Present you vs. 2017 you
Oh, hi friends!
It’s hard to stop and remember everything you know now that you didn’t know a year ago.*
We forget. We gloss over. We look to the future.
So think about one lesson you’ve learned. Maybe it’s tiny (“Porgs are wonderful!!!”) or life-shaking (“When someone shows you who they are, believe them”**).
Take a second and give yourself credit for where you are now, versus where you were January 10, 2017. You’ve come a long way.
*This one’s a h/t to Abby Haglage, my own personal Oprah
**This one’s a h/t to the real Oprah
“Ain't no one got time for crazy in 2018.”
I'm loving writing for my friend Cindy Augustine over at the travel site The Points Guy (here's my latest piece on 9 Resolutions Every Traveler Should Make in 2018)—because she's a great editor, of course, but also because we're just getting it done. She said the quote above yesterday and I nearly shouted AMEN (or the digital equivalent—this all took place over email, of course).
Got some crazy in your life? Purge, baby, purge.
Actually, I *Do* Have Time for Some Crazy This Year
I loved I, Tonya (Margot Robbie! Allison Janney!!!) and it reminded me how much I used to enjoy watching figure skating. I’ve got an autographed Champions on Ice photo of Evgeni Plushenko lying around somewhere…
Anyway! Seeing the film made me realize how little I actually knew about the Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding scandal. After doing a deep dive, my favorite story was this 1994 New Yorker article by Susan Orlean about how the Tonya Harding Fan Club fared in Tonya's hometown after “the incident.” Not only does it give you a sense of the young woman’s life off the ice, it’s a masterclass in magazine writing and the beauty of specificity.
A taste: “They drove up Eighty-second Avenue, past the Lovelier You Beauty Salon and the Beavers Inn and the Moneyman and the Junk-a-Rama, and then turned east, past Lincoln Willamette Funeral Directors, which had a digital sign flashing the time, the temperature, and then the message “Compare! Complete Chapel Service With Casket $1,997.” Basically, I want Susan to describe the streets of every small town in America to me. (LOVE YOU, SUSAN.) Read the entire piece here.
Do you like these daily emails? Please share with a friend!
Thanks, as always, for reading.
Love, Kara