Will you be my friend? Just kidding, but not really. Something strange is happening to our collective social reality, and I think I need some help to figure out how to have friends. The research is clear. Those who feel socially isolated have dire health outcomes and chronic stress. Our bodies were evolved to be…
Author: kittyireland
Paying attention to attention, psychology, habits, art, writing, literature, mysteries, nonsense, addiction, humanism, humor and cake.
Sometimes a great Notion
Do you Notion? I had been hearing a lot about this new notes/ productivity tool, but I resisted trying it for a long time. I’ve been using Evernote for over a decade to take notes, and I have a task manager that I like (TickTick, though I have also used Todoist for years). Why would…
What if you have the Alzheimer’s gene?
Turns out, I’m APoE4 positive My Grandpa disappeared into the vortex of Alzheimer’s disease over the course of more than a decade before he finally left this world in a morphine nap at the age of 89. It was a terrible thing, to watch the journey from his first noticeable lapses—“My onboard computer is on…
Doing the things I don’t want to do
DO NOT WANT This week, I’m starting a series of user interviews at work, in an effort to develop personas for users of the content we produce. It’s all part of my role as a senior content strategist at a software company, and it is something I have been working toward for a year. I…
What’s in a January?
One month into 2023, and what have I done? Have I forgotten my resolutions and abandoned my optimistic goals? Have I made a great start to the next twelve months, or have I stayed stuck in my familiar rut? The truth is, I didn’t start the year with any grand plans for the next twelve…
My 12 favorite problems
I get a lot of ideas from podcasts lately. I sort of rediscovered them years after an initial foray into some true crime series when Serial was the cultural phenomenon. Based on a recommendation from a fellow productivity nerdette, I started listening to Hurry Slowly on my daily walks (which is more about exploring your…
Quiet Quitting since 1990
Every time someone starts talking about “quiet quitting,” I internally snicker. Like, have we just now noticed that most people show up for work and don’t actually do much? Is this a new trend? A Gen Z phenomenon? Uh, no. Look, I am arguably very productive at work. I’m a good employee—the one you can…
New year, same old me
I can’t believe we’ve made it to 2023. It sounds so far in the FUTURE. I mean—as someone born in 1971—I grew up with the year 2000 as the shimmering threshold of a futuristic technotopia. We haven’t quite figured out the utopia aspect yet, but we truly do have a lot more tech, for better…
What if you’re actually fine just as you are?
My mother has spent her life trying to fix herself. Like all of us, she has some things she’d like to be better at, some healthy habits she wants to build, and some issues that she wishes would go away. Unlike most of us, she also has schizophrenia, so her own negative self talk is…
How was your year? Reflections on 2022
2022 was not a year of momentous changes or big accomplishments. When I look at my life now compared to the start of the year, it looks pretty much the same. Same house, same husband, same job, same daily routines, same lack of a social life. I watch the same TV shows, give or take….
Plumb Wonderful 