A Smattering of New Year Things
Plus jammy eggs, a sexy book, and will I ever get back on Instagram?
Hello, hello! Is anyone else having a hard time just getting 2025… started? First it was the endless school break, now it’s frigid weather plus a kiddo home with the flu. Am wearing a mask in my own home, doling out ibuprofen, and trying not to flashback to this January. Although I hate the diet culture commodification of New Year’s, I actually like new year energy and making low-stakes resolutions. But I’ve been feeling more like puttering around with ideas than jumping full-force into anything, I guess.
I’m also intentionally cocooning at the moment because I just cannot with all the dark news and hypothetical takes about how bad a Trump administration might be… I’m conserving my energy so I’ve got some left when the badness actually starts happening. (Yes, I know that’s a privilege, yes I know so many of the bad things are already here.) To that end, I deleted Instagram on December 20th, and… I can’t QUITE bring myself to redownload it? (I did check in on my laptop twice, and then hopped right out again!)
I am keeping tabs on the world enough to know that quitting social media is having a moment (yet again), and I apologize for being trendy. Especially because Substack is also social media, so I’m clearly not quitting the whole concept because I don’t have a job without it. But it’s just indisputably NICE to be more offline. And when I am online, it’s nicer to be here, chatting with you all, than randomly doom scrolling and watching Wicked reels (even though, yes, a lot of those are very good).
So assuming the flu doesn’t take me down, I’ll be using this somewhat clearer head space to write you something great for Friday. We’ve also got an excellent pod episode coming Thursday — all about how Corinne and I are doing No Amazon January, which a lot of you already had thoughts about.
You will need to be an Extra Butter subscriber to hear that episode, but good news there — I forgot to turn off the December sale, so you can still join that tier for $20 off the usual price! THIS WEEK ONLY.
And in the meantime, here’s a whole boatload of links I’ve been collecting for you over the past few weeks.
-Virginia xo
Good Things ICYMI
The Tyranny of the Millennial Camisole
Why everything you've learned about "dressing for your belly" is wrong. (Otherwise known as Yes You Can Wear Horizontal Stripes, FFS.)
A Pudgy Belly Can Be a Strong Core
Reclaiming "ab workouts" with the great Anna Maltby. A really good listen if you're feeling the tug of New Year, New You body pressure right now...
Yes, We Need to Talk about Wicked Bodies
I finally saw Wicked over winter break and got to see my 7-year-old utterly transported by Defying Gravity.😭 But yes, I still want a bigger conversation about the price women in Hollywood pay with their bodies for their fame.
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Other Good Things
A real perk of no Insta is how much more I read. Currently cannot put down this brilliance by Tracy Clark-Flory, which I somehow missed in 2021 but am so happy to be discovering now.
“We’re not talking about A DRESS THAT IMPLIES YOU LIKE DRINKING RAW MILK. We’re talking about an uncooked milkmaid.”
This was technically a gift for my 11-year-old, but I am fully obsessed.
Waiting till 16 may not be the best approach to social media.
What should we do with our healthcare rage? Related: When medical bills cost more than college.
Love this list. I really needed to read number 3.
More doctors offices are ditching mandatory weigh-ins. We love to see it!
LOVE this chat on motherhood and patriarchy between Melinda Wenner Moyer and Amanda Montei.
Read Corinne Fay on No Buy 2025. She’s also gonna inventory her whole closet and I am jealous/impressed/inspired!
Really want to make these rice bowls with jammy eggs. Or just eat more jammy eggs in general.
Your body is not going to feel excellent all the time.
Melinda Wenner Moyer gave me this for Christmas, and I wear it every day now.
Absolutely love this prompt from Laura Fenton to come up with a word of the year for your home. I think mine is “connection,” but I’m still pondering…
“[Insert any body/self-loathing thought here] isn’t my voice. It’s the voice of the system.”
Love how Anna Maltby is approaching her January Movement Challenge.
Yes I bought this dress in a second color. No regrets.
2 Last Things
We exceeded our fundraising goal for NAAFA! You all raised over $22,000. Thank you so much to everyone who helped us FUND FAT! I am SO PROUD of this community and how we show up for this vital work.
I have TWO great events coming up to celebrate the paperback edition of FAT TALK:
January 18, 7pm at Split Rock Books (Cold Spring, NY):
In conversation with my platonic soul mate Amy Palanjian!!! Details here.
January 23, 7pm at Books Are Magic (Brooklyn, NY):
In conversation with the great HELEN ROSNER. Details here (it will also be livestreamed!).
I just got the Jones Road foundation and a few Miracle Balms. Now I look dewy as a stumble around in a state of perpetual dread thinking Trump is going to annex Canada. I like healthcare and gun free schools.
I deleted Instagram after the election. My mental health has been all the better for it (my anxiety, specifically, has been way more manageable). I haven't checked out, I am not sticking my head in the sand or plugging my ears. It's the oversaturation of despair that I just couldn't handle anymore. There are many reasons to despair, but that's not the water I want or need to swim in right now. I need to rethink how I approach information consumption, interaction, and participation on social media. The only way to do that, for me, is to take a big step back.
I do miss interactions with people I don't get to see frequently, but I would much rather text them, write them a letter, meet up with them for coffee, whatever. Maybe I'll rejoin Instagram at some point, but also...I think I would be okay with it being a door that shuts behind me and locks.