Your FYP is effed (it's not in your head) and we're apparently scaling buildings now

Gold is suddenly breaking records, I’m trying to wear color (it’s not going well), and I have recs for the end-of-January slump.

Let’s get into it.

TikTok changed ownership, everything’s whack

TikTok is now officially American-owned; in the wake of the change, there’ve been multiple reported outages that have led to a “cascading systems failure.” While there aren’t any official (read: public) plans for any changes to the algorithm, users are complaining that their For You Pages are totally off. Complaints include continuously looping videos, repetitive videos, and one person said all their videos were suddenly in Russian. If your FYP is off, you’re not imagining it!

Alex Honnold scaled a tower in Taipei while the world watched

“Let’s not free solo a skyscraper” is my newest suggested addition to the corporate jargon library, inspired by Alex Honnold’s absolutely unnecessary and deeply extra decision to climb a 1,667 foot tower without any equipment. The stunt was broadcast live, which stresses me out so much that I don’t even want to talk about it. He’s officially safe and back on the ground (for now…).

Gold is (even more) expensive, and this is not a great signal

Gold is up past $5,000 an ounce, exceeding an old record. Apparently, gold goes up when people are scared of inflation; on the one hand, I’m glad to know my gold ring is officially worth more than it was last week. But on the other (metaphorically, that is; I don’t actually have another gold ring on my other hand), this is probably bad news: tariffs, rising prices, and government shutdowns have historically followed sharp increases like this.

I escaped to Palm Springs this past weekend for a wellness-themed bachelorette. Plans included hiking and honoring our Dry January plans. Reality included attempting a hike, then deciding that showing up, taking a photo, and pretending we did it was enough. Oh, and breaking Dry January (yes, all of us. For anyone doing it for real: you're braver than I'll ever be). I’m back slightly tired, sort of tan, and no more refreshed (but I did have a lot of fun!).

If you’re like me and believe “taking a risk” equals trying a half-caf latte or attempting a 2-inch heel, then you’ll appreciate my attempt at risking it all to add some color to my wardrobe. A neutral olive green is technically a color! Was I really proud that my glasses matched my set? Yes. Yes I was.

End of January is the sweet spot where you finally know how tired you are, how busy work actually is, and what plans are real vs. imaginary. So instead of pretending you'll suddenly have infinite energy on February 1st, do a 30-minute plan that assumes you are busy, social, and slightly overcommitted.

Highly recommend:

• One anchor work week. Deep work, launches, or anything that actually moves your career forward. Mark yourself as unavailable. No dinner invites.

• One social-heavy week. Dinners, weddings, birthdays, travel, whatever is already creeping in. Seeing it grouped together makes the rest of the month feel calmer.

• One low-effort buffer week. This is the week you plan nothing ambitious. It's for workouts you already know you'll do, simple dinners, early nights.

If you're wedding planning (which I of course very much am!!), this is especially clutch. Instead of "I'll do wedding stuff all the time," you assign it one container week. Knock out the vendor calls and decisions in a concentrated push, then stop thinking about it.

The days are getting longer, which means your energy will lie to you a little. Use that optimism to set boundaries now, instead of adding more plans!

Thanks for reading!