Change Your Life

Considering a reimagination of your own? Find insight and perspective from learning how others have faced challenging circumstances. Below we’ve rounded up books, shows and a podcast that can offer inspiration and motivation, as well as practical advice from an economist and author on the best way to think about problems that don’t have straightforward solutions.

by LI ZZ SCH U M ER

READ Wild Problems

This thought-provoking book offers a new way to address problems that don’t have clear solutions, taking cues from great artists, writers and scientists who have struggled. $27

The Takeaway: By spending less energy focused on the idea of being happy, we can figure out our true purpose and really flourish.

In Conversation

Russ Roberts

On how to wrangle challenges no algorithm can solve

Why is this book important now? In modern times, we look to so many analytical or algorithm-driven ways to make decisions. But there’s no app to help make those big-picture decisions: Should I get married, should I have kids, should I move? That’s why we need to think of them differently. Can you explain what a better approach might entail? Think of these problems less as decisions and more as choosing a path to go down. Think about standing in the middle of the woods, considering this path or that path, choosing a direction. These decisions often determine who we are — so don’t just think about which path is more fun. Think about Which path should I aspire to? Which path might have more meaning or purpose? Talk about the distinction you make between a puzzle and a mystery. Puzzles tend to have solutions. In that way, puzzles are very comforting. We have a method for getting to the answer. They have certainty behind them. But a mystery is something that doesn’t have answers, so I think a lot of us try to push those out of our mind. It’s uncomfortable. One of the themes of the book is that the big decisions in life are more mystery than puzzle. So we have to accept that there is no best answer. How do we begin to become more comfortable with that uncertainty?

To start, think of your life as a work of art rather than a puzzle with a solution. Part of it is thinking with the perspective If I do this, that’s who I am. That requires selfawareness, finding out who you are and what you want to be. And self-awareness is in short supply, in part because of our societal hurry, the search for the best life hack. Why do you think people need this reset right now? A lot of the flavors we like when we get older are more bittersweet, not just sweet. They involve some pain, some sacrifice. What’s fascinating about COVID-19 is, it’s been horrible and at the same time something of a beginning. Most great art comes from constraints, and COVID was a kind of constraint for most of us. We’re forced to take a look at our lives, our families, how we live — and that’s a profound educational experience. It has also forced us to face our own mortality and both appreciate what we have and make sure we use the time we have wisely.

What’s the lesson you take from this time period?

It was a wake-up call that we can try something different. The status quo is very comforting, and COVID was like, “I’m going to upheave the status quo. I’m shaking you up; see what happens.”

But really, that learning can be an adventure, and if we’re lucky enough to be alive, change often isn’t as bad as we thought it would be.

WATCH

Special (Netflix)

Ryan is a gay man with cerebral palsy who decides it’s high time to get his act together, move out of his overprotective mother’s house, get his first job and find love—all while keeping his sense of humor intact. In this semiautobiographical Netflix series, he does just that. Of course, because art imitates life, almost nothing goes according to plan.

Start with the first episode, then marathon-watch both hilarious and often heartwarming seasons.

The Takeaway: Nobody is immune to falling down, but getting back up and dusting yourself off is what makes the difference.

WRITE

Keep Moving: The Journal

by Maggie Smith

In the introduction to this interactive journal, Smith writes, I know now that hope is a muscle—it grows bigger and stronger the more I use it. Through 52 exercises, motivational musings and writing prompts, Smith guides us on a journey of reflection and revelation. The journal is divided into the same three sections as her book of inspirational quotes and essays by the same name—Revision, Resilience and Transformation. $16

The Takeaway: There’s opportunity for growth and self-discovery even in difficult circumstances.

FEEL-GOOD FICTION

LISTEN

Future of Hope by the On Being Project

This ongoing podcast series from Krista Tippett’s On Being Project invites former guests of the show to go deep. Topics have included coping with pain through new friendship with theologian Kate Bowler; finding hope in small things with author Elizabeth Gilbert; our relationship with the natural world with author Michael Pollan; and how our society values caregiving with Me Too movement founder Tarana Burke.

The Takeaway: Conversations with deep thinkers can help our search for hope and meaning.

REVISIT Scent of a Woman

In this 1992 film that was nominated for Best Picture and won Al Pacino an Oscar for Best Actor, Pacino plays blind retired Army lieutenant colonel Frank. When broke college student Charlie agrees to look after him over the Thanksgiving break, he thinks it will be easy money. But he doesn’t know that Frank has his own wild plans for the weekend. This oldie but goodie about adjusting expectations is well worth revisiting.

The Takeaway: Opening up to another person can reveal an unanticipated world of joy and understanding.

Sisters Ruth, Chloe and Esther have been singing and dancing as The Salvations for as long as they can remember, spending hours on their San Francisco apartment building’s rooftop rehearsing for their weekly gigs at the Champagne Supper Club. But their mother and selfappointed stage manager, Vivian, dreams of stardom for her daughters, pushing them ever higher at the expense of social lives, boys and other career ambitions. So when the girls begin to rebel against their mother’s drive, the family starts to splinter. While private dramas play out at home, things are shifting in the neighborhood outside their door. One by one, all four family members find themselves grasping at something they see slipping away, albeit each in their own individual direction. Before the curtain comes up, each has to decide whether to leave the spotlight behind or stand in a new kind of light. This is an expansive, big-hearted work of historical fiction about family, love and what happens when children grow up to chase dreams their parents never imagined for them. $29

Includes:

125+ make-ahead recipes that will save you time and money. A primer of all the basics like big-batch cooking and freeze-ahead meals.

A 28-day meal plan with prepping and cooking tips. Gluten-free, keto & vegan options!