Have a Good Life
The Pick Me Up is a Monday morning newsletter filled with advice, personal stories, and tips to help you get out of bed and jumpstart your week.
Greetings, friend! It’s me, Jen Glantz. Welcome to a brand new Monday, in a brand new year. I'm writing this to you from a back-corner booth inside a Brooklyn coffee shop.
I met a woman here this morning and we had a big talk about a lot of little things.
When it was time to leave, I got up and said:
Well, it was nice chatting with you?
I punctuate all my goodbyes with question marks. I don’t like endings, even when there was hardly a beginning. I want to linger with all of the people, stories, places, moments, that I flirt with in life.
She picked up her hot coffee, looked at me one last time, and said this, before walking away forever:
I wish you good luck and hope you have a good life.
What a perfect way to say goodbye and say hello to what awaits. The rest of a day, the start of a new year, the first step into something a little bit scary.
All of us are always on the cusp of making some sort of move, whether toward something or away from something.
Perhaps all that we need is a reminder, just like the one that women bravely gave to me, right before she left me alone, so I could figure out all of the to-do’s and sticky thoughts inside of my head.
So, hello, dear friend. Welcome to another Monday of your precious life. I wish you good luck and hope you have a good life, a good year, and more than anything, a really good day.
In this issue: The strange promises we make when a new year happens, instant pick-me-ups, and a list of ways you can make January have a purpose.
Why you’re getting this: I'm Jen Glantz and this is The Pick-Me-Up newsletter. I've been sending it every Monday, for 8-years, to thousands of awesome humans, just like you. Thank you for letting this email live in in your inbox. It truly makes my heart explode with joy.
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Instant Pick Me Ups
🍪: All the hype we feel at the start of a new year happens because humans love a fresh start. They love a good eraser. They crave a blank page, when their current one looks like scrap paper. You know, you can give yourself a fresh start anytime you want. You have that power more than a calendar. However, it’s not magic. So start with this:
What are you running away from?
What are you running toward?
What’s running with you that you took from last year?
What do you need to empty from your pockets that you gathered last year?
If that’s too much to think about - start by cleaning - everything. Clean your house, your inbox, your car, the insides of old suitcases. Clean, clean, clean. When you do that, I promise you, you’ll find something. That something will be your clarity, your purpose, your fresh start.
📚:The one book I turn to when I’m feeling down, lost, stuck, heartbroken, confused, and all of the those kinds of things is this book right here. It’s helped me more than any other book has. It’s the book I gift to people most often. (Ps: more books here).
🎧: This song makes me so happy. I know there’s a TikTok dance for it, but I just make up my own moves. I honestly dare you to press play and see if you don’t randomly start dancing to it.
Have a Good Life, a Good Year, a Good Week
I spent last New Year’s Eve with two complete strangers I met on the dance floor of a silent disco.
We started talking at 10pm and by 11pm we had agreed that this was the start of a lifelong friendship. By midnight, we hugged when the ball dropped and by 12:01, we made plans to meet the next day for brunch, the week after for yoga, that summer, why not a trip to Paris?
I’ll see you soon! I remember saying and I meant it. I thought I meant it.
But the next day I woke up and realized I didn’t even know their names, I didn’t have their number, I didn’t know where they lived.
We end a year making promises, strange, crazy, promises. But we don’t have a plan.
We’re too giddy to do that.
And we wake up some time in January and feel hungover about our life so far, our new year.
Think of all the ways you want to change. But go easy. Go slow. Ignore all the hype.
I ran into those strangers in the middle of July. We tried to avoid making eye contact. It felt as awkward as running into your New Year’s resolution list that you barely remember existed.
Anyway, we said hello. Said we can’t believe it’s July! And went on with our life’s as if none of it mattered. Because it didn’t.
Nothing we promise too far in advance when our head is the cloud ever does.
Go easy on the hype around a new year.
Enjoy what you have right now, what’s in front of you.
Change when you’re ready.
Live like you get another year alive.
Promise yourself one thing, maybe two, and that’s it.
Love you,
Jen Glantz
Random Pick-Me-Ups
FutureMe: My favorite tradition to kick-off a new year is to write a letter to myself that I schedule to hit my inbox on the last day of the year. Here’s what I mean. You can create one for free here.
Word of the Year: Another fun tradition I have is giving my year a “word”. Last year, I picked spark. This year, I picked this word. What about you? Hit reply, share your word with me.
1:1 Coaching: I’m officially opening two spots for 1:1 coaching for the start of the new year. If you ever wanted to work with me as your professional side-kick to help you get a new career, start a side hustle/personal brand, or elevate your business, book a coaching session.
Share: Email someone this newsletter (thank you, dear friend).
I’ll be back next week with a new Monday Pick-Me-Up. Until then, I leave you with this:
Even if people roll their eyes, don't stop saying happy new year when you talk to people. There's something so charming and warming about holiday greetings. Like the presence of twinkle lights and pine trees, let them linger in your world for a little bit longer.It's still January, you know.
Quit saying it in...oh, I don't know, March?
Happy New Year Jen!!! … every explosion starts with a spark … great choice of word for the year. Start the FIRE … and the FIGHT song!!