Hey there,

If you’re in most parts of the populated world (which, statistically, you would be), you’re living through some major heat waves. We definitely are around here — in fact, this past week we had record highs, and that’s saying something for central Texas. Our lowest high in Georgetown this past week was 102. What in the world? 🔥

I’ve been very bossy to myself this week in one regard, so I feel compelled to boss you around in this area as well right now: stay hydrated. I mean it! Drink way more water than you think you need. I’m no doctor so this isn’t health advice, but I’ve been drinking a minimum of 100 ounces of water every day this week and I feel so much better. Night and day from previous weeks. If you’re like me, you think you drink more water than you do. So, let this be your big sister/mom friend reminder to drink water all the dadgum day today. Yes, you’ll probably pee a lot, but it’s worth it. 💦💦💦

5 Quick Things ☕️

1. We’re on a summer break for A Drink With a Friend, but as many of you know (because you emailed me), we’ve had some tech issues with our feed, particularly on Spotify. Well, I’ll spare you the boring details, but I think the problem is solved (or is about to be) so you should get a month’s worth of episodes in your feed soon! If you’re feeling the itch to keep us in your earbuds this weekend, rerun these: Loving Things Unironically, We’re All Farm Dogs, Why Travel Matters, and In Praise of Hobbies.

2.  Our episode Why Catholic? pairs well with Seth’s recent series in his newsletter about his own journey to the Church — his part one and part two are excellent reads. Another good pairing is this episode really nerding out on the Catholic view of the Eucharist in a conversation with two Protestant converts. It’s helpful if you’ve ever wondered why it matters so much.

3. Phew… Frank Mulder’s excerpt on what it means to live disconnected from our hyperreality-everywhere world is long but so good and worth your time: it means “Putting energy, in short, into things that are inherently good, that would also have value if the earth were to perish next year.”

4. Instead of going to college, this woman read 153 books recommended by her junior-year high school English teacher, and at age 70, she only has four left. (HT to reader Elisabeth for pointing out this gem of a story!)

5. And finally, if you’re like me, you’re doing whatever you can to not turn on your oven — I’ve bookmarked these 20 pressure cooker recipes for this very reason. (Related: it’s MYOS here tonight — the S is for ‘sushi’)

Currently Reading, Watching, Listening 📚

• Sea of Tranquility, by Emily St. John Mandel

Quotable 💬

“Summer was here again. Summer, summer, summer. I loved and hated summers. Summers had a logic all their own and they always brought something out in me.”

— Benjamin Alire Sáenz #

When do you wake up? 🤔

By far, most of you wake up between 5:30 and 7:00, which isn’t surprising. An impressively sizable amount of you wake up before 5 am, however, and two of you wake up at 10 am. Based on the demographics of Commonplace readership, I presume this has to do with either work shifts and/or babies, so zero judgment from me. You do you.

Find this week’s poll here.

Quick Links 🔗

• Create your own Rule of Life

• Subscribe to A Drink With a Friend

Question(s) For You to Ponder… 🤔

In ten years, what do you want to say you accomplished? What could you do today to make that a little more of a reality?

Have a good one — and stay hydrated (I drank 36 ounces of water while writing this letter),

Tsh

p.s. Instant earworm (so sorry), but this is seriously impressive.