Sunday Brunch Round-up | July 25-31st

READ

Anxiety has found its home within too many of us during this pandemic. Whether it existed before, or was simply ratcheted up, it seems unrelentless and encircling. In The Daily Journal Prompts That Helped Me Curb Anxious Feelings from Vogue, Cindy Lamothe shares a balm that has helped her and may help you as well.
- “Like so many others who’ve had to juggle the demands of work and caregiving through COVID-19 lockdowns, facing an unknowable future triggered my anxiety.
  But at the beginning of this year, after too many Mondays spent on the verge of a panic attack, I decided to start writing down all of my worries each morning. I’d read countless articles about how journaling your thoughts helps relieve anxious feelings, and I wanted to give it a try. That first day, I worried (of course) that if I allowed myself to list everything out, I’d spiral into a ball of despair. Instead, I found that writing out my fears at the beginning of my day was like purging myself, or taking an icy shower that jolts you awake.”
As long as I can remember, I have loved everything relating to space, space travel, and worlds unknown. I’ve always wanted to travel into space, but the recent billionaire space tourism race sours my stomach rather than excites me. Two articles I came across this week broke down the staggering impact that these flights have taken on the planet - a planet already being ravaged by climate change. In Space Flight For Fun: Billionaire Egotism Trumps Sustainability they write:
- “Today, all virtually all tourism creates CO2 emissions. An economy-class flight from New York City to London emits the equivalent to 11% of an individual’s average annual carbon emissions. But the scale of the difference between space tourism and more mundane approaches to travel is astonishing.”
And in The jaw-droppingly high, out-of-this-world carbon footprint of space tourism, Eloise Marais highlights:
- “During launch, rockets can emit between 4 and 10 times more nitrogen oxides than Drax, the largest thermal power plant in the UK, over the same time period. CO2 emissions for the four or so tourists on a space flight will be between 50 and 100 times more than the one to three tonnes of emissions that are generated per passenger on a long-haul airplane flight.
  In order for international regulators to keep up with this nascent industry and control its carbon pollution, scientists need a better understanding of the effect space tourism will have on our planet’s atmosphere.”

WATCH

I have to confess: I’m a huge Fast and Furious franchise fan. I usually watch the movies when they come out when a couple of friends of mine. Since we’re still in the middle of the pandemic, I forewent travel and the movie theater and streamed it from the comfort of my home. It was a lot of what I’ve grown to expect in this franchise, but there is still a Paul Walker-shaped hole in the franchise as a whole. Fingers crossed that the 10th one will tie up the franchise neatly.

LISTEN

Sometimes I reach to a song I used to love years ago. Yesterday, I came home and couldn’t get I Will Exalt You out of my head and had to listen to it while I showered. It’s one of my favorites and I think you’ll love it.

SMELL

As part of my ritual after an injury or illness (read last week’s Sunday Brunch where I mention The Happiness Lab’s episode on the power of made up rituals), I purchased a floral burn bundle. I haven’t burned it yet, but it smells divine! If you’re interested, I got the Botanical Blessing Burn Bundle on Etsy.

in joy,