hitting the reset button

just the hits #22

My cup was overflowing the past two weeks.

There were some great moments (hosting a casual dinner party and moderating book events for Keren and Neha, celebrating a friend’s birthday over our favorite French onion soup and sparkling wine, celebrating the world festival at the boys’ school with sticker rangoli).

And there was some things I could’ve lived without - an anxiety attack (and subsequent emotional hangover), everyone in our home getting sick, and getting stuck on the social media dopamine roller coaster.

It’s not my favorite ride.

Now that I’m through the exhausted stupor and the self flagellation phases, I am firmly in the reset-and-rebuild one. Here’s what it looks like:

• Micro to-do lists. I fill a Post-It with as many micro tasks as I can fit on the small square, items like “make the bed”, “do my skincare routine”, “eat breakfast.” Finishing one of these lists helps me find the momentum to tackle the bigger things that need to get done.
  I’ll jot down one of these lists before I go to bed, or write a fresh one when I’m feeling anxious and unable to focus.

• Get offline. While I have better boundaries around social media these days, I found in the toxic scroll-compare-feel terrible about myself cycle. Using the Forest app helped a fair amount (especially setting a 2 hour timer right after I turn off my alarm), and I ironically got targeted for this iPhone launcher, which is the aesthetic digital boundary I apparently needed.

• Indulge in your comforts. Re-reads and re-watches are the mellow mood boosters I need when I’m getting back on track. I’ve been watching The Big Bang Theory (usually while playing Sudoku on my phone), and reading Everyday Dharma and Abby Jimenez’s books.

I have a tendency to rush through my reset and return to a version of normal that’s proven to be unsustainable in the past. This time, I’m taking a page from both Keren and Neha’s books to pause, and set my priorities based on my current responsibilities and needs - not what I think they should be, based on what I see while scrolling through Instagram or Threads.

This week, it’s adjusting my wellness habits to a routine that I can sustain the whole week, versus losing steam by Wednesday or Thursday (and going full glutton the rest of the week and weekend). More on that in February’s plan.

You can catch up on the latest posts here:

the plan - january 2025

the brilliance of Luca, doing nothing, and Ilona Maher

Altadena, Onyx Storm, and India's latest space achievement

If budget permits, I would be so appreciative if you upgrade your subscription. You’ll receive the full edition of #5SmartReads (my weekly news series) and access to our accountability group for the plan.

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Gilded

by Keren Eldad

Have you ever paused to think about how you define success? Does the dream job, a beautiful home, and a life straight from an aspirational Instagram Reel come to mind?

What if I told you that the vision is often a cage? It’s a gilded one, to be sure, with all the comforts you could ever want. But living up to someone else’s version of success instead of your own is what most of us do.

If that makes you feel personally attacked, you need this book. It’s one I had the pleasure to read an advance copy of, and have returned to it multiple times since.

It’s compassionate and butt-kicking, and a guide to defining success for yourself and living in alignment with that definition. I highly recommend getting the physical book to annotate and to complete the exercises in your copy.

You can find my recent reads here, and this month’s reads here.

BALEAF Fleece Lined Leggings ($37)

I would rather be cold than hot, but this week tested me and this preference. 11°F is just rude.

Mercifully, I picked these pants up before the holidays and immediately changed into them whenever I had to venture outside. Between the infamous Amazon winter coat (mine’s going on 7 years) and these leggings, I made it through school pick ups, errands, and even a walk in the park with Onyx Storm.

Find this month’s Amazon favorites here.

Medicare targets 15 more drugs for price negotiations — including Ozempic (NPR)

I fully expect the Medicare price negotiation rule - introduced under the Inflation Reduction Act - to be eliminated in a future bill.

If it doesn’t (by some twist of fate, luck, legislative gridlock, or to claim a future win), it would be a huge deal for diabetes, cardiovascular, or obesity patients on a GLP-1 agonist.

But first, a quick refresher. One of the provisions of the IRA was that Medicare would be able to negotiate prices for widely prescribed drugs (most still under patent protection and with high price tags). These 15 drugs - and the 10 drugs from the previous year’s negotiation - are over 30% of all Medicare Part D spending. The price cuts will begin in January 2026, with a $2,000 cap on annual Medicare drug copays in effect this year.

My team and I take our jobs to develop life-saving medications really seriously - and part of that responsibility is ensuring people can access and afford it. I found this section of the IRA to be brilliant - it’s specific, impactful, and will greatly improve the lives of millions of patients.

While the chances of it surviving are incredibly low, I hope future leaders will look to this and base future healthcare bills off this blueprint.

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• Once I’m up for a new book, I’ll be reading this one after seeing AJ Brown read it on the sidelines. Go Birds 🦅

• Are you applying your thick moisturizers properly?

• This eye cream is truly the best - it depuffs, has noticeably reduced my dark circles, and has tightened that delicate skin.

• I just got my first Botanical Brothers delivery ($45 bouquet of long lasting blooms, delivered every other week). Arranging the flowers in various vases and placing them around my home brought me joy this week.

• Filed under “things I should use more frequently” - this ultrasonic jewelry cleaner. It gets all the gunk (lotion, toothpaste) out of the tiniest crevices of my bracelets with just one use.

• I pruned my news diet this week. Every day, I do a quick scan of Teen Vogue, The Atlantic (also a paid subscriber), STAT News, The 19th* (I’m a monthly donor), and Axios (though I did unsubscribe from their newsletters). I also signed up for Vox’s The Logoff and became a paid member, and subscribed to Rolling Stone (print and digital). I save all the articles I want to read to Pocket and read through them when I’m waiting in line or taking a quick work break.

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As always, take exquisite care of yourself this week.

xo,
HPN