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We’re about to wrap up year three of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it’s been a weird ride, to say the least. These years have been hard, frustrating, confusing and tragic, and yet we keep on keeping on.

Except the keeping on part isn’t quite as simple as it sounds. Despite the fact that COVID-19 is still wreaking havoc, we’ve sort of collectively decided to move on, come what may. This year has been an experiment in normalcy, but one without a testable hypothesis or clear design. And it’s taken a toll. So many people are feeling tired, exhausted, worn thin (“like butter scraped over too much bread,” as Bilbo Baggins put it) these days.

But why?

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Psychologist and speaker Naomi Holdt beautifully explained what’s behind the overarching exhaustion people are feeling as we close out 2022, and it makes perfect sense.

In a post on Facebook, she wrote:

“A gentle reminder about why you are utterly exhausted…

No one I know began this year on a full tank. Given the vicious onslaught of the previous two years (let’s just call it what it was) most of us dragged ourselves across the finish line of 2021… frazzled, spent, running on aged adrenaline fumes…

We crawled into 2022 still carrying shock, trauma, grief, heaviness, disbelief… The memories of a surreal existence…

And then it began… The fastest hurricane year we could ever have imagined. Whether we have consciously processed it or not, this has been a year of more pressure, more stress, and a race to ‘catch up’ in all departments… Every. Single. One. Work, school, sports, relationships, life…

Though not intentionally aware, perhaps hopeful that the busier we are, the more readily we will forget… the more easily we will undo the emotional tangle… the more permanently we will wipe away the scarring wounds…

We can’t.

And attempts to re-create some semblance of ‘normal’ on steroids while disregarding that for almost two years our sympathetic nervous systems were on full alert, has left our collective mental health in tatters. Our children and teens are not exempt. The natural byproduct of fighting a hurricane is complete and utter exhaustion…

So before you begin questioning the absolutely depleted and wrung-dry state you are in- Pause. Breathe. Remind yourself of who you are and what you have endured. And then remind yourself of what you have overcome.

Despite it all, you’re still going. (Even on the days you stumble and find yourself face down in a pile of dirt).

Understanding brings compassion… Most of the world’s citizens are in need of a little extra TLC at the moment. Most are donning invisible ‘Handle with care’ posters around their necks and ‘Fragile’ tattoos on their bodies…

Instead of racing to the finish line of this year, tread gently.

Go slowly. Amidst the chaos, find small pockets of silence. Find compassion. Allow the healing. And most of all… Be kind. There’s no human being on earth who couldn’t use just a little bit more of the healing salve of kindness.”

Putting it like that, of course we’re exhausted. We’re like a person who thinks they’re feeling better at the end of an illness so they dive fully back into life, only to crash mid-day because their body didn’t actually have as much energy as their brain thought it did. We tried to fling ourselves into life, desperate to feel normal and make up for lost time, without taking the time to fully acknowledge the impact of the past two years or to fully recover and heal from it.

Of course, life can’t just stop, but we do need to allow some time for our bodies, minds and spirits to heal from what they’ve been through. The uncertainty, the precariousness of “normal,” the after-effects of everything that upended life as we knew it are real. The grief and trauma of those who have experienced the worst of the pandemic are real. The overwhelm of our brains and hearts as we try to process it all is real.

So let’s be gentle with one another and ourselves as we roll our harried selves into another new year. We could all use that little extra measure of grace as we strive to figure out what a true and healthy “normal” feels like.

You can follow Naomi Holdt on Facebook.

This article originally appeared on 12.23.22

One of the great things about most healthy families is that people can give to one another without expecting much in return. But, of course, everyone has their limits. How much is asking for too much? Regarding loans, money is different in all families, but what about time? Is spending hours babysitting for a family member without receiving anything in return okay?

Kaitlyn Wilson, 27, recently answered this question on TikTok, and the video went viral, earning over 335,000 views.

“I was telling somebody the other day that I watch my nephew for my sister, once a week roughly or just whenever she needs, and they were so shocked that I did it for free,” she said in the viral video. “Like, are other people’s families out here charging them to watch their kids for a few hours? That’s absolutely absurd if they are.”

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She then described why she babysits her nephew for free. “I get the opportunity to create a relationship with my nephew by babysitting him and being around him,” Wilson said. “The fact that other people feel like they would need to be paid to hang out with their nieces, nephews, grandkids is so messed up.”

Warning: Strong language.

I was not even aware that someone would think of charging their family member for babysitting their kid(s) occasionally.

@kaitlynnnwils

TikTok · Kaitlyn w

Wilson speculates that people who don’t want to babysit their younger family members are missing out on building a relationship with them.

“And I swear, it will be those same adults at family parties being like, ‘Oh my god, why doesn’t so-and-so want to hug me or talk to me?’ They don’t f***ing know you, dude,” she continued. “I feel like it’s not that hard to show up for and support people in your family, especially if you live near them.”

The vast majority of people who commented on the post supported Wilson. However, some thought that realistic boundaries for how often one is expected to watch a family member’s kids should exist.

“Is it really babysitting? Or is it just spending time with family? It’s just spending time for me,” Joey wrote. “I feel if you’re an adult, do it for free, but if it’s a teen relative, give them some money my uncle used to pay me. Now I do it for free cuz I have a job now,” Ashleyemmell added.

Some believed that having to do it every day meant that it went from being a favor to becoming a job. “Yep. If it’s consistent, I’m not doing a full-time job without pay. If it’s a date night, it’s free. But Monday through Friday? That’s a job,” J wrote.

For Wilson, watching her nephew is all about building a relationship that lasts a lifetime.

“It’s the responsibility of adults to foster relationships with children — I’m a firm believer of that,” she told Today.com. “When kids grow up and they are not close to older relatives, it’s not the fault of the adult child.”

“You can foster [relationships] by just showing up for them,” she added. “Going to [sporting] events … [going] to the park, reading books, baking … and always be the one reaching out.”

Showering is one of those things that you figure everyone has a handle on past the age of ten. It’s a pretty simple process that becomes automatic before people are even old enough to need deodorant. You stand under running water, add soap to whatever item you’re washing with and then commence to washing. Throw in shampoo, conditioner and maybe a razor a few times a week if you’re feeling fancy and you’ve just completed a process that takes about five minutes.

But there seems to be a question that pops up every so often when it’s discovered that in some households, washing your legs isn’t part of the showering process. People’s reactions range from shock on why someone would skip washing their legs, to confusion on why someone would bother washing them.

The argument for those that consistently skip leg day in the shower is that the soap from their upper body runs down their legs, therefore negating a need to clean them.

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While those on the other side of the debate ask why would people skip half of their bodies, pointing out the need to remove dead skin. But should we be washing our legs in the shower? Dermatologists attempt to clear up the confusion by weighing in on the hotly debated and entertaining topic.

@joeuk

TikTok · joe_co_uk

The original debate on whether people should wash their legs or not in the shower started in 2019, maybe as entertainment during the height of the pandemic. Conor Arpwel, posted a since deleted poll on Twitter, with a simple yes or no questions, “do you wash your legs when you take a shower?” Clearly people had some big feelings because the poll went massively viral and has sparked these offshoot debates since.

“So if you’re not washing your legs in the shower and you don’t have a bath, when the hell do you wash your legs you filthy animals, haha? Or where,” one person replies.

But the lack of taking a wash cloth or loofa filled with soap to your lower extremities didn’t end with random people on the internet. Taylor Swift admitted that she didn’t wash her legs because she considers shaving them to be enough to consider them clean.

Dermatologists seem to be split on this one, and turns out there’s good reason for it. Angela Lamb, M.D., director of the Westside Mount Sinai Dermatology Faculty Practice tells Katie Couric, “Sadly, there has not been a lot of research performed on personal hygiene, so many of the recommendations are anecdotal.” Though she does say that you don’t need to wash your legs daily, only if they’re visibly soiled or overly sweaty.

While Dr. Shari Sperling, founder of Sperling Dermatology shares with The Manual, “Yes, you should wash your legs. They are a part of your body that should be cleansed just like other areas of the body. While the debate discusses excessive washing, etc., there is no need to scrub and use harsh cleansers. You want to avoid that to prevent skin irritation. However, gentle washing daily is okay!”

@drcharlesmd1

Shower the RIGHT way! #skincare #doctor #lifehack

Since there isn’t much research on the topic, and the method of washing one’s body can vary greatly from person to person, the jury may remain out for a while. But one dermatologist gives a pretty good reason why you should at least physically wash your legs every once in a while.

“Too little washing can lead to a condition called retention hyperkeratosis where a thick layer of built-up skin cells and dust accumulates on the skin over time,” dermatologist, Dr. Anne Allen reveals to The Manual.

So should you wash your legs in the shower? The answer seems to be, you don’t technically have to but it wouldn’t hurt if you did.

“You can have it all.”

This has been a post-3rd wave feminism promise sworn to women. That you can have a big family, a high achieving career, a fulfilling relationship, a never-ending sense of purpose, no bad hair days, healthy lunches that make themselves, and so on and so on.

But many, many women will quickly dispel that myth. There is still measurable inequality between men and women when it comes to being able to advance in their careers and have children. Even the ones who do seem to “have it all” are the exception to the rule, and likely have sacrificed other aspects of their identity.

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That goes for pop stars too, apparently. While appearing on an episode of the Radio Times Podcast, British singer Lily Allen spoke candidly about her own experience of not being able to move up in the music industry after becoming a mom.

Allen shot to prominence in 2006 thanks to her hit song “Smile.” Only two years later, she earned a nomination for best alternative music album at the 2008 Grammy Awards for debut album, “Alright Still.”

But instead, Allen followed in the footsteps of celebrities like Rick Moranis, and chose to focus on her children.

“Some people choose their career over their children, and that’s their prerogative,” she explained. “My parents were quite absent when I was a kid, and I feel like that really left some nasty scars that I’m not willing to repeat on mine. I’m glad that I have done that, because I think they’re pretty well-rounded people.”

In other words: “My children ruined my career,” she joked, before adding “I love them and they complete me, but in terms of pop stardom, totally ruined it.”

Though Allen has no regrets, she brought up the story to address how unrealistic it is for most women to be able to do both, and being told otherwise by society is less-than-empowering.

“It really annoys me when people say you can have it all, because — quite frankly — you can’t.”

Between pay inequality, difference in work life balance, corporate attitudes towards pregnancy leave, and already being less likely to advance than their male counterparts even without the factor of children (not to mention the world not fully being set up for two working parents with zero community support) it feels safe to assume that Allen is touching on something fairly universal here.

Though her pop star chapter might have reached a close, Allen seems to still be living a pretty cool life— from her swanky New York apartment with David Harbour to winning awards for her stage acting. So though she might not “have it all,” she certainly has some pretty cool things going for her.

When you picture the type of person who leaves reviews for stores and hotels, you’re probably not imagining Millie Bobby Brown. But the Stranger Things star recently outed herself as an online reviewer — and a Karen.

While appearing on the Table Manners podcast, Bobby Brown asked hosts Jessie and Lennie Ware if they leave reviews. They don’t, but she does. “I have a fake name,” the actress said, according to BuzzFeed. “Because I think it’s important! Here’s the thing, my whole life is people criticizing me, so I’m going to give it back to you sometimes.” She gave a recent example.

“Once, we were at a hotel and the woman was pulling my fiancé aside, like, ‘We need to settle payment,’ or whatever,” Bobby Brown recalled, “and I’m just like, ‘Yeah, we will, but at the end of our stay, like… We’re still staying here.’ And she was like: ‘Yeah, but you could settle it now,’ and I was like, ‘But I don’t want to.’” So, she left the hotel a review: “I really think that you should encourage guests to complete transaction of payment at the end of their stay.”

Another time, Bobby Brown was in a store and “basically this old lady came up to me and was like, ‘Do you know where the socks are?’ I think she thought I worked there,” she explained. “And I was like, ‘I don’t, but I’m going to help you.’ So I went and found an employee.’ I said, ‘Excuse me, I need this pattern but I need it in this size, can you help me?’ And she was so unhelpful! And I was like, please, this isn’t even for me, so I left a review. I did!”

First off, shout out to that old lady who didn’t recognize Famous Actress Millie Bobby Brown; her grandkids are going to be furious at her. Also, if you think Millie comes across as a bit of Karen, well, she agrees. “OK, I am a Karen,” she said. “But, listen, I do think it’s important to know where you went wrong and there’s always room for improvement!”

I’m also a Karen, but only when it comes to loudly complaining that the wait for Stranger Things season five is too long. I’m going to leave the angriest review on Netflix’s Better Business Bureau page.

You can listen to the podcast below.

(Via BuzzFeed)

Travis Scott may have made a tremendous comeback in 2023 that continues to this day, but he still faces the fallout of his disastrous 2021 Astroworld Festival in the form of hundreds of lawsuits that have yet to be tried. While they’ll be combined into one case for any eventual trial, one of his co-defendants wants out before the case ever gets that far.

According to Rolling Stone, Drake, who was a named as a defendant along with Apple, Scott, and Live Nation, filed a motion in Houston last week to have himself dismissed from litigation. His lawyers argued that Drake himself had no involvement in the planning of the festival and was therefore unaware of the safety concerns that prompted the lawsuits after 10 concertgoers died as a result of injuries sustained during a crowd crush during Drake and Travis’ set. Hundreds more were injured, hence the proliferation of lawsuits against the festival’s organizers.

“[Drake] did not receive any security briefings, was not informed of any crowd control issues, injuries or deaths in the crowd, or any stop show orders at any time either before or during his 14-minute performance,” the filing reads. In fact, his only involvement was showing up, performing for “approximately 14 minutes” and returning backstage.

Basically, the argument is that although the injuries occurred during his appearance as the crowd pressed forward, he couldn’t tell from onstage and because he had no hand in the planning, he shouldn’t bear liability for any lack of security that allowed to crowd crush to occur. There haven’t been any updates on the case yet, but Drake will likely be relieved to have one less legal issue on his hands.

You know the phrase “always the bridesmaid, never the bride?” The same could be said for Ke Huy Quan, who has always played the sidekick but has never gotten to be his own leading man (besides that one episode of Tales From The Crypt that probably scared you as a kid).

But now after years of starring in supporting roles, the Oscar winner will finally be at the top of the call sheet in the action film With Love, which is slated to be released on February 7th, 2025.

Plot details are under wraps but the film is produced by 87North, which is known for its spunky action movies like the upcoming The Fall Guy, Nobody, and Bullet Train. Lucky for them, Quan has proven he can lead an action movie thanks to his role in Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Stunt coordinator Jonathan Eusebio is set to make his directorial debut after working on the John Wick films, The Matrix: Resurrections, and The Fall Guy. Maybe he can call up his buddy Keanu Reeves for a fun cameo.

Action movies are having a moment right now as fans have been campaigning for a stunt category at the Oscars. Maybe this will be the movie that finally convinces the Academy that stunts are serious business. Quan is no stranger to stunts, as he worked as a fight choreographer on X-Men. So he can totally take on Hugh Jackman if it comes down to it.

(Via the Hollywood Reporter)

Part of being a famous person is knowing that at any given moment, somewhere on the internet, there’s probably somebody trying to knock you down a peg. It’s usually best to not respond to those sorts of things. Charli XCX, though, decided to engage with one such example to make a good point.

On X (formerly Twitter) yesterday (March 13), a user wrote, “art directors must be on strike. dear god…” Accompanying the post was a composite image of four album covers: Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department, Dua Lipa’s Radical Optimism, Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine, and Charli’s Brat.

Charli’s initial response to this today was to share the tweet and write, “there is literally so much to say on this….” She then followed up in another tweet, writing, “i think the constant demand for access to women’s bodies and faces in our album artwork is [misogynistic] and boring.”

Charli’s Brat cover art is certainly a departure from that of her preceding album, 2022’s Crash: While the Crash art features a photo of Charli wearing a bikini and posing on the hood of a car, the Brat cover is simply plain black text on an unadorned green background. Speaking of Crash, Charli recently said she “needed to switch after Crash,” and indeed, Brat is so far proving to be a different beast, as the less-pop-more-club single “Von Dutch” indicates.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Flo Milli fans have been looking forward to the promised release of the SZA-featuring remix of her hit single “Never Lose Me,” but today, they got a pleasant surprise on that count. In addition to finding out its release date via her third album, Fine Ho, Stay, which drops this Friday, March 15, but they also found out who else is on it: Cardi B.

Cardi, whose run of star-powered remix features has included team-ups with GloRilla (“Tomorrow 2“), Latto (“Put It On Da Floor Again“), and FendiDa Rappa (“Point Me 2“), has become the rap it-girls‘ it-girl as fans have impatiently waited for word of her own second studio album. Incidentally, Cardi has been much more active on that front lately; the release of the “Never Lose Me” remix will actually coincide with the release of her own single “Miami,” which will follow “Bongos” and “Like What” in Cardi’s efforts to promote the impending album.

The two rappers announced the news in a quick video on Instagram in which Flo Milli mugs the camera while the track plays and Cardi enters the frame from offscreen. You can check out the teaser below and the full track in less than nine hours when it drops at midnight ET/9pm PT.

Paul Rudd popped by The Late Show With Stephen Colbert last night (March 13), where the two talked about a ton. They discussed the massive popularity of Taylor Swift, her appearance at the Super Bowl to support her boyfriend Travis Kelce, and The Eras Tour. Rudd then began to open up more about how he took his daughter to the show and they had a lovely time, something that Colbert agreed with.

“Taylor was so nice to [my daughter] that, to this day, I would murder for her if she wanted me to,” Colbert joked with Rudd in agreement. (Colbert told that story in 2022, by the way.)

Rudd also discussed that by knowing Swift’s tour opener, Phoebe Bridgers, he met another musician named Claud while at one of the Eras shows. And it led to a truly hilarious moment. “I wasn’t familiar with Claud, but Claud told me that on their album, they had a song called ‘Paul Rudd.’ And then Claud said that, ‘We’re gonna film a video in two weeks, do you want to come by?’” Rudd explained.

Claud, who is signed to Bridgers’ Saddest Factory record label, then got Rudd to appear in the video for “A Good Thing” — even if it wasn’t the track named after him. “By the way, Claud is an amazing musician, and that song rocks,” he added.

Check out the sweet and funny discussion between Rudd and Colbert above.