Hi there, you're listening to the Lazy Genius Podcast. I'm Kendra Adachi and I'm here to help you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't.

Today is episode 299, what's saving my life. We do these episodes about once a quarter for two reasons. One, it is a wonderful practice that I want to remind you of as often as possible.

And two, because our seasons of life change, so do the things that save them. It's really important to me that we pay attention to seasonal practices so that we get off that train of like a linear life that goes from start to finish. That's just not how life works.

So let's remember what is working for us, what is bringing us joy and saving our lives right now.

As a reminder, this is a concept coined by Barbara Brown Taylor, one of my favorite authors. So thank you, Barbara Brown Taylor for paving the way for us to do this simple but mighty little thing.

All right, so I have 10 things on my list today, a couple of which are always here. Cheers for settling into what works and being grateful for you guys. All right, the first thing is the North Carolina candle from Homesick.

Homesick is a candle company that makes a candle sent for every state and then even like fictional places, they have a death star candle. Y'all like, come on, they have Harry Potter candles, they have a winter green mantle candle that is the best smells of Christmas and winter all in one like I love these candles.

They're a little pricier than most candles you'd find at Target, but they burn for a really long time. They are really simple in their design, super pretty to look at and their their hot throw or how well the scent fills the room is really, really good.

But the North Carolina candle is one of the greatest scented candles ever, even if you don't care a thing about North Carolina, it's just comforting and lovely and a little woodsy and has like a hint of tobacco in it since a ton of tobacco is farmed in North Carolina.

And when smoking in your house, it smells like like there's like a little hint of freshly harvested tobacco. I love it so hard and I have been burning it almost constantly. Also fun candle tip real quick. One of the reasons that you want to keep your candle wicks trimmed is because a higher or longer wick, it creates a bigger flame.

And therefore a hotter burn, which makes the candle burn up faster and it causes the scent to sort of diminish. It's more fire than scent. So it's not just that the candle wick is going to break off or something and that's why you want to trim it.

And that a small wick, it means that a steady small flame is going to burn, which means a steadily burning candle with gray hot throw is going to happen. So, you know, the more you know that the North Carolina candle from homesick candles is number one.

Okay, number two, play off football. I love sports with my whole actual heart and I have finally started noticing the importance of meaningful sports in my life. Like I'll survive when there's nothing of note happening in the sports world, but when there is, it is like an anchor for me and my family.

Before Christmas, it was the men's world cup. The women's world cup is my favorite sporting event of all time of all of them. So I cannot wait for that. March madness is up there. That's coming soon. But playoff NFL football is a blast. We're a big NFL family. That's probably collectively our highest sport for sure. So it's something all of us really enjoy together.

It's usually like really competitive like the NFL playoffs are like really compelling like compelling storylines is really competitive. It's emotional. We all get a ton of enjoyment out of it. So personally, it's saving my life because I love locking into something competitive over a period of time.

That I also love that it's something connected for my family. Number three is a new grocery pickup rhythm. I think I've had a meal planning something or other every single one of these episodes like there's always something in the meal planning world that is saving me life. And that's because we're always eating you guys like food never stops meals. They never take a break.

The kids continue to just to eat more than they did before I don't understand. So because meals are always a thing. So our groceries right. I talk about finding your planning and shopping rhythm a lot in my book, the lazy genius kitchen. If you want some practical help to figure out the best rhythm for you.

I don't want you to have just like a copy of my rhythm because that probably won't work because we have different priorities in different lives. So I'd encourage you to read that book. It's really great. But the important thing to remember about meal planning and shopping is that it goes through seasons and phases and iterations.

What worked last year might not work now and I've even found that what worked last month could still work better. I mean, I'm an 80 grand one literally everything could work better. So don't feel badly as you change your rhythms or your choices.

And then the next thing is little by little that's natural and good. So in that spirit lately I have been paying attention to the best times for me to not just pick up my groceries, but when I plan and prep as well. I want all three of those things the shopping the planning and the prepping to be connected.

I will process I will have groceries that will go bad before a plan kicks in or before we get to a weekend when I have time to prep stuff right it's been a significant shift for me to continue seeing the entire process as one cycle one rhythm not separate ones.

I don't have a meal planning rhythm and a shopping rhythm and a prep rhythm. I mean, I do, but all of them have to be part of one single rhythm. If I'm going to have food when I need it and not have it be rotten when the time comes to eat it right.

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