Mission Driven Monday 02/17/2025
News You Can Use by Chantel Adams
A SCARY STAT ABOUT AGING and A LIL’ PRE-PLANNING
FACT: Your body's ability to renew and replace cells is most efficient in your youth, reaching a peak around age 22-25. After that, I’m sorry, but we begin the long, arduous process of “decomposition.”
Our first granddaughter was born this past August. Whenever she comes over, the first thing I do is bury my nose in that precious little baby head. Gotta soak in all that youth before she gets acne and stinky feet and decides showers are optional. Why do babies smell SO GOOD, and old people…well, let’s just say, showers are NOT optional.
To become a person worthy of old age is the triumph of life.—Maria Popova
The distinct odor often associated with aging can be traced back to a compound called 2-Nonenal. Scientists describe the scent as greasy and grassy, and it becomes more prominent as we age. (Trust me, I know this is gross. Hope you’re not reading this while you’re eating lunch.)
As people grow older, their skin produces higher amounts of certain fats, and when these fats break down, they release 2-Nonenal, aka “classic old person smell.”
But the big question is: Can this smell be neutralized?
I’m gonna help you out with this one. Here’s what I found out:
✅ Water: Water cures most things and drinking lots of it can dilute fatty acids in the body.
✅ Antioxidant-Rich Products: Use skincare products with antioxidants, like green tea and Vitamins C and E.
✅ Moisturizers: Apply moisturizer after showering to help retain skin moisture, which can help mask the smell.
✅ Persimmon Extract—**Do what now?** Some products, particularly in Japan, contain persimmon extract, which is believed to help break down and wash away nonenal.
Sign me up! 🙋♀️
(And that, my friends, is SCIENCE.)
THERE’S ALWAYS ROOM FOR ONE MORE…AROUND THE TABLE
If you’ve read any of my previous newsletters, you know I’m a fan of food writer, Ruth Reichl.
A restaurant—any restaurant—is romantic because a table, when it is surrounded by a sea of strangers, becomes a safe little island, so those who share it draw closer together. That is why people so often fall in love with each other—for the first or 500th time—when they are dining out.—New West, February 1980
It’s why I’m such a firm believer in inviting people to share the table with me. We used to have a round table in our dining room, and I can’t explain it, but whenever our family ate there together instead of at our long, rectangular farm table, we found we just lingered longer. The conversation flowed. No one wanted to be the first to excuse themselves. We told jokes and stories and shared news and played dinner games. (Maybe I’ll share some of them in a future issue). Gosh, it sure was fun. I miss that table.
Years ago, I cut this quote from our local newspaper: "In a house, love is made in the bedroom, life is made in the den, peace is made on the porch but a home is made in the kitchen. It is something that Southern women know innately. That's why food and hospitality lie at the core of our being."—Ronda Rich
I have a dream to one day host community dinners where everyone is invited to come ‘round the table to share delicious food and interesting conversation.
Would you join me?
Love OR Work or Love AND Work?
For anyone who has ever started a business or changed careers, you know how hard it is to get the momentum going. Learning about board development, accounting, sales, marketing, and fundraising will feel like initiation by fire. There’s capital to raise and a brand to build, not to mention the sheer force it takes to break into established industries. As my friend Callie would say, that’s what you call a DIY MBA! No wonder 90% of new businesses fail within the first five years. (That’s a myth. It’s actually closer to 50%) .But here’s the interesting thing: Twice the number of people who start a second business SUCCEED. (I bet you didn’t know that. 🤑)
What’s the difference between those that fail and those that succeed?
This insight comes from Shanna Skidmore, founder of the Blueprint Model:
It turns out there is a strong correlation between a healthy marriage 🤝 and income. Research from places like Columbia University and Harvard have shown that strong marriages can lead to better entrepreneurial success. So, healthy relationships aren’t just good for the heart, they are good for the bottom line too!
A few years ago I read a book called Love or Work (there’s also an accompanying podcast). Both resources ask:
“Is it possible to have a healthy marriage, raise a family, and change the world?”
Though I was never interviewed, here’s what I would have said:
Having a family compels you to think about what you want your personal legacy to be. Your business will become part of the story you tell.
You, your spouse, and your children will all have opinions about how you should run your business and what you should do next. They are your biggest fans. SOMETIMES, it will feel like they are also the greatest enemy of your success.
It’s helpful to remember this quote from Andy Stanley, founder of North Point Community Church, “The most important thing in your life may not be something you do, but someone you raise.”
When it comes to love or work, I’ll always choose love.
LET’S TALK ABOUT DOPAMINE DRESSING
Yes, I may be a little late to the party, but I’m climbing aboard the dopamine dressing bandwagon. Never mind that fashion psychologists have been researching the trend since 2012. I am HERE for it. And the good news is there’s no alcohol, drugs, or sex required. Dopamine dressing is all about wearing clothes that make you feel good AND look good. Sometimes, you might be comfortable. Even cozy. But you’ll always be unstoppable. And that’s because dopamine dressing means getting dressed with the dominant emotion being JOY.
I used to peer into my overstuffed closet, sigh, and wish that money tree out back would sprout some new leaves so I could buy some new clothes. Lately, however, I found that I don’t need a bunch of new stuff. I got rid of everything that DOESN’T bring me joy and then started snapping photos of outfits I liked in magazines and online, and what I discovered was that I already had all the pieces I needed to make a bunch of new outfits that make me look and feel great. A few weeks ago, I went to House of Colour and came home with a color deck of shades suited perfectly to me. And woah, what a difference!
Who knew??? 🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️
IS CONSISTENCY A CHRISTIAN VIRTUE?
This Brad Montague essay has been making the rounds. I hope you’ll take the time to read the whole thing because it really is beautiful. Here’s an excerpt:
Hello Enthusiasts,
I’ve spent most of my life believing—and telling anyone who would listen—that the world is changed by small people living with big love. That history bends not because of the loud and powerful but because of the quiet and consistent.
I’ve seen it. I’ve lived it. I’ve bet my career on it.
But lately, I’m starting to feel like an idiot.
And I know what Brad means, because the quiet and consistent rarely get recognized. Quiet consistency has never been lauded as a virtue worth striving for.
Children are growing up with a different message than the ones I’ve always tried to share. They’re loudly hearing:
If you want to change the world, you better own it first.
Change comes from the top, not from the ground up.
Being a good person is nice, but being a powerful person gets results.
And yet we know that the Jesus of the Bible taught exactly the opposite. That the Jesus of the Bible modeled servant leadership and that he valued consistency because he was the epitome of it.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.—Hebrews 13:8
And you know what? Maybe we should value it, too. Consistency shows people who we are, builds trust, and promotes good habits that do get results over time. Big results are most often the accumulation of tiny deposits.
I’m thankful that Brad ends his essay with this assertion:
Lasting change —the kind that actually shapes hearts and futures — still happens in the small, consistent acts of ordinary people.
It reminds me of another poem, this one by William Martin, and I wrote it down in my journal years ago because it was the message I needed to hear while I was raising my own kids. Sometimes I felt so inadequate there in the trenches, snarled by my own comparison trap. I even reserved a URL I named www.rageagainsttheordinary.com. I wanted to do something special, something big, something so extraordinary it needed its own home on the Interwebz.
This poem was a balm to my weary soul.
Do not ask your children
to strive for extraordinary lives.
Such striving may seem admirable,
but it is the way of foolishness.
Help them instead to find the wonder
and the marvel of an ordinary life.
Show them the joy of tasting
tomatoes, apples, and pears.
Show them how to cry
when pets and people die.
Show them the infinite pleasure
in the touch of a hand
And make the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraordinary will take care of itself.
But ordinary is good. Ordinary is consistent. Ordinary makes a difference. If you don’t believe me, just read the following passage in light of what Jesus did for us.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.—Isaiah 53: 2, 5
The ordinary came alive and made itself extraordinary. For You. And for Me.
THINGS ARE NEVER AS BAD AS THEY SEEM
We’ve all had embarrassing moments. But this one takes the cake—or the trousers—as the case may be.
On January 8, 1992, President George H.W. Bush attended a banquet in which he was scheduled to give remarks in front of 135 world diplomats. Between the second and third courses, President Bush, who was seated next to Japanese Prime Minister, Kiichi Miyazawa, vomited in the Prime Minister’s lap and then promptly fainted.
Remember: Even though your missteps may be a blow to your ego, you can rest assured that you won’t be humiliated on Wikipedia, spoofed on SNL, or published on USA Today’s List of the 25 Most Public Meltdowns of the Last Quarter Century.
I promise you’re A-OK. 👌It’s fine. Everything is fine.