5SR - July 17, 2023

Jenny on that clean kitchen feeling, overthinking, and how to vent

Genevieve “Jenny” Dreizen is the co-founder and COO of Fresh Starts Registry, the first and only platform for everything you need to begin again, including divorce or breakup, moving, career changes, stepping into your truth, or starting again after grief.

Jenny is passionate about creating usable, efficient, and beautiful systems to run Fresh Starts to maintain their Experts, Support Specialists, and Freshies. When not planted in front of her multi-screen setup, Jenny might be found baking brownies, working on a poem or essay, or doing her favorite thing - going for a walk and buying herself a little treat.

I have very fond memories of the post dinner clean up at my beloved grandmother's house, the quiet hum of the dishwasher, all the light turned off except the one above the sink and the wiped down counters. There was a peace to the space, which is why I totally vibed with this piece about the zen of cleaning the kitchen.

So often our tasks [work, life, family] are never finished - but cleaning the kitchen, that has clear steps, defined to parameters and a satisfying stopping point. I love how the author walks us through her process. I love how she pops in her airpods and throws on a podcast. I truly believe I can accomplish any chore as long as I have a good podcast going.

Sometimes we need a meditative moment to find ourselves after a long day, and moving through the mess of dinner, grease and dishes can help us find that space.

Sometimes I think about the fact that when I graduated from college at 21 I thought I was an adult who should know what they wanted to do and how to live life and I chuckle.

I did not know what to do, who to be or how to be that person I didn't know. I wish I'd had an article like this, with loads of gentle advice that reminds young grads to give themselves grace and be patient with themselves.

Everything from budgeting to being open to the unexpected and tons in between. Honestly, advice we can all use at any point in our ongoing becoming.

Raise your hand if you've ever been victimized by overthinking. Okay, cool, we all have our hands up. Right? The shame spiral of anxiety and insecurity can really seap out of you and destroy something that could have otherwise had some serious legs.

Big thanks to this piece from Morgan Sullivan is here to pull us out of the thought tornado. Relationship expert Susan Trotter reminds us of the most important thing (never stop reminding us Susan, we need it!) communication.

Communication from your partner to you to PREVENT the anxiety and insecurity and communication from you to your partner to diffuse and discuss the anxiety and insecurity.

Communication: not always fun but always necessary.

Someone recently asked on twitter what you would tell your 18 year old self and my answer was about friendship, particularly of the female variety. Cultivating, growing and nurturing those relationships is paramount to your mental well being, I mean it.

I love this piece about the healthy way to vent to your friends, because venting is important but it also requires a certain amount of available mental space from the person vented to (the ventee?). This piece covers all aspects of venting from making sure your friend can handle your unloading to knowing when it's time to take your vent from the friend space to the professional space.

I have nothing to vent about from this piece, but don't worry I am sure I can locate something to test this out about.

Not sure if you all saw the clips of Scottish musician Lewis Capaldi at Glastonbury, but they were a moment of beautiful humanity.

Capaldi lives with Tourette's syndrome and while usually unencumbered by tics when singing was overcome with the moment/life and began experiencing the involuntary motor and vocal tics that characterize Tourette's while on stage at one of the UK's biggest music festivals, Glastonbury. The audience filled in where Capaldi was unable to and cheered him on.

As someone who has family who live alongside Tourette's (some of them musicians too, music is a great way to fall into a flow state and quell the tics) the normalizing of an often joked about neurological disorder is something I am so glad to see.Jenny

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