James' World 2

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How does the idea of doing nothing for a year sound? No work, no emails, no career progression, no striving or achieving or being productive. For many of us, such a thought might once have brought its own anxiety attack – surely, work is status, earning money is achievement, and being busy is a brag? But these days, a year of nothing is more likely to sound dreamy, even aspirational – there has been, as they say, a vibe shift.

Millennials are embracing the concept of #SlowLiving – the hashtag has been used more than six million times on Instagram (despite posting on Insta being fairly antithetical to its principles of a mindful, sustainable lifestyle, with much reduced screen-time). Gen Z, meanwhile, have pioneered quiet quitting and “lazy girl jobs”, where one does the minimum at work to preserve your energy for the more meaningful parts of your life, be that hobbies, relationships, or self-care. And people across the generations are united to wanting to work less: in the UK, the concept of the four-day week is gaining serious traction.

To be facetious about it: hustle is out, and rest is in. And this is something Emma Gannon knows all about: the prolific author, podcaster, and Substack entrepreneur published A Year of Nothing – her account of taking an entire 12 months off – earlier this year. It quickly sold out when published earlier this summer, and has proved so popular it will now be reprinted and available to buy in November. 

Not that it was, initially, a lifestyle choice: Gannon suffered such extremely bad burnout, she had no choice but to stop working. Her account of her year of rest and recuperation is now published in two small, sweetly readable volumes by The Pound Project, charting her journey back to health via gentle activities such as journaling, watching children’s TV, birdwatching, and the inevitable cold-water swimming (which Gannon knowingly acknowledges is a cliché for “Millennial writers with their bobs and tote bags”, but comes to love anyway).

Having been fully on-board with the girl-boss culture of the 2010s, Gannon had already stepped away from that with her last book, The Success Myth: Letting Go of Having It All, which explored how relentlessly striving for success rarely brings true happiness. But it was experiencing complete burnout that forced her to really confront the importance of rest.

“Looking back, there were lots of red flags – feeling very confused, pulsating headaches, not being able to focus on things in the room, quite scary stuff. But I over-rode it, [thinking]: ‘I’m busy, I’ve got to crack on’,” she recalls. Suddenly, in 2022, her body went into a forced shut-down mode. “Couldn’t look at a phone, couldn’t look at a screen, couldn’t walk down a street without feeling fragile. It was the feeling that, ‘oh you can’t muddle your way through this – you have to stop’. Many people with chronic burnout have to get to that point before they’ll take time off [work], because we’re so conditioned in this society to push through at all costs.

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Alamy

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CLIMATEWIRE | Climate change is thinning Arctic sea ice, but contrary to conventional wisdom that’s making shipping through the North American Arctic more difficult.

A study published in Nature looked at Canada’s Northwest Passage over 15 years. It found that the melting of local ice due to global warming enables thicker ice from Greenland to flow into the corridor’s choke points, reducing the length of time when ships can move through the passage.

“First-year ice, that’s retreating. But it means the thick ice — multiyear ice — is then more able to flow down into those areas,” lead author Alison Cook, a researcher at the Scottish Association for Marine Science and the University of Ottawa, said in an interview.

That thicker ice poses hazards for ships, such as damage or sinking if there’s a collision.

The results contradict the common view that the Northwest Passage, the Arctic Ocean waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific, is an increasingly practical option for commercial shipping. It even surprised Cook.

“I certainly was assuming the season length was becoming longer everywhere, and it just wasn’t,” she said.

Cook and her colleagues looked at historical ice charts of the Northwest Passage and converted those into season lengths. The seasons indicate the number of weeks where medium ice-strength ships can traverse the passage without taking extra safety precautions.

Four regions saw significant changes. In three, the shipping season was shortened by 50 to 70 percent between 2007 and 2021. In one — the eastern Lancaster Sound — the season length grew by 15 percent.

Shipping seasons typically run between 15 and 25 weeks, though it fluctuates heavily between years and regions.

Changing ice has discouraged at least one passenger cruise line from sailing the passage.

Scenic Luxury Cruises and Tours crossed the Northwest Passage in 2022, but “because of the sensitive environment and ever-changing ice conditions and weather conditions of the Arctic, they redeployed their sailings after that season,” said Michelle Abril, vice president of Coyne PR and a spokesperson for Scenic. “They are not currently sailing there or have itineraries set through Q1 2027 to visit that region.”

Despite the shrinking seasons, crossings have — on average — increased over the past decade, according to data provided to POLITICO’s E&E News by the Canadian Coast Guard.

“Over the coming years, the Canadian Coast Guard anticipates an increase in arctic traffic, due to increased tourism, commercial shipping, and adventuring opportunities,” the Coast Guard said in a statement.

While the trends show voyages rising and season lengths decreasing, there are a couple of explanations for that apparent contradiction.

The first is demand. Shipping companies are eyeing alternatives to the narrow and congested Panama Canal. And adventure tourists are eager to trek into the Arctic.

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Someone told me recently, “If you’re like me, you’re watching the Olympic games thinking, ‘Why can’t I get motivated to get in shape?’” I responded, “I feel your pain. I have a book deadline October 1st, but I catch myself rearranging the spice rack, surfing online, or cleaning out a cabinet that doesn’t really need it.

Unfortunately, motivation doesn’t simply show up when you’re waiting for the mood to strike. If you are waiting for the urge to finish that report, reach a deadline, or send an important email, you might be waiting a long time. And according to experts, it’s not motivation that’s needed to reach conclusion. It’s something else.

What’s holding us back? It’s the myths that are inconsistent with science that me believe in, according to Dr. Wendy Grolnick, professor of psychology at Clark University and an expert on motivation. I spoke with her by email, and she told me, “A common motivation myth is that we should wait for motivation to strike.” Grolnick, coauthor of the new book, Motivation Myth Busters: Science-Based Strategies to Boost Motivation in Yourself and Others, added that there are several things you can do instead of waiting for that magic moment.

“We all struggle with motivating ourselves and others at times,” Grolnick explained to me. “My coauthors and I argue that some of the problem is that we may hold beliefs about motivation that are not consistent with science. Our book busts 10 myths and provides scientifically supported strategies to boost motivation.” She shares examples of four common myths along with information to bust them.

Myth 1: Some People Are Motivated—Others Aren’t

The Science: You are motivated and so is everyone else. The idea that motivation is a characteristic of a person is not supported by science, Grolnick informs us. “Motivation varies by the domain (e.g., sports versus academics), context (some situations or people in them prime your motivation and others don’t), task (some tasks are more motivating than others), and the person’s interests.

Grolnick’s suggestions for action:

• Assume everyone is motivated. When you see someone who seems to lack motivation, try to understand why and tap into their motivation.

• Try to understand why the person feels unmotivated. For example, do they feel pushed to do something, unable to succeed? Disconnected from others?

• Tie the task to the person’s interests or goals.

• Make the task more interesting.

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Many of us spend an inordinate amount of time waiting to get motivated, but experts inform us that … [+]  Getty

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The percentage of people who say they’ve tried to end a pregnancy without medical assistance increased after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. That’s according to a study published Tuesday in the online journal JAMA Network Open.

Tia Freeman, a reproductive health organizer, leads workshops for Tennesseans on how to safely take medication abortion pills outside of medical settings.

Abortion is almost entirely illegal in Tennessee. Freeman, who lives near Nashville, said people planning to stop pregnancies have all sorts of reasons for wanting to do so without help from the formal health care system — including the cost of traveling to another state, challenge of finding child care, and fear of lost wages.

“Some people, it’s that they don’t have the support networks in their families where they would need to have someone drive them to a clinic and then sit with them,” said Freeman, who works for Self-Managed Abortion; Safe and Supported, a U.S.-based project of Women Help Women, an international nonprofit that advocates for abortion access.

“Maybe their family is superconservative, and they would rather get the pills in their home and do it by themselves,” she said.

The new study is from Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, a research group based at the University of California-San Francisco. The researchers surveyed more than 7,000 people ages 15 to 49 from December 2021 to January 2022 and another 7,000-plus from June 2023 to July 2023.

Of the respondents who had attempted self-managed abortions, they found the percentage who used the abortion pill mifepristone was 11 in 2023 — up from 6.6 before the Supreme Court ended federal abortion rights in 2022.

One of the most common reasons for seeking a self-administered abortion was privacy concerns, said a study co-author, epidemiologist Lauren Ralph.

“So not wanting others to know that they were seeking or in need of an abortion or wanted to maintain autonomy in the decision,” Ralph said. “They liked it was something under their control that they could do on their own.”

Kristi Hamrick, vice president of media and policy at Students for Life Action, a national anti-abortion group, said she doesn’t believe the study findings, which she said benefit people who provide abortion pills.

“It should surprise no one that the abortion lobby reports their business is doing well, without problems,” Hamrick said in an emailed statement.

Ralph said in addition to privacy concerns, state laws criminalizing abortion also weighed heavily on women’s minds.

“We found 6% of people said the reason they self-managed was because abortion was illegal where they lived,” Ralph said.

In the JAMA study, women who self-managed abortion attempts reported using a range of methods, including using drugs or alcohol, lifting heavy objects, and taking a hot bath. In addition, about 22% reported hitting themselves in the stomach. Nearly 4% reported inserting an object in their body.

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It doesn’t matter what you do for a living. Welcoming a child and then getting back to work is one of the most complicated things for a mother to adjust to. It’s especially complex if you’re an athlete.

Constant travel for competitions and games and the consistent training required, there are so many aspects of being a sportswoman that can take you away from home and away from your children. But many athletes are making it work, including at this year’s summer Olympics in Paris. With the addition of support like a nursery in Olympic Village for athlete mothers, quite a few Olympians brought their children along for the unforgettable experience.

Whether they’ve become champions after delivering a child or grapple with the emotions of having to leave their kids back home to play for their country, these moms are superheroes. And whether they take home gold or not, they’re winners for what they’re accomplishing and the inspiration they are to their children and mothers everywhere.

Dearica Hamby

Hamby, a mother of two to daughter Amaya and son Legend, is representing USA in Paris. The WNBA All-Star earned a bronze medal playing 3×3 basketball. “Unfortunately, our society and work culture perpetuate ‘mom guilt’ as they go back to work, or making moms feel like they can’t both parent and provide,” Hamby told ESSENCE in 2023. “It’s a false choice, and I’m proud to show just how strong moms are and to support other mothers going back to work. Being a mom and doing what I love is really special.”

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce

In what has been a stellar career on the track, “The Pocket Rocket,” a mother to soon-to-be 6-year-old son Zyon, is competing in her last Olympics. She knows she has more in her, but the 37-year-old said she plans to hang up her spikes for her family. “My son needs me,” she told ESSENCE in our January/February 2024 issue. “My husband and I have been together since before I won in 2008. He has sacrificed for me. We’re a partnership, a team. And it’s because of that support that I’m able to do the things that I have been doing for all these years. And I think I now owe it to them to do something else.”

Clarisse Agbegnenou

The French judoka, who took home a bronze in the individual competition and gold with the French mixed team, is a mother to daughter Athéna, who would come with her to train in preparation for the Olympic Games in her home city. “I want women athletes who follow me to feel free and legitimate, to break codes to change mentalities and change the rules,” she told Le Parisien. “We can have a life as a woman and mother as well as champion at the same time.”

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Luis Robayo/AFP/Getty Images; Richard Heathcote/Getty Images Sport; Brad Smith/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images Sport

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