Expect miracles.
By: Gabriela Yareliz
I read this quote, and it has stayed swirling in my mind—
“The same voices who told you to question everything don’t want you asking who funds them, who protects them, who profits from your blind allegiance.
Because the real question isn’t who’s lying—it’s who benefits from what you believe.” Emilie Hagen, The War on Truth
By: Gabriela Yareliz
Us 90s girls— we all wanted to be a rom-com journalist when we were kids. I would be lying if I said otherwise. We lived in the golden era of magazines. Magazines shaped me deeply. I spent hours, HOURS, cutting collages and making wall posters and binder covers.
I just thought we would look at some of the magazines that were so iconic in my youth- all print versions defunct.
I think we need a renaissance. The kids are weird these days, and it’s because we have thrown away everything that is golden.
The American Girl Magazine (1992-2019)
It included art work from readers, craft ideas, the Giggle Gang games and excerpts from Amelia’s Notebook (my fav). I still remember this spring issue. I died (and went to heaven) when it arrived.
A classic.
Next, Teen People (1998-2006). This was one that had us all fan girling over the cover shoots. Never forget these iconic covers. The interviews were substantive compared to other teeny bopper magazines. We got the tea.
Cosmo Girl (1999-2008)— the quizzes were everything. These issues would teach you how to stir the pot with your crush. Ha. We felt very grown up reading these. This was the Gossip Girl version of magazines for teens. Toxic but glossy.
Seventeen Magazine (1944-2018)
This was probably my favorite one in my teen years. It had a letter from the Editor-in-Chief Atoosa Rubenstein. (Atoosa was everything!!) I will never forget when I wrote to her by email, and she replied. You don’t forget those things. It meant the world to me. She had a very distinctive writing voice. We had just moved to Florida. If my mom said I could get a mag, this is the one I reached for. I taped that email reply to the wall. God bless, Seventeen. For all of its flaws, it was an anchor for many of us.
Magazines ran the late 90s and early 2000s. Digital is not the same. There was nothing like sniffing those perfume sample pages and taking a scissor to a crisp photograph that you thought needed to be immortalized with a spot on the wall.
It’s not so much that we wanted to be the featured celebrity. No. We wanted to be the editor. Some of us still want to be Jenna Rink.
By: Gabriela Yareliz
We often talk about leaving our comfort zone. What does that actually mean? We say it flippantly, but what does it entail on a granular level? Have you ever drawn a map that maps the exit from the comfort zone?
Often, making shifts and actual change requires us to become cartographers. It’s not enough to say we need to leave, we have to actual plot and design our way out. Who doesn’t love a good treasure map?
Stay strategic.
“Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.” Naval Ravikant
By: Gabriela Yareliz
Have you ever been in a meeting or in a room and you look around and decide it would make an excellent caricature drawing? It’s some weird and absurd departure from life. A snapshot of something resembling the TV show The Office? People playing actor roles in some stupid game.
Happened to me recently. My head was pounding with a headache turning into a migraine (that sharp feeling behind the eye and the weird light). A lot more was off than just the people and energy in the room.
What makes things weirder is when people are overly serious in a moment that doesn’t merit it. Then, you get really in your head. It also makes you want to laugh. The key is to remain stoic.
In my recent experience, I kept quiet even though I was feeling sassy. I focused on breathing through my headache instead. This was despite the fact that I had walked under a “Sassy Zone” sign. Sometimes, the sassy cannot be shared. But even if it’s private sass, you are sassy nonetheless.
I don’t like playing stupid games. The prize just doesn’t do it for me.
Stay sassy. ✨
“The most toxic relationships aren’t the purely negative ones. They’re the ones that are a mix of positive and negative.” Adam Grant
By: Gabriela Yareliz
Did you know that research shows that the relationships that affect our health the most aren’t the ones that are purely negative, but the ones that are close to us in proximity and inconsistent? One day, good; the next, bad. Boy, do I know it. I have experienced this the most at work.
The book The Five Types of Wealth encourages the reader to take many inventories— different ways of ranking activities and people as energy givers and drainers.
This is your reminder today (and a self-reminder to me) to choose people in proximity wisely. Don’t invest time or energy in the mixed bags. If you aren’t careful, you find yourself babysitting adult children in their feelings because they are constantly striving for attention.
I was on a coaching call recently, where a participant very emotionally asked (you could tell there was a lot of pain here— I say this with compassion), how do you not give up on showing up for someone who is trying to improve?
The coach then said something wise. “You never get tired showing up for people actually changing. What is exhausting is when you keep showing up for those who expect you to keep showing up when they aren’t changing.” Boom. A silence fell upon everyone on the call, and not because we were on mute but because we all were shaken by that truth. We all knew it was true and knew we have all had a moment where we insisted on showing up for someone who simply didn’t care. There are people who expect you to repeatedly show up and spend yourself, and they take and take. People suck, sometimes.
Currently trending on socials is a post that speaks about the fact that has been confirmed by Blue Zone research— community is a key to health. Relationships affect our health in a wild way.
Take care of yourself. It’s not selfish. It’s the only way we retain the capacity to take care of and show up for those who are in healthy relationship with us. Reciprocal relationships. It’s important to give to those who do nothing back for you in return, but the closest to you should be givers too, not just takers.
Check the relationship soil pH. Water the right seeds accordingly. Cultivate a beautiful community garden. Weed out the rest.
(Stay magical. ✨)
By: Gabriela Yareliz
March was an action-packed month that was done in a blink.
Below are some of the things that captured my attention:
The book The Five Types of Wealth by Sahil Bloom was the book I was deep into. I will finish it now in April. It is a very substance-no-fluff book, just like his newsletter. (5/5 ⭐️).
The book that most enthralled me was the Flamingo Estate’s A Guide to Becoming Alive. It’s a gorgeous book filled with so many curiosities. (5/5 ⭐️)
The following book was deceptive and not worth the read. It has a great title, but the agenda and lack of discernment is thick. (0/5 ⭐️)
Candace Owens launched her Harvey Weinstein series. It has been excellent. (4/5 ⭐️ a four only because sometimes all the email reading gets boring)
Even more interesting has been her coverage of journalist Tom O’Neill’s book Chaos, and the MKUltra program. She covered the Kennedy files. Just recently, she discussed Kanye’s institutionalization and the role this has played in what we have seen recently. She discussed how Kanye remembers what he survived after being drugged and hospitalized through actions and threats of his trainer Harley Pasternak (who is former Canadian military and was involved in drug research). It’s a wild situation that, like many things, is not what it seems. (5/5 ⭐️)
On a “lighter” note, her coverage of the Baldoni trials has been top. (5/5 ⭐️)
On the truly more lighthearted notes, Theo’s interview with Adam Devine was a fun listen, and the show Bad Monkey (AppleTV+) has been a fun watch.
Printemps opened in the Financial District, and it’s so pretty. Like a museum.
It’s a season for lighter jackets (but still bring the earmuffs), lighter blushes, brighter mornings, a pocket umbrella, lighter shoes, and a cold drink to ease the sweat underground as you wait for a train.
I really need to fix my sleep schedule this month. It has been screwed up thanks to my desire to have a life after work, delayed trains and terrible hockey.
This month’s top post was Don’t Be Good. I appreciate you reading and the kind feedback and notes I receive.
As Yancy from Bad Monkey would say, stay magical. ✨
“Happy people love people, use things, and worship the divine; unhappy people use people, love things, and worship themselves.” Sahil Bloom
By: Gabriela Yareliz
My husband has a green thumb. He is currently planting seeds into trays. I just pop up by the table to sniff the soil (I like the smell of soil), and then, disappear. He plants. I read about plants.
I recently read about Wisteria. Apparently, the meaner you are to Wisteria, the more it thrives. I swear. I even read Martha Stewart tapped the branches with a hammer, and it bloomed like crazy. A freakin’ masochistic plant. Or so I thought. Actually, though, it’s resilient.
“In folklore, the Wisteria’s botanical fortitude symbolizes growth, prosperity, and victory over hardship… The Wisteria’s ability to thrive in harsh conditions is a lesson in resilience,” Richard Christiansen wrote.
Have you ever been thrown into what Richard Christiansen calls “bad soil”?
Happens to me all the time. Especially, career-wise. Like Lord, give your girl a break. (We pray for a nontoxic environment, always.)
But as I read about Wisteria, I decided this was my spirit-plant (I am aware this is not an expression, but now, it is because I used it. Sort of like spirit animal— listen, I will make this a thing). I get planted in some weird places. I get my branches hammered, I am thrown into a hostile soil, and then, I bloom and thrive in my corner. It’s a vibe. I can relate. The meaner you are to me, I adapt and still push toward the sun. Try killing Wisteria, and it will grow and spread. Ha.
Wisteria. A new plant-spiration. So, when you get thrown into bad soil, a weird corner or someone takes a hammer to your branches— embody the Wisterian way.
“So work like Wisteria, even if the conditions don’t seem right. Through adversity, beauty blooms— and it keeps on blooming.” Richard Christiansen
“Yes. I always tap into a Jim Collins-ism— and you know how obsessed I am with Jim Collins, who wrote Good to Great. He talked about return on luck. It’s not the luck you get, and it’s not about what actually happens. It’s how you use your luck, how you leverage it. So, it’s not what happens to you but what you do with it that differentiates you from everyone else.” Jo Horgan in conversation with Richard Christiansen
Richard: “Good luck, bad luck— is it the same?”
Jo: “It doesn’t matter. What matters is what you do next.”
“Your focus is your reality.” Tony Robbins
GABRIELA YARELIZ 