Hello and welcome to Happier, a podcast where we talk about ideas and insights for how

to make our lives happier, healthier, more productive and more creative.

This week we'll talk about why we should be the one to make the plan and we will talk

to writer Susan Kane about her beautiful new book, Bittersweet, How Sorrow and Longing

Make Us Whole.

I'm Gretchen Rubin, writer who studies happiness, good habits and human nature.

I'm in New York City and joining me today from LA is my spiritual craft and I would love

to make a plan to come help you clean out your office but we're going to have to wait

for that.

For me, Elizabeth Kraft, a TV writer and producer living in LA and yes, Gretchen, behind you

making that plan.

Put those tickets.

And before we launch into this week's episodes, we have a few updates.

The first one comes from our listener Claire.

She writes, I recently completed my medical residency training and part of it involves

having to take 28 hour calls every fourth day where you go in at 6 a.m. one day, stay

all day, all night and go home the next day at 10 a.m.

Those nights are so busy you never sleep but some are quiet enough to get a few hours

now.

But I always had a hard time unwinding enough to fall asleep in the call room bed anxious

that my pager would go off at any second.

One of my supervising doctors recommended I instead think of it as quiet rest time rather

...