Today’s Solutions: January 18, 2025

Lifestyle

Alongside taking care of other people and the planet, make sure you take good care of yourself. The Lifestyle section at the Optimist Daily has solutions for everyday wellbeing on topics like food, beauty, fashion, and the latest trends. Curious about caring for houseplants, eating plant-based, or parenting tips? It’s all in there.

Pickleball for all

The health benefits of pickleball, America’s fastest-growing sport

By now, you’ve almost certainly heard of pickleball, the fastest-growing sport in America for the second year in a row.  Said to have been named for the creators’ family dog, pickleball is like the youngest sibling of tennis, badminton, and ping pong. It’s played with a paddle and a Read More...

red footed tortoise

Family's tortoise missing for 30 years turns up in the attic

Pet owners everywhere would agree: the loss of a pet is a difficult event to process—especially in the case of a missing pet. Dealing with the ambiguous loss of a pet gone missing is exactly what the Almeida family in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, went through in the 1980s. During a home renovation, Read More...

Woman planting basil herb into terracotta flower pot on table in garden.

Grow these plants around your home as natural mosquitos repellents

While there are countless positives that come with the warmer seasons, there’s one huge downside.  Yep, mosquitos! These pesky insects can leave us itching all over with unpleasant swollen and scabbed skin. We try to do everything we can to keep these bugs away, from candles to aerosols and Read More...

Young woman sitting with her hands one her knees on a window sill looking outside

How to boost your confidence as an introvert

Being introverted doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a shy person. Rather, it means you feel energized and recharged when you spend time alone. And while not every introvert struggles with confidence issues, many do, which can hold them back from various opportunities. If you’re an introvert who Read More...

Young woman sitting in lotus position on an office desk

5 questions for assessing your own emotional intelligence

When it comes to working with others, Marcel Schwantes believes emotional intelligence (EQ) is everything. As leaders, when we are being impulsive, shortsighted, reacting with anger in the heat of the moment, or not making decisions in our "right minds," it is because we are sorely lacking EQ. Read More...

two elderly people hiking

4 habits to form for a long life according to a Blue Zone expert

Longevity in life is something we hope for, but without forming healthy habits now, our chances of living well into our triple digits are unlikely. Longevity expert and National Geographic fellow Dan Buettner studied the day-to-day lives of those who live in Blue Zones (regions in the world where Read More...

Young man sitting on a rock on a beach doing breath exercises

3 ways to fire up the vagus nerve and boost your immune system

While optimizing immunity is no easy feat, there is a scientifically-backed way to set the stage: firing up the vagus nerve. Because this nerve runs from the base of the brain through the neck and branches out in the chest all the way down to the abdomen, it touches almost all of our major Read More...

non-binary person in front of body of water

Norway to add gender-neutral pronoun to Norwegian language

The official Norwegian language is set to add a new gender-neutral pronoun within the year, confirms the Language Council of Norway. The gender-neutral third-person singular counterpart to the feminine “hun” and the masculine “han” will be “hen.” Linguistic equality According to Read More...

happy woman outside with yellow jacket and voluminous curly hair

6 ideas from around the world to help boost happiness

Helen Russell, a journalist and global happiness expert who wrote The Year of Living Danishly and The Atlas of Happiness, says that there are ways in which different nations worldwide enhance their experience of happiness through a mindset or an attitude that runs deep within the Read More...

Happy gay couple having tender moments next the sea at sunset.

Don’t let love get lost in translation—all about the 5 love languages

It's important to show the people you love how much you truly care—but how can you be sure that your expressions of affection are landing the way you want them to? The key to ensuring that your love (romantic, familial, or friendly) isn’t being lost in translation, is to learn their love Read More...