5 Things I Consumed Last Week (🏡 homecoming)

on truth be told, slow rebellions, envy, flow and not hurting yourself

Hey y’all!

I am back home and I recently graduated as a student (more adulting coming my way). No more academia for the medium term at least. My days feel empty, it is a luxury to be able to do whatever you want to without a constant bug of to-do’s shouting at you. I am savoring these days mostly reading and binge watching.

This issue is a potpourri of influences, a patchwork of feel good and inspiration worthy content.

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Truth Be Told | The Whole Truth Foods

I am an experimental consumer. I love trying new sustainable brands, giving them reviews and recommending it to people. One of those few no-sugar brands that I got to know from this podcast is the Whole Truth Foods.

Their marketing is fun, quirky & edifying at the same time and guess what, they have recently launched a new newsletter about health and fitness. I have never seen someone breakdown the constituents of health so perfectly.

The next time someone asks me what does being healthy mean to me, I will definitely have a MECE answer.

Graphic by Truth Be Told

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Envy Is the Cancer of the Soul | More To That

I have been obsessing over Lawrence Yeo and his blog for the longest time now. Who doesn’t like blogs with caricatures?!

In this post, he talks about envy and how social media breeds it through picture perfect shots and reels. The details on what breeds envious behavior and how to overcome it is truly spectacular.

The only way out is to temporarily break this habit, and to dedicate all your attention inward for a duration of time. To stop gazing into another person’s home, and instead work on cleaning up your own. And after you’ve done that, it’s important to stay in it for a while and focus on nothing else.

Illustration by Lawrence Yeo

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Flow | Manners & Mystery

Enlightenment will happen when it’s supposed to happen!

That’s a mantra my girls and I have lived by. Whenever someone is obsessing over a toxic person rather than being didactic we let the person be.

In this issue Elaine talks about the importance of letting go, not pushing people to adopt behaviors but to just let them be.

Waiting implies an expectation, and expectations have a peculiar way of pushing people farther away. It’s also not about giving up on them. You can love someone deeply, truly as they are, but still hope for them to become their best self. This applies not just to lovers but to parents, children, siblings, friends.

flow

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A Speech I would Like To Give Undergrads | Be Wrong

I have a bee in my bonnet about graduation speeches. They are full of hope and inspiration and this one hits all the right spots. Graduation speeches are like letters, a reason to ignite the lost fire in you and propelling you to move forward.

Ambition is about giving a shit. It's about seeing beyond the hills. Beyond what is asked of you. It involves that which Kierkegaard called the "Infinite", the part of you that yearns to transcend the current order of things. To bring into existence all that doesn’t necessarily exist but could possibly be.

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Homecoming: A Film By Beyoncé | Netflix

I mean who doesn’t love Beyoncé!

I am a nerd for watching documentaries/docuseries and a stan for her music so I had to watch this one. The Netflix film, featuring rehearsal and live footage of her 2018 Coachella performance, is one of the all-time great concert docs.

Home, for Beyoncé, is the stage. It simply agrees with her, as does every light source, camera angle and audience member, many of whom are seen howling blissfully in the crowd, gobsmacked with pride and hero-worship. ~The Guardian

Infused throughout the film are quotes from black icons and scholars such as Toni Morrison, Nina Simone and Maya Angelou, among others. It’s raw. It’s unapologetic. It’s electrifying. Featuring some of her greatest hits from Formation to Don’t Hurt Yourself.

When you hurt me, you hurt yourself
Don't hurt yourself
When you diss me, you diss yourself
Don't hurt yourself
When you hurt me, you hurt yourself
Don't hurt yourself, (Don't hurt yourself) don't hurt yourself
When you love me, you love yourself

See you next week🙆🏻‍♀️

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With love and gratitude,

The Hummingbird🌺

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