Hello again everyone. Well, we made it through this - well, dumpster fire seems a bit cliche at this point, doesn’t it? - of a year. That’s why this amazing commercial from Match.com (produced by Ryan Reynolds’ company Maximum Effort) hit home:
Here’s to a better 2021. Some of your resolutions for the coming year:
I just finished Atomic Habits by James Clear, and of course it has me thinking about resolutions and making, in the author’s memorable phrase, 1% improvements. I am resolving to better handle stress - the Calm app, specifically the Daily Calm meditation, has been particularly helpful for me so far - though you may want to wait for their regular Black Friday promotion (as I did), when a subscription is 50% off. I’d also recommend subscribing to my friend Valerie Moses’ new podcast, Wellness & Wanderlust (also the name of her blog), which is all about self-care.
This next year I also plan to continue my efforts at developing meaningful relationships. Growing up, moving around from place to place as an Army brat, I had a hard time connecting with people beyond a superficial level.
In recent years, I’ve worked to strengthen my connections with like-minded people. In 2015, I built a community for higher ed social media managers (#hesm) on the Slack platform, mirroring what I had done in creating the University of Central Florida’s social media group. In 2016 I joined the Florida Public Relations Association’s Orlando Area Chapter, and served on its executive board for a number of years. Around the same period, I went to the Social Fresh conference for the first time, and befriended Jason and Nicole. And earlier this year, I became more involved with #MarketingTwitter.
Then, at the end of August, for the first time, I was unemployed, ripped away from the alma mater I had worked at for 14 years, adrift. And it was here that the communities I put effort into developing saved me - alerting me of job prospects, soothing my anxieties in virtual happy hours, helping me to maintain perspective. And it is because of their aid that I found a new path. May 2021 help me to further cultivate these wonderful additions to my life.
Ok, enough sappiness from me. On to the good stuff:
Tips
If your resolution is to learn more Adobe Creative Cloud - Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro, etc. - you’re in luck! Adobe maintains two great YouTube channels, @AdobeVideo and @AdobeCreativeCloud, where they’re constantly adding new tutorials and interviews with creatives:
Interesting Reads
Are you on Goodreads? I’d love to see what you’re reading!
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Madeline Miller’s Circe, which I read earlier this year. If you read Homer’s The Odyssey in high school, you might remember Circe, the witch who enchants the protagonist and his men. This re-imagining tells the story of Circe’s life from her own viewpoint, in often arresting prose. And even better - today (12/31) only, it’s $4.99 as a Kindle book.
I just finished More Myself, the autobiography of one of my favorite artists and human beings, Alicia Keys. I’ve always loved her positive, chill vibe, and the way she carries herself - not to mention how beautiful and talented she is. I highly recommend this book, where Alicia talks about her journey towards self-acceptance and staying true to herself.
In fact, here’s some more Alicia to bless your inbox (that ad-lib “promise you baaaaay-bay” sends chills down my spine):
Useful Links
Having trouble keeping up with email newsletters in your inbox? Try Stoop, which provides you a separate space to enjoy them. Substack is also developing its own app for Substack newsletters only. The app is now in beta.
I’m often on Twitter, but it’s a rapidly-flowing river, and it can be hard to get a sense of the big stories those people I’m following are talking about. Enter Nuzzel, which has long been one of my favorite tools to solve this dilemma. Check it out (App Store | Play Store)!
Gifcap.dev (hat tip to Lifehacker) - ever seen those screenshot tutorials where they use a video (or more precisely, an animated GIF) to show the steps? They look like this:
I don’t know about you, but I find them particularly useful and eye-catching. And this website makes it really easy to create them. Give it a try!
Don’t Forget to Subscribe
If you came across this post in search and want to subscribe to this newsletter, go ahead and smash that like….uh, click the button below:
That’s all for this month. See you again in January! If you found this useful, please share with a friend! Thanks for reading!