Hello, friends! If you’re new and want to check out my previous issues, you can do so here.

First, I want to start by giving a HUGE thank you to everyone who replied to my last issue about money. So many folks shared their money practices and gave me much to think about. Let me know if you’re interested in seeing an anonymous list of the shared advice and I can pull something together!

Second, I really want to know: how many of you are practicing daily gratitude? The benefits of gratitude are shared everywhere, but I just can’t seem to get the hang of it. It feels….forced. Like it’s just another part of my daily ritual, rather than an intentional practice. And maybe that’s just me not taking the time to be intentional about the practice. But the bottom line remains the same — I’m just not a daily gratitude person.

Here’s the problem, friend. I want to be. I want to celebrate the little things in life and show true appreciation for the people who are making my days brighter. I want to feel more joy throughout my day. I want to keep lists of the good things to look back on during the bad times. But…gratitude just isn’t for me.

So this month, I’m trying out other recommendations for finding and celebrating life. Want to try it with me?

Talk soon,

Emily

The Recipe Breakdown

Lemon: Celebrating joy (without gratitude). And really, this isn’t an attack on gratitude at-large, but rather the commodification of gratitude through endless gratitude journals and influencer posts.

Ingredient #1: Weekly highlights. I was inspired by my pal Mallory, who does a weekly highlights post on Instagram, sharing cute pics and nice moments from the previous week. I love the idea of remembering the best parts of each week, including the smaller things like a nice sunset or a good cup of coffee. And I have a terrible memory when it comes to things like this, so taking pictures and sharing it with others feels like a good way to make sure I’m keeping track of all the nice things that happened that week. I may take this to Twitter instead of Insta, since I (unfortunately) spend more time there, but we’ll see!

Ingredient #2: Heartsong journal. I’ve been wanting to start a heartsong journal for sooooo long. Essentially, a heartsong journal is less a daily journal and more of an “encyclopedia of you”. Most folks keep bucket lists, lists of their favorite things, meaningful quotes or lyrics, and the results of personality tests. It’s just something that I know would bring me joy and, in theory, should be a joyful collection of everything that makes you YOU.

Ingredient #3: Happy list. Inspired by one of my fav newsletters, Girls Night In, I’m pulling together a happy list — basically a list of everything that makes me happy. This is a living list, one that I can add to at any time, and will probably live in my heartsong journal. Forcing myself to write down three daily gratitudes isn’t my thing, but keeping a general list of all the happy things to look back on when I need it? Sign me up!

Want to talk about your own lemons, ingredients, or lemonade recipes? Feel free to reply to this email!

🍋 Lemon Zest 🍋

The Little Things that help make my days a bit brighter 💕

🎵 Back on my All Too Well bullshit while I wait for Red (Taylor’s Version) to come out next month.

📝 My Beatific Happy Planner just came in the mail, and I’m obsessed with the daily layout.

📺 I love pickled red onions, so this quick how-to reel has inspired me to make another jar this weekend.

💭 The Joy & Opportunity Of Dropping A Routine: extremely relatable content.

💜 I have a code for 3 folks to get a free pair of undies from Parade. Just head to yourparade.com and drop in my code: FREE-T36N9. Best of luck to you early birds!

☕ If you’d like to support my work and Making Lemonade, consider buying me a coffee or sending a few dollars my way via Venmo: @emmyfromminny! ☕