#01: *OPENS NEW TAB*
welcome to my mind
Yeah, that’s right, a substack! Because it’s the year 2024 A.D., and if you don’t have a substack these days then who even are you? (A mentally stable human being, most likely, keep it up.)
who is she?
A few things about me in case we don’t already know each other:
Hi! I’m Erin Harland, a copywriter for money and a music artist/songwriter for not money based in Brooklyn. I make indie-pop-rock stuff if you’re into that sort of thing.
I’m originally from SoFla, but have been living in NYC for the last 12 years.
I went to school for acting and took classes at UCB for improv, both of which I have an extremely useful “certificate of completion” for!
My favorite color is red, I think.
why is she?
A couple of years ago, I was diagnosed with ADHD. Weren’t we all, I know, but it makes so much sense as you will soon come to agree from reading this newsletter. That said, I have a lot of thoughts and interests on the daily. I’m always going down some new rabbit hole. And while I lust over the idea of being the strong and silent type of artist, I’m beginning to embrace in my ripe age of [redacted] that I have much to share (albeit, slectively, hehe). And sometimes I feel annoying doing that on IG stories, or what have you, so there’s a lot I don’t share, and this felt like a good outlet for that.
I also have a lot of photos on my phone I need to clear up for storage.
and so…
“Current Hyperfixations” is born! A weekly-ish newsletter on whatever I currently can’t stop thinking about, from my noggin to yours. These may revolve around topics such as:
books, TV, movies, music, culture
clothing & styles I like
songwriting & music production
creative expression
memes (like the “huh?” cat up above, haha, man, that little guy cracks me up)
youtube channels, podcasts, accounts I’m into
my favorite color (which, again, I think is red!)
The tone here may differ from newsletter to newsletter. Some days it might wax poetic, some days it might be mostly visuals and links, depending on my mood, idk. The multitudes, I do be containing them. Also, remember when I told you I have ADHD?
this week: let’s talk about health, baby (pt.1)
I know this is the introductory newsletter and I should try to keep it short, but it’s the beginning of January, and you better believe I’m thinking about my goals! I do have some overarching resolutions I’d like to accomplish for this year (*glances over at hard drive of song demos*), but in order for those to happen one needs to feel their best, so I guess I’ve frequently been thinking about my health.
I’m a bit of a health nut. I love a craze, I love a hack, I love a dopamine hit but I’m also very bad at consistently holding a routine. I think this is okay, as long as I do certain attainably healthy habits at least a few times a week and feel good. Here’s what I’ve been into lately:
Warming foods. I repeat, it’s the beginning of January. It cold. If you’re like me and run chilly, there are foods that are actually warming and will help to warm you up! I also tend to get very mucous-y, and this is where foods that have a warming AND drying effect can help. This might sound like common sense, but in our green-juice-praising culture, some people will turn to fruit and vegetables when they’re sick, many of which are actually cooling and damp! So, when I wake up/ am not lazy, I put on the kettle and drink warm water. No teabag, just plain, warm water. If I am congested then I put in a tiny bit of fenugreek and mix that in. Fenugreek is a natural expectorant, and kind of an amazing spice. It’s not the tastiest, but I do find it clears my nose! I’ve also been trying to add spices to any food I can for that extra warmth. A cover-all-bases fave of mine is Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute.
Changing up my method of exercise. Did you watch the NYC Marathon, get moved to tears and then google “how to run a marathon” powered by the fuel of inspired determination? Me too. Something about the energy in the air just makes you wanna do it, right? Yet, shortly after, I asked my friend–a seasoned runner–if he’d ever ran a marathon, and if he ever plans to. His answer? No. In his personal opinion, something like a half marathon is perfectly fine for him, but he doesn’t feel the need to do a whole marathon. My point here is not that you shouldn’t run a marathon, you absolutely should try if you want to! It’s more that I feel like people tend to create these gigantic workout goals in the beginning of the year and then feel bad about not achieving them when simply moving more on a day-to-day basis is a pretty good goal. Some days I do a HIIT workout, some days I try to run for at least 30 minutes, some days I walk on the treadmill at a high incline for as long as I can with a short strength training set after, and some days I just take a nice, long walk in the neighborhood. It’s good to have a personal goal to strive for, but don’t be afraid to change it up too! If you have like, body-building goals, that’s a whole thing I know next to nothing about aside from that you need to be very consistent, which we all now know I am bad at! But if you’re just trying to stay healthy and feel good, focus on little ways to achieve Peter Attia’s “Four components of exercise”:
Stability
Strength
Aerobic performance
Anaerobic output
Saunas. SAUNAS. I freaking love a sauna, I love being warm. This sounds like a privileged one, but many common gyms HAVE a sauna! If you have a passport membership to your gym, just look up which locations have one. Sometimes, honestly, it’s only the thing that motivates me to go to the gym in the first place, which is why I never prefer to go to the location that’s actually closer to where I live, because it doesn’t have a sauna, harumph. But NOW, I have science to back me up! According to some recent studies, repeated heat exposure like being in a sauna is suggested to beneficially affect against dementia development. My grandmother had Alzheimer’s, so it’s something I think about, genetically speaking, especially since women are at a greater risk for it. So this is your excuse to sauna it up!
Red light. We’ve all heard about blue light blocking glasses, but I’ve only just recently come to find that red lenses do the best job at actually blocking blue light! Apparently, Rick Rubin has only red light bulbs in his home, and wears glasses with red lenses whenever he’s indoors around artificial light. Personally, I’m not into the red light district look for my home, but I’d be lying if I said I haven’t searched for a sick pair of red lens glasses to wear indoors and make my whole personality a la Tony Stark. For now though, I’m trying this quick setting on my phone that turns my screen red. I’m still considering the glasses though…
media:
A lot of the info I’m talking about comes from two places:
Outlive: The Science of Art & Longevity, by Peter Attia – My dad called me out of the blue one day to tell me he was sending a book in the mail, and this was that book. The members of my family are always on some kind of health kick, so I found the whole gesture very comforting and sweet. Right now I’m about halfway through and I’m loving it. I can’t wait to talk about more about what I’ve learned after I finish. Apologies in advance if you’re already bored to death by all of this lol.
Huberman Lab Podcast – Sometimes I’m like… wait… am I… a bro? We all got a lil bro in us somewhere, I guess, and for me? That’s listening to Professor Andrew Huberman’s Podcast. ‘Hubie Doobie’, as I will affectionately refer to him, or simply ‘Hubie’, for short. It kinda depends on the guest, and it also depends on if the subject matter is one where I need my biology major boyfriend to translate for me, otherwise I may zone out and accidentally take a lovely nap. I didn’t even get to how delaying coffee for 90 minutes and getting morning sunlight and watching the sunset every day is helpful to your circadian rhythm, but I’m not really active on TikTok so maybe you already know this.
palate cleanser:
Look, I promise I won’t talk too much about astrology on here because my stance on it is loose and fun, BUT I have been listening to Chani Nicholas’ weekly Astrology podcast, and on this week’s episode she said that this part of January has “encouraging signs and signals”, and with the new moon in Capricorn happening on Thursday, we should “lean into what’s working, what long-term strategies we know will bring us deep satisfaction, and into our courage; taking risks that will create a sense of an abundant victory for more than just ourselves.” I really liked that intention.
If there’s anything you want to hear about in particular, lmk! And thanks for being here!
– Er 🌹