#5SmartReads - January 3, 2023

Hitha on some rare good news, on not picking special dates for big decisions, and what pigs and humans have in common

January 03, 2023

I’m all for new members being elected and new leaders taking on committee chair roles at all levels of politics, but I also deeply respect the members who quietly get significant work done behind the scenes. And when leaders like Senators Leahy and Shelby - who worked to get the 2023 omnibus bill passed that funds the government through September 2023 - retire, it makes me a little wistful since today’s politics doesn’t match how these officials worked.

“Over their combined 92 years on Capitol Hill, Leahy and Shelby were known for working quietly and relentlessly for goals they cared about and could mobilize broad support for. For many who knew them, respect gave way to genuine fondness.

So, the standing ovation was for them and for their work. But in a sense it was also celebrating an idea – one more often praised than practiced – the fundamental idea of Congress itself.”

Now it’s not to say that Leahy and Shelby don’t have their successors. Senators Patty Murray and Susan Collins are expected to step into their shoes as the committee chair and ranking member of the Appropriations committee, which hammers out the details of spending bills (and their own track record of quietly getting bipartisan legislation passed mirrors their predecessors).

This article is equally a memorialization of Leahy and Shelby’s Senate careers as it is a reminder that what news makes the top headlines or is trending isn’t necessarily the most important news. Yes, our government has its fair share of dysfunction and it always has. But there have been - and will be - leaders focused on service instead of making headlines, and who will find ways to compromise and get things done. And I wish we valued that as much as “trending news”.

Go read this story first, and then come back once you have.

It’s been fascinating to see our culture’s shifting relationship with alcohol, much like how we changed our relationship with cigarettes in the 90’s and early aughts. My own relationship with alcohol has shifted quite a bit since my first Dry January in 2020 (I went from that nightly glass or two of wine to only drinking in social settings, and even that’s something I want to cut down on).

Dry January has been the only time I’ve ever succeeded in achieving a New Year’s resolution, and I think it’s an excellent reset to help establish a more healthy foundation if you ended your year indulging in all the treats of the season (which I know I did!). But I do agree with Ana Marie Cox that picking the first day of the new calendar year puts too much pressure for making a major life decision like getting sober.

“Those of us who struggle to control our drinking pick a special date to dry out not because we want to stop drinking but because we don’t want to. We are not deciding when to quit drinking but negotiating how much longer we still can. A symbolic date just ups the pressure and heightens the anxiety that comes from knowing every drink you take is one closer to your last. What’s more, that special day you pick might be genuinely dear and worth staying sober for — but then there are all those days after.”

I think this advice is wise for any major decision any of us can make - that it’s not about quitting something, but negotiating how much longer we can live with it in our life. If you’ve decided to stop or start anything, don’t focus on the near-infinite future but just this day. And do it again the next day, and the day after that.

If you are considering Dry January or reconsidering your own relationship with alcohol, I highly recommend The Dry Challenge by Hilary Sheinbaum and Drinking Games by Sarah Levy - two books that have helped me on my own relationship with drinking. I also got a lot of value from Cameron Oaks Rogers and Melissa Wood Tepperberg’s podcasts on their decision to stop drinking as well. My friends Jyoti and Payal are extremely open about why and how they stopped drinking, and A Fresh Sip has both community and a great NA bottleshop.

Random fact about me - pigs are my favorite animals.

They’re incredibly intelligent. I think they’re adorable. And their digestive system is the most genetically similar to humans, and scientists have been working for decades on bioengineering pig organs to make them compatible in humans (given our perpetual organ shortage and the ever growing organ transplant waiting list, is very necessary).

The organs would come from animals that have been farmed for food sources (where the organs are typically disposed of), which differs from other experiments where pigs were genetically modified to grow human-compatible organs and for that purpose alone.

There’s a lot of work to do in this space, but it could literally mean life and death for tens of thousands of patients who die waiting for a transplant. And when you consider the advancements made in this space (a successful bioengineered liver transplant in pigs in 2021, the use of decellularized pig tissue as surgical mesh), it’s something I think we will see in our lifetime.

&Juliet has been at the top of my Broadway must-see list for months now, and this article had me texting my girlfriends asking who wants to join me for a matinee this month.

I love a jukebox musical, a retelling of a classic story, and strong female leads (it clearly explains my obsession with SIX). And Betsy Wolfe (who plays Shakespeare’s wife Anne Hathaway) is an actor I’ve long admired and can’t wait to see on stage, especially given her words about why this show drew her back to the Great White Way:

“It’s this beautiful idea that life isn’t going to go the way you planned. It really resonated with me, that you can still make something beautiful out of what you’re given,” Wolfe says. “I see kids in the audience [who are] 6 or 7 years old, all the way up to people in their 80s, and there’s a genuinely universal response of like, I am so happy I just saw that. It brings me a lot of joy to be part of that every night.”

I especially love it when the people you admire are seemingly approachable, which is evident in this interview with Betsy (who loves Michelle Obama as much as we do, swears by a large oat milk latte like I do, and hopes people remember her for being kind).

While I wish the IRS would just send every resident a damn bill telling them how much they owe in taxes every year, I’m grateful that they do make cost of living adjustments every single year - and this year, you may see a noticeable difference on your pay stub due to inflation.

Noticeably, the limits to 401(k) plans have been raised, and I would encourage everyone who can to max out your tax-deferred savings as much as you possibly can.

I know financial literacy and being proactive about finances is a common goal for a lot of us, and wanted to tag my smart friends Vivian, Farnoosh, and Tori who are all committed to helping you build wealth.

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