Jane Harper’s 'Exiles', hot girl walks, and Post-it notes of power phrases

This week’s giveaway is Grace Tame’s memoir, 'The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner'

Unsexy knuckling down has been the focus of the last seven days, as I’ve scrambled to write a string of articles on working out, emotional wellbeing, and an uplifting story about a nice guy trying to make a difference in the world.

The stories are taking shape and by next week, work will be down to a manageable level (she says overly optimistically?). I’ve squashed it since we fell into this medical dystopia in 2020, with occasional flare-ups, but the idea of four or five days poolside sipping sangrias is really starting to take hold, so I reckon I’ll be jumping on TripAdvisor before the week is out.

Hoping your week is free of cockups even if it isn’t full of cocktails. xx

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News

1.     Let’s forget the terrible happenings that have accumulated this week and focus on this gorgeous story about the comfort teddy bears can provide to adults as well as kids. (And if you’re anything like chronicaly unimaginative me, your stuffed animals were all named ‘Bear’ and ‘Dog’ and ‘Lambie’. Guess which species those ones were supposed to be? At my most inventive, I branched out to naming a doll ‘Goo’, but that was about it.)

2.     Oh dear. Elon Musk has assumed control of Twitter and seems to be hell-bent on turning it into a soulless void. One of the (many) things people are freaking out over is that he’s threatening to remove people’s blue tick verification unless users pay a subscription fee. I’m taking a wait-and-see approach, but plenty of my Twitter fam are already jumping ship over to other platforms or simply saying sayonara. Hmmm.

Reviews

1.     It may not have become apparent from my weekly Becks and the City playlists yet, but I’m very much a Swiftie when I’m not mainlining K-pop. Can I just say, Taylor’s latest album Midnights, which came out 21 October, is utterly bewitching? Evermore was a tad dreary for my tastes, but Midnights delivers downbeat comfort to me where Evermore promised it and didn’t deliver. (I’m swimming against the tide here, everyone else seemed to hail Evermore as just what the doctor ordered during trying times.) This one just has a smidgeon more bite and hope and energy that makes the crucial difference for me.

2.     Whether you want to call it ‘rural noir’ or ‘outback noir’ or by its myriad other names, thanks to Jane Harper, this sub-genre is now looming delightfully large on Aussie bookshop shelves. I’ve read all Harper’s novels, including her debut The Dry and its movie adaptation, and rated them all highly. That is, except for a slight dip in enjoyment factor from her 2020 offering, The Survivors. Her newest work, Exiles, is back to her absolute best, though. I’m not sure I can claim to have entirely solved the mystery, but I was certainly on the right track. Still, the novel packed a satisfying punch at the end. Knowing how hard it is to try to weave clues into a story and deliver a surprising-but-still-feels-inevitable ending, I’m blown away by how well Harper does it.

3.     Sweets for breakfast aren’t my bag, but even I would order a smoothie bowl this in-your-face attractive. Like, just stop it, Jose. They’re offensively good.

naturally.jo

A post shared by J o s e (@naturally.jo)

Raves and Faves

Strange self-care rituals I practise that might work for you too

My brain rebels when I try to sit still and clear it for a meditation session and I don’t really hold with yoga either – I can’t help constantly worrying about what to cook for dinner, various deadlines and existential crises in my life, and that awkward thing I said to a stranger eight years earlier. So, I’ve found my own oddball ways to wind down and perk up. Maybe they’ll be your jam as well?

1.     House walks

This is the wildly unimaginative name I’ve given to a habit I adopted since the pandemic started. When lockdowns periodically restricted my ability to stroll around outside, I began taking house walks. I’d pop my phone with its step counter app into a little drawstring bag, fling it over my shoulders, and do 30 minutes of chores while continuously walking loops  inside our house. So, instead of standing in place and drying the dishes I’d take them on a tour as I trotted around, then put away ironing by buttoning a shirt at a time while on the move, then make the bed in stages punctuated by a lap of the living room. I’m aware this sounds massively insane, but somehow it worked for me. I was tidying our home and getting some steps in at the same time.

2.     Zombie runs

Back in 2020, I wrote a piece for The Guardian called ‘I always hated workouts until I made them weird’ (and tried to claim I was *cough* only slightly over 30 – liar!). Anyway, I mentioned one of the weird types of exercise I do is zombie runs. Haters of cardio like me might find it’s the only thing that makes grunting and sweating and barely breathing worth the effort. You download the Zombies, Run! app (for Android or for Apple) and then play it on your phone while huffing and puffing around the streets or an oval, pretending zombies are chasing you. I tend to do the less-scary supply missions to go on make-believe runs where you pick up medicines, fuel, food, entertainment items and other supplies necessary to the survival of your colony of zombocalypse survivors. Bizarre? Definitely, but it almost makes you forget you’re doing cardio. Almost.

3.     Ironing while listening to podcasts

Tedious domestic tasks become nigh on enjoyable when they double as your podcast listening time. Choose a show that most appeals to you and go as frivolous as you like. No one’s judging you, so don’t feel pressured to be productive and listen to something professional. I lean towards comedy shows and ones about wellbeing like My Dad Wrote a Porno, Happier with Gretchen Rubin, and Self-care Sunday. At one stage, while battling insomnia, I used to do this at 4 am. Weird.

4.     Post-it note of power phrases

During a period of intense stress where I was in long-term close contact with a Very Difficult Person, I needed a daily reminder I mattered and was allowed to hold my boundaries. I tried various mental health and journaling apps and none of them really resonated with me, but one thing that did help was downloading a simple Post-It note app onto my phone, so I could position it front and centre on my homepage and when I came across a positive affirmation that spoke to me, I typed it in and saved it. Then when I needed a pick-me-up, I read through my list of phrases. I’ve since deleted it, as I’m in a much better headspace, but I remember particularly gelling with ‘‘No’ is a complete sentence’ and ‘The best apology is changed behaviour’.

5.     Hot girl walks

Okay, hear me out. I came across the term for this TikTok trend a while back, and thought ‘Hey, I’ve been doing this before I even knew it was a thing’. In essence, you take a walk while listening to an upbeat motivational playlist or podcast. As you walk, you think about what’s good in your life, your goals, and how smokin’ hot you are. (I’m not sure how much I do of that last one!) My version might not have traditionally included all these elements, but I often use walking time to think about my goals, gee myself up with positive thoughts, and plan world domination.

Giveaway

This week’s giveaway is a copy of Grace Tame’s highly anticipated new memoir, The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner. Pop your details in here to enter and you’ll go into the random draw.

Playlist of the Week

Murmur your darkest secrets in my ear so your breath tickles my neck:

1.     Hide and Seek - Imogen Heap

2.     Nowhere Warm - Kate Havnevik

3.     All Comes Crashing - Metric

4.     Nocturne - Blanco White

5.     The Way I Am - Ingrid Michaelson

6.     Secret - Joshua Bassett

7.     illicit affairs - Taylor Swift

8.     They - Jem

9.     in the dark - Bring Me The Horizon

10.  I’m Tired, You’re Lonely - Liza Anne

11.  What I Wouldn’t Do - A Fine Frenzy

12.  In The Dark - Dev

13.  Nothing Better - The Postal Service

14.  Lullaby for a Stormy Night - Vienna Teng

15.  Back in Your Head - Tegan and Sarah