The March R.E.P.O.R.T.
I tell you how to Brick your phone for free.
Welcome to the March Report!
If you’re here, might as well hit the 💚 button.
We’re going over the audiobooks I loved this month, the hard things I’m embracing (like the comedown after completing a big goal), and teaching you how to Brick your phone without dropping $60 on a piece of plastic.
Thanks to all 866 of you. It means the world that you’re here. If you ever have an idea for a topic, you’re welcome to drop it in the comments to DM me.
If this is the first time you’re seeing a REPORT, it typically stands for:
Reading
Eating
Playing
Obsessing
Recommending
Treating
But I’ll change the verb to suit how I want talk about my month.
Reading
I’ve been in my audiobook era, forgers. Not only am I ripping through books, but I’m doom-scrolling less.
Here’s the two I listened to in March (for free, thanks to Libby):
The Paradise Problem - Christina Lauren
It’s a fun twist on the typical marriage of convenience trope. But the family dynamics for the MMC were drama, and the banter and sexual attraction between the end-game couple were good.
Under Loch & Key - Lana Ferguson
Never would I have known I was attracted to a man that could turn into the Loch Ness Monster, but alas…
Flint Park, the voice for the MMC, is so fucking good. His Scottish accent and the breathy, rumbly-ness that his voice has is exactly what I needed after coming home.
I can’t say too much about this or I’ll spoil the whole thing. I went in blind except for knowing the fact that he’s the Loch Ness Monster, so 🤷🏼♀️
Remember, to my fellow Pennsylvanians: the Free Library of Philadelphia allows you to get a library card if you can provide a PA address, giving you access to their Libby catalog. Here’s the link to sign up online.
Embracing
Being Uncomfortable Online (Again)
For some reason, probably due to not doing it as often as I have in recent years, posting my face online has become uncomfortable.
Let’s be real though, I’ve never been comfortable posting my face online. It’s about just embracing that discomfort and posting anyway because if I had never started, I’d never be where I am in my career.
And if I post more, where can I be in my career in the next 6-12 months?
So, if you’ve been nervous about posting online whether it be video content or otherwise. This is your permission slip. It’s okay to do it and do it scared. And do it badly.
Who cares what anyone thinks. We only have one life.
The Comedown (After Completing a Dream)
Visiting Scotland was one of the top things I wanted to do in this lifetime. I never thought it would happen. But it did.
It solidified that I don’t want to be here in the US anymore.
It will be the place I yearn for for the rest of my life.
So I expected the comedown of such a high to happen, I didn’t expect it to contain so much inaction. Especially when I had left with a notebook full of things of lessons learned and things I wanted to do when I got back home.
I didn’t do anything for a week. And I mean that. I slept a lot.
A bit of depression? Maybe.
It was probably a collection of emotions, some I haven’t even named yet.
The second week I felt more normal, but still a bit empty. But the interesting thing that started happening I was doing things without attributing feelings to them, like positive or negative things.
Basically, I wasn’t judging myself for the things I was or wasn’t doing.
I started back at the gym and didn’t put any rules around when I went or how I felt. I just went with the goal of going 3x/week. I went back to tennis with the same mentality.
I started writing again. Fiction, for myself, with way less judgement and perfection that I reserve only ever for myself.
I don’t understand what’s happening. But the comedown has taught me to be nicer to myself by taking away the judgement I’m always passing on the things I do or don’t do.
It’s been a mix of survival mode + finding joy in my life again.
Playing
Harry Styles New Album
To be honest, I don’t know why it’s been on repeat while I’m at the gym. It’s mid compared to Harry’s House. I’m really just passing time until Noah Kahan’s new album comes out in late April.
The Pitt
I know I’m late to this medical emergency, but I’m glad the ambulance finally came for me. 🚑
Obsessing
Fanfiction (Reading & Writing)
Listen, I am one of the fanfic OGs.
I started on Quizilla, graduated to Mibba and Fanfic.net, and finally evolved to AO3. I used to have write all sorts of fanfic in my time—Sailor Moon, HP, and even ruled over Prince Harry fic during Tumblr’s prime.
But I’m back, baby. Writing it, obsessing about writing it, reading it on my phone until I fall asleep.
I started writing a Roy Kent fanfiction (from Ted Lasso) as soon as I came home from Scotland.
All I can tell you is:
It’s a second-chance romance.
She’s an aristocrat that’s distanced herself from her family and their money.
It’s 10+ years since the OFC and Roy have been together.
I’m debating doing two timelines.
Clearly nothing is set in stone. Love that for me.
Recommending
The Brick (For Free)
Have you been getting adds for the Brick? The little square thing that locks your phone and puts an actual physical barrier between you and your social media addiction?
Yeah, I was too. I even had one languishing in the shopping cart.
Until a friend shared this Instagram post with me:
Genna shares how to do it with an NFC tag or a QR code.
All you have to do is download the (actually completely free) Foqos app, and choose how you’re locking phone and the apps you want locked.
I chose the QR code method, printed it out and taped it to the inside of my kitchen cabinet. The physical distance between me, my locked phone, and that QR code is the friction I need to stop always picking up my phone. It’s what allowed me to listen to more audiobooks rather than scrolling on TikTok or Threads this month.
An important thing to do when breaking bad habits or changing habits is to create friction between you being able to do that thing.
If that’s you, this is a great free way to do that.
Tossing
Passing judgment on myself and the things I do and don’t do.
Worrying so much about time and getting things done within a certain amount of hours during the day.
Pushing through the things I don’t want to do but need to get done.
ICYMI…
Be kind to yourself,
