasta of just fettuccine and sautéed beet greens. So simple, yet delicious!

💿 ‘I quit’ album, by HAIM: Immediate “Yes!” to this latest HAIM album. The opening song sets the tone with a rock song that feels reminiscent of their debut (highly recommend a re-listen, by the way), and is an excellent “zero fucks given” ballad to play on full-blast in your car. Can’t wait to see them this summer in Portland!

📺 “Stick” on Apple TV+: A lighter-hearted ‘Jerry Maguire’ meets “Ted Lasso,” this endearing new show stars Owen Wilson as a has-been golf star whose legacy is the career-ending breakdown he had on live television. While at a driving range, he spots a teenager with such impressive natural talent that he takes the young golfer under his wing in a last-ditch effort to save himself, and stay in the game.

P.S. I’m bringing back Morning Person Book Club this month with Lost & Found by Kathryn Schulz! Details below on how to join our conversation and meet other readers. x

Most mornings, I wake naturally just as the sun is beginning to rise and slip into the kitchen, allowing the water for my Chinese herbs to warm as I step outside barefoot to check on my garden. It’s as idyllic as it sounds and, in this moment, I feel completely settled. I haven’t looked at my phone yet; my breath is slow. The day still holds the possibility of being completely balanced.

And then, somewhere between the kettle boiling and my first sip of herbs, I remember I wanted to look up a milk frother, to streamline my new ritual of making matcha. I open my laptop, “just for a second,” and somehow lose fifteen minutes comparing brands—the anxiety already beginning to creep in. It’s enough to throw off my rhythm, so that I no longer have time to sit and read, or go for a run outside. Instead, I race through interval sprints on the treadmill, resigned to a functional, expedient workout that gets the job done, then rush through my shower and breakfast, barely making it to the office in time to gather myself for my first client. I’m behind before the day has even begun.

We’re taught to imagine addiction as something that explodes your life, a “rock-bottom.” But for many of us, it looks more like quiet, high-functioning control that consumes our lives.