From the top-down and the bottom-up, communities are coming together to end food deserts.
Take a moment to think about how far from your house you have to travel to buy fresh fruits, vegetables, or meat. If you have to travel at least one mile (or 10 miles in rural areas) to purchase fresh food, you, my friend, are living in a food desert. A food desert looks less…
Take a moment to think about how far from your house you have to travel to buy fresh fruits, vegetables, or meat. If you have to travel at least one mile (or 10 miles in rural areas) to purchase fresh food, you, my friend, are living in a food desert.
A food desert looks less like this:
Photo by iStock.
And more like this:
Yes, there is access to food in a food desert. But not fresh produce or meat. Photo by iStock.
Food deserts tend to exist in low-income areas, where residents may not have access to reliable transportation, which makes traveling long distances difficult, time consuming, and expensive.
According to the Baltimore Business Journal, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake intends to introduce legislation offering, “new or renovating supermarkets in certain areas of the city an 80 percent discount on their personal property taxes for 10 years.”
Those areas of the city are, of course, food deserts.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images.
An estimated 23.5 million people in the U.S. (that’s 7% of the country) reside in a food desert.
Without access to groceries or supermarkets to buy healthy food, residents of these areas often resort to fast food or convenience stores, which can result in poor nutrition and an increase in diet-related diseases like heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.
While many elected officials are doing what they can, the legislative process is often slow. Many people living in food deserts can’t afford to wait until 2017 to get access to fresh food.
Grassroots organizations in cities and communities are helping chip away at the ambitious goal.
Consider theReal Food Farm, an urban farm in a Baltimore park. While Mayor Rawlings-Blake is proposing a bill to give tax cuts to supermarkets in food deserts in the near future, the volunteers from Real Food Farm are making sure the people in those areas have access to fresh produce right now.
Several times a week, volunteers harvest crops and drive to different communities to sell fresh produce from their truck, better known as a “mobile farmers market.” They even match the first $5 customers spend. Thanks to the matching program, shoppers can take home a full bag of groceries for less than most meals at fast food restaurants.
Real Food Farm’s mobile farmers market in action. Photo by Real Food Farm, used with permission.
Or consider Juices for Life, a fresh-pressed juice bar in the Bronx, which was opened by platinum-selling rap artists Styles P and Jadakiss with the goal of bringing healthier options to the community they love.
“If you walk down the block in the hood, it’s nearly impossible to find something healthy to put in your body,” Jadakiss said in a video for EliteDaily. “We didn’t have the knowledge or the opportunity we do now. That’s exactly what we’re trying to give to our community.”
Or consider the People’s Community Market in West Oakland, California, where the community was so desperate for a grocery store but couldn’t secure large private investors. Brahm Ahmadi, a local entrepreneur, took it upon himself to found the market and sell stock in the organization through a direct public offering, the same nontraditional approach used by Costco and Ben & Jerry’s when they were up-and-coming businesses.
West Oakland is one step closer to veggies on veggies on veggies. Photo by iStock.
All of these options are steps in the right direction toward solving a much bigger problem. They’re a frequent reminder that when we come together, we can find meaningful solutions to challenging problems and help our communities thrive.
A single door can open up a world of endless possibilities. For homeowners, the front door of their house is a gateway to financial stability, job security, and better health. Yet for many, that door remains closed. Due to the rising costs of housing, 1 in 3 people around the world wake up without the security of safe, affordable housing.
Since 1976, Habitat for Humanity has made it their mission to unlock and open the door to opportunity for families everywhere, and their efforts have paid off in a big way. Through their work over the past 50 years, more than 65 million people have gained access to new or improved housing, and the movement continues to gain momentum. Since 2011 alone, Habitat for Humanity has expanded access to affordable housing by a hundredfold.
A world where everyone has access to a decent home is becoming a reality, but there’s still much to do. As they celebrate 50 years of building, Habitat for Humanity is inviting people of all backgrounds and talents to be part of what comes next through Let’s Open the Door, a global campaign that builds on this momentum and encourages people everywhere to help expand access to safe, affordable housing for those who need it most. Here’s how the foundation to a better world starts with housing, and how everyone can pitch in to make it happen.
Volunteers raise a wall for the framework of a new home during the first day of building at Habitat for Humanity’s 2025 Carter Work Project.
Globally, almost 3 billion people, including 1 in 6 U.S. families, struggle with high costs and other challenges related to housing. A crisis in itself, this also creates larger problems that affect families and communities in unexpected ways. People who lack affordable, stable housing are also more likely to experience financial hardship in other areas of their lives, since a larger share of their income often goes toward rent, utilities, and frequent moves. They are also more likely to experience health problems due to chronic stress or environmental factors, such as mold. Housing insecurity also goes hand-in-hand with unstable employment, since people may need to move further from their jobs or switch jobs altogether to offset the cost of housing.
Affordable homeownership creates a stable foundation for families to thrive, reducing stress and increasing the likelihood for good health and stable employment. Habitat for Humanity builds and repairs homes with individual families, but it also strengthens entire communities as well. The MicroBuild® Initiative, for example, strengthens communities by increasing access to loans for low-income families seeking to build or repair their homes. Habitat ReStore locations provide affordable appliances and building materials to local communities, in addition to creating job and volunteer opportunities that support neighborhood growth.
Marsha and her son pose for a photo while building their future home with Southern Crescent Habitat for Humanity in Georgia.
Everyone can play a part in the fight for housing equity and the pursuit of a better world. Over the past 50 years, Habitat for Humanity has become a leader in global housing thanks to an engaged network of volunteers—but you don’t need to be skilled with a hammer to make a meaningful impact. Building an equitable future means calling on a wide range of people and talents.
Here’s how you can get involved in the global housing movement:
Speaking up on social media about the growing housing crisis
Volunteering on a Habitat for Humanity build in your local community
Travel and build with Habitat in the U.S. or in one of 60+ countries where we work around the globe
Join the Let’s Open the Door movement and, when you donate, you can create your own personalized door
Every action, big and small, drives a global movement toward a better future. A safe home unlocks opportunity for families and communities alike, but it’s volunteers and other supporters, working together with a shared vision, who can open the door for everyone.
It’s hard to explain the relentless intensity of having young children if you haven’t done it. It’s wonderful, beautiful, magical and all of that, it truly is, but it’s a lot. Like, a lot. It’s a bit like running an ultramarathon through the most beautiful landscape you can imagine. There’s no question that it’s amazing, but it’s really, really hard. And sometimes there are storms or big hills or obstacles or twisted ankles or some other thing that makes it even more challenging for a while.
Unfortunately, a lot of moms feel like they’re running that marathon alone. Some actually are. Some have partners who don’t pull their weight. But even with an equal partner, the early years tend to be mom-heavy, and it takes a toll. In fact, that toll is so great that it’s not unusual for moms to fantasize about being hospitalized, not with anything serious, just something that requires a short stay simply to get a genuine break.
In a follow-up tweet, she added, “And other moms are like ‘yeah totally’ while childfree Gen Z girls’ mouths hang open in horror.”
Mothers share their own experiences
Other moms corroborated, not only with the fantasy but the reality of getting a hospital break:
“And can confirm: I have the fondest memories of my appendicitis that almost burst 3 weeks after my third was born bc I emergency had to go get it taken out and I mean I let my neighbor take my toddlers and I let my husband give the baby formula, and I slept until I was actually rested. Under the knife, but still. It was really nice,” wrote one mom.
“I got mastitis when my first was 4 months old. I had to have surgery, but my hospital room had a nice view, my mom came to see me, the baby was with me but other people mostly took care of her, bliss,” shared another.
An exhausted mom holds her newborn baby. Photo credit: Canva
Some people tried to blame lackadaisical husbands and fathers for moms feeling overwhelmed, but as Emily pointed out, it’s not always enough to have a supportive spouse. That’s why she pointed to “lack of community care” in her original post.
They say it takes a village to raise a child, but it also takes a village to raise a mother. Without the proverbial village, we end up bearing too much of the weight of childrearing ourselves. We’re not just running the ultramarathon. We’re also carrying the water, bandaging the blisters, moving fallen trees out of the way, washing the sweat out of our clothes and we’re doing it all without any rest.
Strange as it may seem, the reason hospitalization is attractive is that it’s forced. If you’re in the hospital, you have to be there, so there’s no guilt about choosing to leave. It involves no decision-making. Someone else is calling all the shots. You literally have no responsibilities in the hospital except resting. No one needs anything from you. And unlike when you’re on vacation, most people who are caring for your kids when you’re in the hospital aren’t going to constantly contact you to ask you questions. They’ll leave you to let you rest.
When a real hospital stay becomes a vacation
Paula Fitzgibbons shares that she had three kids under the age of 3 in 11 months (two by adoption and one by birth). Her husband, despite being very involved and supportive, had a 1.5 hour commute for work, so the lion’s share of childcare, or “delightful utter chaos” as she refers to it, fell on her shoulders. At one point, she ended up in the ER with atrial fibrillation, and due to family medical history was kept in the hospital for a few days for tests and monitoring.
“When people came to visit me or called to see how I was, I responded that I was enjoying my time at ‘the spa,’ and though I missed my family, I was soaking it all in,” she tells Upworthy. “My husband understood. Other mothers understood. The medical staff did not know what to make of my cheerful demeanor, but there I was, lying in bed reading and sleeping for four straight days with zero guilt. What a gift for a new mom.”
A mom relaxing in a chair Image via Canva
When you have young children, your concept of what’s relaxing shifts. I recall almost falling asleep during one of my first dental cleanings after having kids. That chair was so comfy and no one needed anything from me. I didn’t even care what they were doing to my teeth. It felt like heaven to lie down and rest without any demands being made of me other than “Open a little wider, please.”
Obviously, being hospitalized isn’t ideal for a whole host of reasons, but the desire is real. There aren’t a lot of simple solutions to the issue of moms needing a real break, not just an hour or two, but a few days. However, maybe if society were structured in such a way that we had smaller, more frequent respites and spread the work of parenting across the community, we wouldn’t feel as much of a desire to be hospitalized simply to be able to rejuvenate.
This article originally appeared three years ago. It has been updated.
Volunteers are essential to animal shelters running effectively to fill in the gaps employees may not have time for. No one knows this more than Rocky Kanaka. Rocky is a pet rescue advocate, Emmy-nominated TV host, and founder of The Dog Bakery. His book “Sitting With Dogs,” a collection of real rescue stories, became a New York Times bestseller.
He uploaded a video of an extremely emaciated Vizsla mix that was doing his best to make himself as small as possible in the corner of the kennel. Kanaka immediately wanted to help him adjust so he would feel comfortable enough to eat and eventually get adopted. The dog appeared scared of his new location and had actually rubbed his nose raw from anxiety, but everything changed when Kanaka came along.
A terrified dog in the corner of his kennel
The volunteer slowly entered the kennel with the terrified dog, crouching on his knees for an easy escape if needed. But the dog attempted to essentially become invisible by avoiding eye contact and staying curled in a tiny ball. It seemed like it was going to take a long time for this nervous pup to warm up.
Before long, he’s offered a treat. Success! The brown dog takes the treat, and as minutes pass you can see his body slowly relax, eventually coming to sit directly next to Kanaka for pets. In the few minutes of the video, you see such an amazing transformation that proves this little guy just needed some love.
The internet fell in love with Bear
“It was so cute when he started wagging his tail. You could tell his whole demeanor just changed, and he was happy. Just a few kind words and a little attention. That’s all animals need. Well, besides food. Lol,” one commenter says.
“That moment when he starts to realize he’s actually safe. That gradual tail wag, and the ears perking, the eyes lighting up. You don’t have to be an expert to show an animal love and respect,” another writes.
“After that first treat his entire demeanor changed. He went from not trusting you to thinking you may be kind and he could feel less stressed. That was really amazing to see,” someone gushes.
This sweet scared dog just needed human connection by someone taking the time to sit with him to know he was safe. Once he was sure the shelter was a safe place, the dog even welcomed those who came to visit him after seeing the video.
“I went to the shelter today to visit ‘Bear’! Everyone would be thrilled to hear that he seems very happy and energetic! He has a little red squeaky bone toy that he loves. He licked my hand immediately and rubbed his head on my legs and arms, eager for affection. What a sweetheart,” a commenter writes.
This sweet boy deserves the fairy tale, and got it
Thanks to Kanaka’s sweet gesture, the dog, now named Shadow Moon, was adopted and is living his best life with his new human dad and husky brother. You can follow Shadow Moon’s journey on his Instagram page.
This article originally appeared three years ago. It has been updated.
The best feeling as a parent is when your child does something that exemplifies good character, especially when they do it without being asked and without expecting any recognition or reward for it. Seeing your kid practicing patience, kindness, and helpfulness, even when they think no one is looking—that’s when you know that all your hard parenting work is paying off.
fSo when you’re a mom with six kids and the baby monitor in your 18-month-old’s nursery shows your 10-year-old stepping up to help his little brother—in the middle of the night, no less, your heart might melt a little. And when he tells you the thoughtful reason why he didn’t just come and get you when he heard his brother fussing, your heart just might explode.
A viral video captured this scenario at Gloria McIntosh’s house in Ohio in 2020, and it could not be sweeter.
McIntosh told TODAY Parents that she always told her kids that the true test of a person’s character is what they do when no one is around, a lesson that her son, Mason, clearly took to heart when he got up at 3 a.m. to comfort his 18-month-old brother, Greyson.
“The baby woke up in the middle of the night,” McIntosh wrote. “I heard him fussing so I just checked the camera to see if he would just fall back asleep and saw his brother showing the best example of love and patience. He stayed with him for almost 30 minutes trying to get him back to sleep. I eventually came in and got the baby, and asked my son why he didn’t just come and get me.”
Why Mason didn’t wake his mom up
The reason was as thoughtful as can be.
“He said he wanted me to get some rest, because I did a lot that day. While parenting is not his responsibility, just the fact that he understood that he is his brother’s keeper, and considered my long day as a mom, is much appreciated. ❤️”
When he climbed into the crib with him? Gracious. That’s when you know your kids are going to be all right.
McIntosh said Mason is a natural caregiver. “I’m sure Mason was tired and cranky. He was woken up at 3 a.m.,” she said. “But how you saw him treat his brother is how he is. He steps up.”
Some kids are just awesome, but there’s a lot to be said for setting an example and nurturing kids in an environment where they feel inspired to be helpful as well. Clearly McIntosh has done something right for her son to step up in that way. Watch the way she soothes her 4-year-old when he had a bad dream in the middle of the night, and it’s easy to see where Mason gets it.
Part of what made him such a beloved singer was the uniqueness of his voice. From the time he was a young child singing lead for The Jackson 5, his high-pitched vocals stood out. Hearing him sing live was impressive, his pitch-perfect performances always entertaining.
No one could ever really be compared to MJ, or so we thought. Out of the blue, a guy showed up on TikTok with a performance that sounds so much like the King of Pop it’s blowing people away.
A parking lot performance that broke the internet
Brandon Conway posted his first TikTok video ever on July 24 in 2022, and in less than three weeks it racked up more than 27 million views. It’s just him standing in a parking lot snapping his fingers and singing “The Way You Make Me Feel,” but when he opens his mouth, whoa.
As he keeps going, it gets even more whoa. Then he hits Jackson’s signature “he he” and the whoa turns into what?!?
First post on tiktok let me know what you guys think! More videos coming soon feom mj to country to rock so yall be sure to stay tuned!#fyp#singer#usherchallenge @usher @tpain #letsgo#firstvideo
Uncanny, right? If you need a reminder of how Jackson himself sounded when he sang it, here’s a live performance from Auckland during his 1996 world tour.
Very impressive, to say the least. Especially considering Conway seems to label himself a country singer over a pop artist.
This one goes out to all the ones who maybe going through it right now… the messsge you ask?? The message is knowing that regardless of how bad things may be or get it’s always okay to ask for help… no matter how you do it or when the fact still remains that we all need a little help or “saving” if you will! @Jelly Roll my brother thank you and @Lainey Wilson for such a beautiful song ❤️ I hope you all enjoy my cover of this great record with my right hand man @JoshHamiltonmusic__ strumming his guitar! Happy Monday everyone hope your Christmas filled week is beautiful 🙏🏽#brandonconwaymusic#viralvideo#coversongsontiktok#thereisalwayshope
Kindergarten through 12th grade teachers and college professors have heard every excuse in the book. Whether it’s a third grader claiming their “dog ate my homework” or a college freshman claiming their grandmother died to get out of a test, they’ve heard it all a billion times.
The top excuses teachers say they hear all the time
Yes, some students actually say they didn’t do their work because of a holiday predicated on drinking or getting stoned and others have the audacity to say, “Hey! I needed a vacation.” After spending week after week fielding excuses, there’s a good reason why most educators are skeptical when they hear one from their students.
But every once in a while, an excuse that seems way too improbable to be believed actually is true.
Reddit user u/minecraftplayer48 asked the teachers of Reddit to share the “best excuse for being late that turned out to be true” and the stories were all pretty great. But it wasn’t only teachers who chimed in; a lot of people shared stories from when they were students and had an excuse that was so crazy they didn’t think anyone would believe them.
17 excuses that sounded fake but were completely true
Here are 17 of the best excuses for being late that were actually true:
1. Revenge of the torque wrench
“My auto teacher let me practice removing and adding the tires on his vehicle. The next morning it was about 20 minutes into first period and no sign of him. He comes running into the classroom out of breath and his hair is all messed up. He points at me and says ‘YOU!!!! What is a torque wrench used for???’ I respond with “I don’t know.” He says ‘ I know you don’t know!!!” Turns out one of his tires came off while driving down the highway.” – ethnicjello
2. Mom wanted to sleep in
“She had to take her sister to school and drive her mom to rehab. She was always late to class because her mom just wanted to sleep in. Problem was if the mom was late or did not go she would have violated her probation and gone to prison. I never marked her late. If she missed anything important she could come in at lunch or after school to make it up.”– RM156
3. That was you?
“Student here, I headed into school early to get some studying done in the library before my night class. I was one exit away when I was caught in a 3 car accident. Most of the expressway afterwards was gridlock with only one lane left open. I did eventually make it into my lab class 15 minutes late, with a few scrapes and bruises. My professors reaction was simply ‘Oh that was you!”” – AlienCowAbduction
4. School bus blew up
“I was one of about 20 kids who were late to school. We showed up at the school office as a group and when questioned why we were late, we said ‘The school bus blew up.’ They questioned ‘So the engine blew up?’ The kids ‘No, the whole bus, in flames. It blew up.’
“There was much conference between the teachers, all of them thinking we embellished the story. Next thing you know, one of the admin staff has the news website open, very obvious image of an entire bus on fire with a bunch of kids in our school uniform standing in front of it. Our late slip for class read ‘School bus blew up.’” – AusPB90
5. B.U.I.
“Told me he got pulled over by the cops for wobbly driving on his bike and they thought he was drunk. Turned out he was just dodging all the slugs on the street.” – Fortisvol
6. Chicken of death
“A guy in my college class missed class one day. The next day he came in with his eye covered up and medical paperwork in hand. Apparently he got pecked in the eye by a chicken.” – BrrToe
7. Chicken 2: The chickening
“When I was student teaching, I was late because there was bunch chickens in the middle of the road. They wouldn’t move at all. This is in the middle of a city of 200,000 people. Freaking chickens.”
“I finally get to school and profusely apologize to my mentor teacher and I told her why I was late thinking it sounded ridiculous. She said, ‘yeah, those chickens are fucking assholes, they surrounded my car in the McDonalds parking lot last year. Don’t worry about it.” – Makenshine
8. Cracker Barrel conference
“Taught a group of seniors first period. It was towards the end of the year. I had a class of around 30 and only 5 were there when the bell rang. Halfway through class, the rest of them show up. They went out to Cracker Barrel for breakfast and brought me some back. All was forgiven.” – SwansonsLoveChild
9. Beary late
“Bear in the backyard. No access gate. Animal control had to tranq it from the roof and drag it through the house. Made the news. Got to retake the test I missed after sending her the news article.” – Vladtehwood
10. Present the flat
“We had an exam in my class and the teacher got a message from a student saying that he was going to be late because his car had a flat tire (the student was known to party), the teacher didn’t think it could be true, so as a joke the teacher asked him to bring the tire back. He brought the flat tire back in the middle of the exam. Needless to say, the professor didn’t expect that.” – Sapang
11. Moo
“A kid missed my first-period class one morning but was in school later that day. When I asked him why he hadn’t arrived in time for my course, he said his cow was birthing its calf that morning, so he’d picked being in the barn over English. Made sense to me. His essays weren’t going to win any ribbons at the county fair, but his calf could.” – Bobosbigsister
12. Abduction
“In high school a kid came late to history class. He was a joker so when someone asked him where he had been, he goes ‘I was kidnapped.’ Everyone laughed, until he goes ‘no really.’”
“Turns out 2 guys kidnapped him and tossed him into the back of the minivan he was using for his morning paper route. They drove him around while they robbed something. I can’t remember what happens after. I think they just drove the van somewhere and got away.” – notinmybackyardcanad
13. Honesty is the best excuse
“Not a teacher, but a kid walked into my class one day and literally just said ‘Sorry I’m late, I didn’t want to be here.’ He wasn’t wrong I suppose.” – Scally59
14. It actually was the dog
“A little off topic but in 8th grade, a friend of mine turned in their homework late because her dog literally ate her homework. She even brought a note from her parents.” – JoeyJoey2004
15. Is this a real excuse? Or is it fantasy?
“‘Sorry Bohemian Rhapsody came on just as I parked.’ — My art teacher when he was about 5:55 minutes late.” – Deeberber
16. I took a shortcut
“This happened to me as a pupil; a very quiet, unassuming kid in our class came in to German with about five minutes of the class left. We went to a Catholic school and the teachers were all quite strict and intimidating. Classes were usually silent, especially in junior school. When this boy came into class at the end of the lesson that day, the door flew inwards with such force that the teacher gave an audible gasp.”
“It had been raining heavily outside, his hair was plastered to his forehead. His blazer was dripping and sodden. He had mud caked into his trousers up to his knees, and he was breathing heavily. The teacher exclaimed, ‘Brendan! What happened?’ We all stared up at him in shocked silence. This quiet, unassuming little boy let out a big sigh and just said, ‘I took a shortcut.’ And went straight to his seat.”
“That line became iconic in our school for years afterward.” – lestat85
17. Pug lovers can attest
“Kid was late to school and had to miss a very important football game. The reason? His fat pug fell asleep on his phone. The pug’s fat rolls muffled his alarm.” – tip52
This article originally appeared two years ago. It has been updated.
Do you know someone who seems to have zero photography skills? Who somehow manages to make everyone look their worst whenever they’re behind the camera? The kind of person who can’t even frame a decent selfie?
If so, Iceland might have a job for them. And a decently paying one at that.
Recently, Iceland Air made a post specifically seeking out “really bad photographers.” Virtually the only prerequisite was having “no photography skills.” Those who knew terms like “composition, white balance, or color theory” need not apply.
Those who did think they fit the bill could potentially score a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The selected candidate would receive a 10-day trip to Iceland, all expenses covered, along with a $50,000 payout. The only catch is that they will be expected to document the journey with their uniquely unimpressive photography skills.
Why “bad” photos might be the point
The idea behind this campaign is that Iceland is so naturally beautiful that even the least remarkable images would still manage to capture its essence. A creative marketing strategy, to be sure, but one that also reflects a broader cultural shift.
More and more people are growing tired of highly polished, overly curated visuals dominating their feeds. The constant pressure to present a perfect life has left many craving something more grounded and authentic. In that context, a blurry snapshot or an awkwardly framed landscape can feel refreshing.
This shift has only intensified with the rapid rise of AI-generated imagery. Yes, most of it is absurd, but much of this “AI slop” is becoming harder to distinguish from genuine photographs, which raises concerns about credibility. Several experts have pointed out that the issue goes far beyond aesthetics.
As Dr. Manny Ahmed, CEO of OpenOrigins, told the BBC, “It causes us to lose trust in content that we should be trusting.”
A different way of seeing beauty
While it’s easy to find countless images of Iceland that have been heavily edited, there is something appealing about seeing the country through a less polished lens. A slightly out-of-focus Northern Lights display, a windswept black sand beach with scattered debris, or a muted volcanic landscape can still evoke a sense of wonder. Nature is an endless miracle, regardless of whether or not we Photoshop it.
Judging by the responses to Iceland Air’s post, there is no shortage of terrible photographers ready to apply. The comment section quickly filled with nominations, many of them playful callouts of friends, partners, and relatives.
Husbands in particular seemed to be a recurring theme.
Regardless of who is selected for this campaign, perhaps the bigger win is the conversation it sparked and how it encourages us to rethink our relationship with the images we see or post online.
And for anyone who has ever been accused of taking truly awful photos, this might be the rare moment where that skill, or lack thereof, finally pays off.
There are simple things we know to be true about happiness: Going for a walk in the sunshine just feels good. So does a hug, or hearing your favorite song. Petting a dog puts most of us in a better mood. And so does a little bit of intense exercise. Maybe not during, but definitely after, when we’re basking in the afterglow of our effort.
The science behind life’s simple pleasures is where things start to get really interesting. Happiness isn’t just one feeling, it’s a collection of several different feelings, and many of them come from our brain’s internal pharmacy of “feel good” chemicals, or neurochemicals. They’re known as the four happy hormones: Oxytocin, serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins.
The big questions of existence like finding our purpose, doing work that matters, and finding love aside, it’s really the little things that send our brain happiness signals throughout the day. And these feelings are really easy to trigger intentionally, once you know how.
Oxytocin—Love, Bonding & Connection
Oxytocin is known as the “love hormone,” and is most famous for playing a big role during childbirth. No wonder it’s highly associated with deep feelings of love, connection, belonging, bonding, and more. In short, it feels incredible, and a burst of oxytocin can be a overwhelmingly positive and life-affirming feeling.
But you don’t have to give birth or go on a romantic date to activate this neurochemical. Here are few things you can do to release oxytocin each and every day. Some of them might surprise you:
Any kind of physical human touch can do the trick. A long hug with someone you care about is ideal, but the touch doesn’t have to be associated with love, affection, or sex by any means. The professional, friendly touch from a massage or haircut can do wonders for your brain. Hair, especially, is inherently emotional for a lot of people—in addition to the light human touch, a fresh look boosts self-esteem, mood, and more.
In the absence of touch, prolonged eye contact can be just as powerful at helping your brain release oxytocin. If there aren’t any people you love around, try your dog: Veterinarian Dr. Julie Hunt at Embrace Pet Insurance tells Upworthy, “Research suggests that more oxytocin is produced when humans have prolonged eye contact with their dogs than any other common type of interaction.”
You don’t necessarily need a willing partner to touch you or stare into your eyes, whether they have two legs or four. Dr. Clint Salo from The Grove Recovery tells Upworthy that giving someone—even a stranger—a genuine compliment can have a powerful and positive effect on us. “Giving a genuine compliment can increase oxytocin by creating a brief moment of social connection,” he says.
Taking all of those positive feelings and writing them down is another technique that yields terrific results. As cheesy as it might feel, writing a line or two of gratitude in a journal has been shown to boost oxytocin. Chelsea Pottenger, author and founder of EQ Minds, suggests another method: “Write a letter to someone you love, even if you never send it. Just by writing it, it gives an oxytocin hit.”
Finally, if all else fails, give yourself a hug. It’s both important and effective.
Serotonin—Positive Mood & Euphoria
Serotonin is an absolutely crucial piece of “feeling happy.” People who suffer from depression are shown to have low serotonin levels, and SSRIs—one of the main treatments for depression—primarily work to correct that. That tells you almost everything you need to know about the importance of this neurochemical for our overall mood, demeanor, and wellbeing. It’s a natural mood stabilizer, helps regulate our sleep cycles, promotes learning and memory, and helps arousal and libido.
There are a few simple and surprising ways you can get a serotonin boost during the day and feel better almost instantly:
Even if you don’t have Seasonal Affective Disorder, almost everyone reports feeling a little cheerier on a bright sunny day versus a rainy one. It turns out, sunlight is absolutely crucial to our serotonin levels. Dr. Sam Zand, CEO and psychiatrist at Anywhere Clinic, tells Upworthy that a few minutes of sunshine first thing in the day does wonders: “Serotonin is highly affected by light and rhythm. Getting bright natural light during the first hour of the day will really help you maintain good moods.”
Because serotonin plays such a crucial role in memory, accessing positive memories can put us in a much better mood. Lisa Chen, LMFT and founder of Lisa Chen & Associates Therapy, tells Upworthy that one of the most powerful links to memory is actually our sense of smell, and we can use that to our advantage: “Smell something tied to a happy memory, like cinnamon. Scent has a straight line to emotional memory centers and can quickly shift our moods.”
Random acts of kindness make us feel great, and now we know why: It’s the serotonin. Pottenger tells Upworthy: “Do something for a stranger without expecting anything back. When you perform a random act of kindness with no strings attached, your brain releases serotonin.”
Finally, here’s a little trick that makes good use of our anatomy. Research suggests the vagus nerve is key to triggering the release and transport of serotonin. Intentional breathwork and even light humming or singing can stimulate that nerve and give us a little extra boost.
One thing that gets in the way of serotonin is stress, and its primary neurochemical, cortisol. Anything you can do to lower stress will improve your serotonin levels, like taking a few minutes for yoga, meditation, or just practicing better mindfulness.
Dopamine—Reward, Pleasure & Motivation
We get a rush of dopamine in our brains whenever we feel pleasure or reward—whether it’s ultimately good or bad for us. Sex, sweets, drugs, gambling, flirting, achieving a goal. They all give us some form of pleasure or satisfaction, and they’re driven by this very specific (and feel-good) neurochemical.
That makes dopamine a tricky one to navigate. Chasing it can be destructive, but luckily, there are plenty of natural and healthy ways to get the same pleasurable result:
Achieving a goal, even a small one, gives us a dopamine boost. This can be as simple as checking something off your To-Do list. Zand tells Upworthy that dopamine is “very responsive to ‘micro-completions’—meaning you can get a little shot of dopamine by completing small tasks like sending a text or cleaning one area of the house.”
Believe it or not, dopamine also responds positively to novelty. Changing even small things in our daily routine can give us a lovely little tingle of pleasure: Chen suggests things “like taking a new route or trying a new coffee flavor,” while Dr. Michael Valdez, Medical Director at Detox California, says it can be as simple as moving to another room to reset attention and focus.
Dopamine loves a reward, but it also loves the anticipation of a reward. Kelly Whaling, Licensed Clinical Psychologist at Prosper Health, tells Upworthy “Anticipating a positive experience or even vividly picturing it—like planning a vacation—can trigger dopamine because your brain begins predicting a reward.”
On a more physical level, a shock of cold water can trigger a substantial surge in dopamine. Research shows that a cold plunge can cause a 250% increase in dopamine and an elevated mood that lasts several hours. In the absence of a giant tub full of ice, a 30-second burst of cold water at the end of your shower can have a similar effect.
Dopamine, however, can be a double-edged sword. We technically get a small hit of dopamine every time we log into social media and see something interesting, or when we get a notification on our phones. This constant drip overstimulates our brain’s reward center and can fry our circuitry, making us less motivated to achieve goals and finish tasks. That’s why some people advocate for a “dopamine reset.”
Eli Elad Cohen, Co-Founder and Co-CEO at MediTailor, recommends something called Non-Sleep Deep Rest. It’s a sort of guided meditation and breathwork practice that lowers stress and anxiety and helps us feel recharged when tired. “[Research from Denmark] found it increases striatal dopamine reserves by up to 65%. Better than a nap for restoring motivation.”
If that sounds too complicated, try going one hour without your phone in nature or focusing on a single task to get a similar effect.
In the famous words of Elle Woods from Legally Blonde, “Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t shoot their husbands, they just don’t!
She’s not wrong. Harvard Health writes that endorphins are “the body’s natural painkillers,” and help relieve stress and promote an overall feeling of well-being. They most famously come from exercise—i.e. the “runner’s high”—but there are many other ways of activating them.
Endorphins respond well to the arts. Listening to music or creating art of any kind is a great way to promote that feel-good sensation in your body. Bonus points if the song you listen to gives you the “chills.”
Eating spicy foods, while sometimes challenging, can also work. “[It] activates the body’s natural pain-relief and pleasure systems,” and releases endorphins, similar to a good workout, says Kelly Whaling.
Steven Sultanoff, Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Pepperdine University, suggests laughter. If you’re feeling down, try listening to some stand-up comedy or putting on an old favorite sitcom episode. “Laughter results in the secretion of endorphins. Humor also relaxes the brain by generating perspective and shifting negative thinking to realistic thinking,” he says.
Here’s a tip you might recognize: Humming or singing quietly, stimulating the vagus nerve, can also produce endorphins.
Fascinatingly, exercise doesn’t release endorphins simply to reward you for a job well done. It does so in response to physical exertion, pain, and stress. So the rule with endorphins is that sometimes, we have to feel a little bad before we can feel good.
Dr. Michael Drzewiecki, Director of Clinical Neuroscience at The Neurologic Wellness Institute puts it this way: “Doing hard things for short periods of time releases ‘feel bad’ chemicals called dynorphin, which leads to an upregulation of endorphin receptors. Essentially, to get a greater release of ‘feel good’ chemicals, it’s best to do something hard enough to trigger a short duration of ‘feel bad’ chemical release.”
Take this as a sign to finally have that tough conversation, tackle that home project, or challenge yourself physically and mentally.
Stacking the four for the best results
The four “happy brain chemicals” don’t always work alone. Many times, they operate in tandem.
There are many different dietary strategies and theories out there about how to optimize your brain health, but there does seem to be at least one “super food,” when it comes to feeling happy: Dark chocolate. Research shows that dark chocolate, ideally 70% cocoa or higher, can release oxytocin, serotonin, endorphins, and dopamine all at once.
But if you’re not a fan, don’t worry. Many of the tips and activities recommended by experts serve many purposes at once. Going for a walk in the sunshine with your dog can give you a rush of serotonin and oxytocin. Pairing breathwork and meditation before or after a workout can give you endorphins and serotonin. “Romantic time” with a partner can give you all four simultaneously.
We have more control over how we feel than we might think. While petting a dog or having a nibble of dark chocolate can’t account for your overall satisfaction and contentment with life and existence, these little daily things can bring us substantial joy in the moment. When we stack them consistently, we’re bound to feel pretty damn happy most of the time.
Comedian Pete Holmes isn’t just funny. He’s a deep thinker who digs so far beneath the crust of your average every day “observational” comic that he might just touch the lava. He takes an aerial view on everything from parenting to science to sex to faith, and all of the tiny minutia that comes with them. His rise as a beloved writer and stand-up has barreled through the atmosphere from tiny gigs to podcasts to TV shows.
Holmes and I have a mutual friend who put us in touch for this Upworthy interview. And although we had never met, I immediately felt like we were long lost friends upon answering his call. He was ready to break down not only the rules (or lack thereof) of comedy, but to deconstruct human thought and how the most sensitive people might navigate the world.
What especially stood out in this half hour chat beyond his quick wit, was his deep commitment to supporting other talented people. He seemingly laughs as easily as he makes others laugh, and that alone is a gift.
Upworthy: I must tell you there’s a podcast interview you did on You Made it Weird with Gareth Reynolds about Doritos where he did a Jay Leno impression. Do you remember this?
Holmes: “Of course!”
Upworthy: I legit look at this once a week when I’m having a bad day and need to laugh. Is there something that you come back to often when you’re in a bad mood and need to laugh?
Holmes: “Oh my God, first of all, I love Gareth so much. What a funny person! In fact, people come up and say, ‘I love your Doritos thing!’ Which is funny because I have a lot of jokes about Doritos, so I’m never sure what they mean.
To answer your question, what do I watch when I’m in a bad mood? I watch Nirvana the Band the Show. They just had their movie come out, and I think the whole second season is on YouTube.
I think Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol are just two of the funniest people in the world, and I just watch clips from that show sort of endlessly if I’m looking to laugh. The ones that really get me are the ones that are a little bit over the line, and that’s what I like about them.
They’re just two friends finding fun together, and it just makes me so happy. So it’s not just the content, it’s the medium. It’s how they made it, and it really captures the feeling of two just free people, two people that realize that we’re in this weird reality, we’re in this weird world, and we’re only here for a little time. And one of the things we can do is be really funny and make each other laugh, and they just go at it with this innocence that I really admire.”
Upworthy: To that end, who would you say back in the day and now are your major influences as a comic?
Holmes: “I love that question. When I read the book SeinLanguage—which is I’m just so sure that Jerry Seinfeld regrets calling it. I don’t know him. I’m not basing that on anything that you don’t also have access to, just his comedy and his show. I’m just so sure that he is like, “Why did I call it SeinLanguage?“
But I read it because I didn’t really have control over our TV in our house. When a comedy special came out in book form, I could get the book and I could read it privately and re-read it. And he actually talks a bit about comedy theory in it as well. Anyway, I read this book and I just couldn’t believe that the kind of thoughts I was already having were not that different from the thoughts of a professional comedian.
I just didn’t feel like I had that tour de force, wild, loud guy Boston energy, if that makes sense. I felt way more in line with Jerry Seinfeld and Ellen and Ray Romano. These sort of like 7 p.m. show guys.
Okay, I don’t know if you’re old enough to remember, that was the fringe. In the ’90s, comedy was sort of for pirates. And a lot of my best friends are pirates. I’m just saying they hooked up late night, you know, freewheeling lunatics. And I just didn’t see myself up there. So Jerry Seinfeld once said about Robert Klein that he was the first comedian that he saw that was like, ‘Oh, it just seemed like me.’ And when I saw Seinfeld I was like, ‘Oh, this is like me, this is like a guy I know.’ So the book SeinLanguage and the fact that it was clean was really important to me.”
Upworthy: I read there was one point you had plans to be a youth pastor. Was that a real thing you were considering or just what your parents thought you would do?
Holmes: “No, it was my idea. You could look at it two ways: one, my parents were sort of detached in a way that you were like, ‘Shouldn’t you be more involved?’ Or you can be like they really were letting me find my own way, and I actually look at it more the latter.
It was as serious as when you’re in high school you want to be a teacher, you know what I mean? You just don’t know any other jobs. So I knew teachers that I admired, and I knew my youth pastor and my pastor that I admired. And this is a Steve Martin thing: he said, ‘Teachers are in show business.’ Pastors are too. And that doesn’t mean to say they’re phony or false. It just means if you’re up in front of a crowd holding their attention, you’re putting on a show. Teachers and pastors are doing something substantial, but they’re doing it in the style of a show.”
Upworthy: I saw a clip where you were talking about the idea of saying ‘Yes, thank you’ to the universe. It seems very Stoic. Are there other elements of that that help you in your daily life?
Holmes: “I would say that my understanding of ‘Yes, thank you’ has deepened a little bit. There’s a couple different altitudes you can look at that. One of them is just very basic—basic doesn’t mean bad—it’s just basic psychology. Meaning suffering comes from seeking and resisting. I know that’s sort of spiritual terminology, but it’s also psychological terminology. If you’re suffering, you’re by definition seeking a different experience.
And there’s pain or there’s discomfort, but suffering really comes from building a story. And anybody that has kids knows that that’s true. My daughter won’t go to bed, let’s say. And that really is, if we can pause and just be on a planet in outer space in these finite spaces, that is just so insignificant.
So when we’re resourced and with friends and rested and fed and all these things, we can see that. But often when your kid won’t go to bed, you’re not resourced and you start spinning out. People love talking about catastrophizing. You’re just making a story, and it’s never in your favor. You go, ‘She won’t go to sleep. Why is this happening to me?’ You start thinking about what you would be doing if she was asleep. ‘I can’t watch that show, I can’t relax. My whole life is just being a parent.’ None of that is really happening, your brain just sort of is torturing you.
It’s important to recognize that your brain doesn’t always have your best interest in mind. So giving it another path to take, which is ‘Yes, thank you.’ So the flight delayed is a good example, and just about the right temperature of spice for this exercise. You know it can be deeply upsetting when a flight is cancelled until you realize, you know, you don’t resist it, you just go with it, and you realize all you have to do is sit in your chair.”
Upworthy: Sometimes it just takes a little packaging, but just hearing you say that honestly reframed my thinking.
Holmes: “Me too! But it has to be simple. It can’t be like the Buddhists or whoever would say, ‘Don’t resist,’ right? That’s a little too conceptual. I want to get right to the phrase that’s easy to remember, that when you’re stressed you can go to it. To talk about the deepening of that, you can look at yourself. You are what’s aware of your experience, right? You haven’t always been this body, you haven’t always been this age, your name, your country. All of these are concepts that you sort of reinforce by thinking them over and over: ‘My name is Cecily. I live in America.’
All these are things. But what you really are is this space-like aware presence that encompasses your body, encompasses reality, your thoughts, your feelings, your emotions, your perceptions, right? So ‘Yes, thank you’ isn’t just a life hack. It’s actually your nature, meaning awareness or consciousness. This is almost over, by the way.”
Upworthy: Are you kidding? This is amazing. This is therapy.
Holmes: “Awareness is like a mirror, alright? So it’s like a mirror indiscriminately reflects what is in front of it. And you are like that. My voice is being recognized by you completely effortlessly. The feeling of your phone in your hand or your butt in your chair, all of that is just being registered completely defenseless. It just enters, it just comes in.
So thinking ‘Yes, thank you’ isn’t just a trick. It’s actually more in line with your nature. You do say yes to everything. I’m driving down the highway right now, every nanosecond this is just being embraced by my awareness. So when I can get my mind in line with my true nature, which is just free flowing, it’s spontaneous, it’s like jazz.
Like my daughter wouldn’t go upstairs two nights ago. She just wouldn’t even go upstairs to go to bed. And look, I can’t always do this, but in that moment I was able to go, ‘What is 10 minutes?’ And not 10 minutes where I’m trying to get her to go upstairs, 10 minutes where I just sit on the stairs with her, and now I’m looking at my stairs and I’ve never even seen them from that angle. I’m really just dropping the entire agenda. And I really think kids energetically can pick up on that. And I think grown-ups can pick up on that.
Like a good date that you’re on is somebody that’s just awake and aware and spontaneous. Why do we love spontaneity? Why do we love humor? Because it’s so alive and so accommodating and so fresh, right? You are alive, you’re accommodating, you are fresh. Those are aspects of you. I don’t mean you, Cecily, or me, Pete. I mean the thing that’s running the whole show. It’s ‘Yes’ to the whole thing. So when we get in tune with that ‘Yes,’ even when you’re miserable, even when you’re having a bad situation, a bad experience, if you can just sort of go with it.
You know the Stoics are like, ‘Control what you can control.’ You can get on another flight, and if you can’t, so they’re proactive, and I’m all about being proactive. But there is something about like, you know, a 40-minute delay where you don’t really need to look for another flight. You know what I mean? That’s really the right level for this practice.”
Upworthy: Do you find when you travel that you’re freer? I find I am when I’m out of my element and just going with the flow and not making a whole lot of plans.
Holmes: “Well, because when you’re home you have a lot more expectation for how things have gone. That’s why people like traveling, you know? And that’s an Eckhart Tolle thing. It’s like people like traveling because it forces them to be present. I would say when you’re being present, you’re actually being yourself. What you are is present, right? And everything else is mind activity.
Why does it feel so good to not think about anything? Why does it feel so good to just be? If you can stop the anxiety or the fear or the chattering thoughts, if you can just be still, it feels really good. That’s because the present moment and your true self, the nature of awareness, those are the same thing. People are just pointing to it using different words.
And when you travel, you are forced to go with the flow because you don’t even know what’s normal. ‘Oh, in Barcelona, they eat dinner at 10 o’clock.’ You’re completely out of control, so you surrender. And people are much more likely to say ‘Yes, thank you’ when they’re in Spain than they will at their home.”
Upworthy: Back to comedy, would you bill yourself as a ‘clean comic?’ And what are your thoughts on the concept of punching up or punching down?
Holmes: “I think a good entertainer should always be surprising, right? So like I think people that aren’t real fans of mine that just might come to a show, they might be surprised. There might be more swearing. There might be more sex stuff. But, to me, that’s sort of my job. I don’t want to just deliver what you’ve already seen.
Like my new special that just came out (Silly Silly Fun Boy) people have noticed that I’m swearing a little bit more in the beginning. And I’m like, yeah, it was the late Friday show and people weren’t there yet. There were huge sections of the crowd that were empty, and I’m filming a special, so I wasn’t asking. I was going out with a knife between my teeth like Predator. I was going out to insist that I do very well and that we get somewhere that we all want to be.
Other shows, the crowd—and by the way, the crowd was great—it was just kind of chunky up top. Other shows, you know, that’s not required. But I’m not doing a routine. It’s like what we were saying, I’m being present and fresh and alive for that crowd.
And to answer your question more directly… the hour that I’m touring now (which isn’t the hour that I just released) also has what I would call dirtier jokes. Meaning they’re not ugly, but they’re jokes that are sort of a little bit outrageous, I guess.”
Upworthy: So you feel like it’s not that you’re making a choice to be edgier? You’re just doing you.
Holmes: “Oh yeah, and that’s how material shows up too. I always liken it to if you’ve ever gotten an Amazon package on your doorstep and you don’t even remember what it is. That’s how the material shows up. I’m not trying to be a flashy artist like, ‘Oh I’m just the vessel.’ I’m just saying I’m living my life and certain things come up. I write them down, I perform them, people like them, and then you have about an hour and ten minutes of that and you have a show.
I’m not Marvel. I like Marvel, but I’m not Marvel thinking like, ‘Okay, we need a female-led 20-something that has…’ you know, like they’re trying to guess what people want and give it to them. They’re very good at that, but that’s not what I’m doing. I’m much more like a weather vane or a lightning rod. I’m just waiting to see what happens. But to finish my point: I’ll do these jokes—could be considered dirty, meaning I’m swearing, I’m talking about dicks, I’m talking about sex, whatever that might be. And then after the show, literally, this isn’t just something I’m making up, little old ladies will come up and tell me that they love how clean I am.”
Upworthy: The bar has changed, right? The line has moved.
Holmes: “Well, I think it’s the medium, going back to medium and message, right? I think it’s very possible that someone does what’s considered clean comedy, meaning they’re not talking about their penis, or sex, or about drugs, and they’re not swearing. They’re not saying the seven words, right? And that comedy can be toxic. It can be ugly. It can be encouraging really backwards thinking and harmful ideologies, right? By the way, I’ll defend someone’s right to be able to do that, I’m just saying what I see sometimes.
And then I think it’s quite possible to talk about your dick, talk about drugs, acknowledge the existence of sex, and say all of the seven words and do a joke that is really beautiful. In fact, I think that’s part of the message. I talk about this in the special. I am demonstrating to myself and to them: this is what it looks like to be ‘unembarrassingly’ human. I’m not ashamed. I don’t choose my thoughts. I don’t choose my feelings. I’m here to report on them and laugh at them, and thereby take away some of their power.
And that’s what you’re doing by laughing with me, you’re recognizing yourself in me and you’re laughing at yourself, and everybody leaves feeling a little bit lighter. Now did I say ‘f–k’? Yes, but if that’s your line in the sand, whether or not a comic says ‘f–k,’ that’s fine. That was me for the first 28 years of my life. It’s not my line anymore, and I’m happy to say that there are lots and lots of people that are nuanced, that are lovely, compassionate, generous, interesting, interested people that aren’t turned off by the full human experience.
By the way, I love clean comedy too. It’s just like I don’t think clean necessarily means it’s not going to be mean or ugly or somehow harmful, and I don’t think ugly means you swear. I think it’s completely what are you saying and how are you saying it? And I’m proud that even the jokes that I have that are about me letting myself down or making some sort of mistake, there’s something beautiful in the message. We can still laugh at that, and we can still not take ourselves too seriously, and we can get better.”
Upworthy: There are a lot of comics who have been punching down these days, and I’m hoping that becomes unpopular soon.
Holmes: “It’s always a pendulum, and it always goes back and forth. I will defend my fellow comedians whom I don’t agree with, their right to share their experience. That being said, it’s kind of like you wake up one day and every movie that’s in the theater is a horror movie, and you’re like, ‘When did this happen?’ And there can be a parallel there. Like Chris Fleming’s special was probably one of the best specials I’ve ever seen in my entire life, and it couldn’t have been more beautiful, but also deeply hilarious. So it’s not—nor has it ever only been—one thing.
Like look at pictures from 1972. It would look like everybody was a hippie. My dad was alive in 1972, he was not a hippie. These things get painted in these broad brushes, and you see certain trends in comedy, and it can start to feel like it’s been taken over by a certain perspective, but that’s not my experience. When we look at the bird’s-eye view, you’ll go, ‘Oh, every perspective was always being represented the whole time.’”
Upworthy: It’s an algorithm thing, you know?
Holmes: “I really feel like there’s room for everything. I don’t think there are any new groups. I don’t even think there are any really new perspectives. It’s just this constant fluctuation. But everybody was there the whole time. What it looked like, I can’t say, and nobody can. You can just live your life and make a difference where you can.”
