Dear Subscriber First Name,

I’m back in LA after two weeks abroad, and the jet lag is hitting in a weirdly productive way. I’m not a morning person, but by 8:45am this morning, I’d done two loads of laundry, and baked carrots and samosas for lunch. Who is she…?

Visiting Italy and Denmark was wonderful and just what I needed for so many reasons. For this issue I’ll focus on one—I really lived in the moment.

Three things that helped me be more present:

• I didn’t check any correspondence, including emails, Slack, LinkedIn. This allowed me to channel my focus towards what mattered most—my time with friend(s), alone, and in the here and now.

• I barely planned in advance and chose to be flexible with how each day played out. Normally, I’ll select in advance what I’d like to do and where I’d like to go, then map out efficient routes. This trip, I did a lot of that planning the night before, or the morning of.

• Perhaps the real game changer, though, was how I actively opted out of striving to see everything on my list. Whether or not the day was fulfilling was not dependent on the boxes checked, but on how I followed the flow of the day. I paid attention to my energy levels and which experiences really called to me. Opting out of FOMO released me to fully enjoy the places I did visit, and protected those experiences from being sold short.

As I get back into my regular routine, I’m reflecting on how I can bring these practices into my day-to-day. How can I design my days, especially when I’m working regularly again, so that whatever I’m doing and wherever I am, I’m truly there? What does it look like to spend my time in ways that uplift energy and compound joy?

Let me know what these questions bring up for you 💌. For travel-related content, peep my Stories on Instagram.

With renewed energy,
Haemee

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Reading: The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro - “In the summer of 1956, Stevens, a long-serving butler at Darlington Hall, decides to take a motoring trip through the West Country. The six-day excursion becomes a journey into the past of Stevens and England, a past that takes in fascism, two world wars, and an unrealised love between the butler and his housekeeper.”

Watching: Sheng Wang: Sweet and Juicy (Netflix) - “Sheng Wang delivers a laid-back set on juicing, mammograms, how snoring is an evolutionary mistake and the existentional angst of buying pants from Costco.” So many funny moments, but the part about how mean kids can be to adults really made me laugh out loud.

Eating: Black Sesame Custard Pumpkin Pie - It’s officially Fall here, and my mind is on pie. Specifically, this pie, described by the home chef as “the bottom being the black sesame eggy sweet custardy goodness, and the top is a cinnamony floooooofy pumpkin chiffon […] floating between a buttery flaky crust”. Meow, I’ll take a slice, thank you!