An Operation Smile volunteer reverses an oxygen mask so a child with a cleft condition can blow a bubble for the first time in Guadalajara, Mexico. (Operation Smile Photos)
For thousands of children born with cleft conditions, Operation Smile provides simple, playful tools—like bubbles—to strengthen the skills they need to speak and thrive.
While a bottle of bubbles might seem out of place in a hospital setting, you might be surprised to learn that, for thousands of children around the world born with cleft lip and palate, they can be a helpful tool in comprehensive cleft care. Lilia, who was born with cleft lip and palate in 2020, is one of the many patients who received this care.
As a toddler, Lilia underwent two surgeries to treat cleft lip and palate with Operation Smile’s surgical program in Puebla, Mexico. Because of Operation Smile’s comprehensive care, it wasn’t long before her personality transformed: Lilia went from a quiet and withdrawn toddler to an exuberant, curious explorer, babbling, expressing herself with a variety of sounds, and engaging with others like any child her age.
Lilia is now a healthy five-year-old, with the same cheerful attitude and boundless energy. Her progress is the result of care at every level, from surgery to speech therapy to ongoing support at home—but it’s also evidence that small, sustained interventions throughout it all can make a meaningful difference.
Lilia at age 1, before surgery, and at age 5, 4 years post-surgery
Cleft Conditions: A Global Problem
Since 1982, Operation Smile has provided cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries to more than 500,000 patients worldwide with the help of generous volunteers and donors. Cleft conditions are congenital conditions, meaning they are present at birth. With cleft lip and palate, the lip or the roof of the mouth do not form fully during fetal development. Cleft conditions put children at risk for malnutrition and poor weight gain, since their facial structure can make feeding challenging. But cleft conditions can have an enormous social impact as well: Common difficulties with speech can leave kids socially isolated and unable to meet the same developmental milestones as their peers.
Surgery is a vital step in treating cleft conditions, but it’s also just one part of a much larger solution. Organizations like Operation Smile emphasize the importance of multi-disciplinary teams that provide comprehensive, long-term care to patients across many years. This approach, which includes oral care, speech therapy, nutritional support, and psychosocial care, not only aids in physical recovery from surgery but also helps children develop the skills and confidence to eat easily, speak clearly, and engage in everyday life. This ensures that each patient receives the full range of support they need to thrive.
Marie, 11 months, with her mother at Operation Smile Madagascar before her cleft surgery (Operation Smile Photos)
A Playful (and Powerful) Solution
Throughout a patient’s care, simple tools like bubbles can play a meaningful role from start to finish.
Immediately before surgery, children are often in a new and unfamiliar environment far from home, some of them experiencing a hospital setting for the first time. When care providers or loved ones blow bubbles, it’s a simple yet effective technique: Not only are the children soothed and distracted, the bubbles also help create a sense of joy and playfulness that eases their anxiety.
Milagros Rojas, a volunteer speech therapist in Peru, using bubbles in a screening with a patient. (Operation Smile Photos)
In speech therapy, bubbles can take on an even more important role. Blowing bubbles requires controlled airflow, as well as the ability to form a rounded “O” shape with the lips, which are skills that children with cleft conditions may struggle to develop. Practicing these skills with bubbles allows children to gently strengthen their facial muscles, improve breath control, and support the motor skills needed for speech development. Beyond that, blowing bubbles can help kids connect with their parents or providers in a way that’s playful, comforting, and accessible even for very young patients.
Finally, bubbles often follow patients with cleft conditions home in the “smile bags” that each patient receives when the surgical procedure is finished. Smile bags, which help continue speech therapy outside of the hospital setting, can contain language enrichment booklets, a mirror, oxygen tubing, and bubbles. While regular practice with motor skills can help with physical recovery, small acts of play help as well, giving kids space to simply enjoy themselves and join in on what peers are able to do.
Bubbles at Home and Beyond
Today, because of Operation Smile’s dedication to comprehensive cleft care, Lilia is now able to make friends and speak clearly, all things that could have been difficult or impossible before. Instead of a childhood defined by limitation, Lilia—and others around the world—can look forward to a childhood filled with joy, learning, discovery, friends, and new possibilities.
CTA: Lilia’s life was changed for the better with the care she received through Operation Smile. Find out how you can make an impact in other children’s lives by visiting operationsmile.org today.
Jackie Kirwan was understandably devastated when her 33-year-old daughter, Georgie Peterson, died from a fatal seizure. However, because Georgie was an organ donor, her hand was transplanted onto quadruple amputee Kim Smith. Now Jackie gets to hold her daughter’s hand every time Kim comes to visit.
When Jackie first met Kim and held the hand that once belonged to her daughter, she remarked to BBC News, “There’s a little piece of her still there.”
Georgie’s parting gift
In 2017, Kim contracted a urinary tract infection that led to sepsis. To survive, she was forced to have all four of her limbs amputated in 2018. After a failed double-hand transplant, Kim had to learn to live without hands or feet—until she got a call in 2025 about a possible donor. That donor was Jackie daughter, Georgie.
Ever since she was young, Georgie suffered from Periventricular Nodular Heterotopia (PVNH), a condition that causes uncontrolled epilepsy. Throughout her life, she treated PVNH with medication, but nothing truly worked. Although Georgie underwent brain surgery to address PVNH, the condition ultimately took her life.
While Georgie had signed up to be a donor, permission from the family was still needed for limb donation. Jackie knew that Georgie wouldn’t hesitate to donate a part of herself to help someone else, despite the two never having discussed donating hands, feet, or other limbs. In an interview with This Morning, Jackie said, “If you’re giving heart, liver, lungs, why not help somebody?”
Shortly after Georgie’s passing, Kim was prepped for the transplant. It was a success.
After the procedure, Kim reached out to Jackie. She wrote a letter thanking both Jackie and her daughter for the incredible gift of a hand. Kim also expressed interest in meeting Jackie in person to thank her if she was interested. Jackie accepted.
Upon first meeting, Jackie was afraid to ask if she could hold her daughter’s hand again. After all, her daughter’s hand now belonged to Kim. However, Kim wanted to meet Jackie for that very reason. Now, whenever the two visit, Jackie has permission to hold Georgie’s hand.
Thanks to Georgie, Kim is now able to hold her five-year-old granddaughter’s hand, along with performing several other day-to-day tasks and activities. Because of the mobility in Georgie’s hand, Kim is able to keep the fingers on her new hand straight, something that isn’t common with hand transplants.
A call for advocacy
Today, the two women have become advocates for organ donation and other causes. Jackie wants to raise awareness of PVNH and support further research into the condition that took Georgie’s life. Kim is also an advocate for sepsis research to improve early diagnosis and treatment.
While Georgie is no longer with us, her impact lives on—not just through the hand now attached to Kim’s wrist, but also through the example she set for how we can improve lives even after we are gone.
Gen Z, born approximately between 1997 and 2010, is referred to by some as “Generation Text.” They were the first group of teens, alongside some younger Millennials, to grow up with cell phones, social media, and texting already part of everyday life by the time they reached age 12. For older Millennials, Gen Xers, and Baby Boomers, our teen years—even into our early twenties—were free of cell phones, texting, and social media.
Sure, no matter the generation, most teens and young adults experience some form of anxiety. But being tethered to a screen while the brain is still in its formative years has added an extra layer of stress for some members of Gen Z. The good news is that Gen Z is doing something about it.
According to The Washington Post, students at New York University have been ditching their phones for a little time off. On the paper’s Instagram post, they explain how it works:
“At the gate, guests slipped their phones into little cloth bags, putting them away for the evening. More than 200 students from New York University gathered at a table nearly as long as the city block. It was cold, but they leaned in to talk with strangers, laughing and trading stories.
Instead of the socializing that American college culture is known for, many students walk around campus looking down at their phones, scroll through elevator rides, and sit in classrooms glued to their laptops.
Many college leaders are concerned about the amount of time students spend on screens and social media, worried that it is increasing isolation, loneliness, and anxiety, shattering attention spans, and preventing social connections.
New York University is one of the places trying to change that, with a global effort that they’re calling NYU IRL — or NYU ‘in real life.’”
Slows down doomscrolling
These phone-free parties can be an excellent way to stop doomscrolling and perhaps even improve mental health. (Of course, people of all generations might benefit from putting their phones away for a bit.)
There’s a growing phone-free movement among young people – but they’re not letting that stop them from having fun. USA TODAY youth mental health reporter Rachel Hale (@rachelhalereporting) went to a phone-free party in Brooklyn. A flyer for the party promised “a celebration of social life as it’s meant to be: free from the grip of greedy tech platforms.” It was nothing like she expected. But by the end of the night, she had talked to more strangers at this party than she had in the past month – and stayed there until nearly 2 a.m. 📸: Alyssa Goldberg/USA TODAY #phonefree#brooklyn#genz#parties
Eventbrite has been monitoring parties and events and reports that these IRL gatherings are becoming more common worldwide:
“Phone-free events grew 567% globally between 2024 and 2025, with attendance rising 121%, expanding from 5 to 12 countries. These events now span the full calendar year, signaling a shift from temporary reset to sustained behavior. The momentum is most pronounced in the U.S. and U.K., though each market reflects a distinct pattern of growth.”
In the United States, those gatherings are rising as well. Eventbrite reveals, “While event volume grew by 388%, attendance jumped by 913%, as creators transitioned to larger, communal experiences where average event sizes more than doubled.”
And it might look different depending on where you live. The research also suggests that, in Denver, a phone-free night could take place on a “packed dance floor.” But across the pond in England, the phones are still switched off, though the activity is much calmer: “Guests hand over their phones and settle into two uninterrupted hours with a book. With soft music, a glass of wine or herbal tea, and a simple grazing box, it’s a form of ‘soft socializing,’ where presence takes precedence over performance.”
Breathe in, breathe out
In a first-person piece for USA Today, Rachel Hale describes her experience at a phone-free party after locking her cell phone in a small pouch.
“Around 11 p.m., someone ushers me outside to the patio,” Hale explained. “A girl in Doc Martens, a white chiffon scarf, and a plaid coat guides us through a somatic ritual. We place our hands on our hearts. ‘This is the first piece of technology we ever owned,’ says Amalia Mayorga, the ritual organizer. ‘Breathe in, breathe out.’”
That seems to be the purpose: breathing, staying present, and taking just a little time off.
Hale also told CBS News that she believes there’s a “fear that there’s going to be a photo that’s going to end up of me online tomorrow. Or I can not dance as freely because it might be recorded. But it’s more than just that. It’s also that having this social barrier kind of lowered makes it easier for people to talk to strangers or approach friends they haven’t seen in awhile.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson contributed endless wisdom through his essays and poetry during his lifetime. He lived from 1803 to 1882.
The New England author is still revered today for his insights on humanity—so much so that he continues to influence pop culture. The video game Mortal Kombat 3 re-popularized a famous Emerson quote: “There is no knowledge that is not power.”
Emerson was also the father of four children, and his 19th-century parenting advice is still relevant today.
Emerson’s kids
Emerson’s first marriage was to a woman named Ellen Louisa Tucker in September 1829. She suffered from tuberculosis and, unfortunately, died less than two years later in February 1831. Devastated by her death, Emerson wrote this short poem in 1833:
“The days pass over me And I am still the same The Aroma of my life is gone Like the flower with which it came.“
He married for a second time in September 1835 to Lidian (Lydia) Jackson. The couple went on to have four children: Waldo, born in 1836; Ellen, born in 1839; Edith, born in 1841; and Edward Waldo, born in 1844.
Emerson was a devoted father. His son, Edward Waldo, wrote of his father: “He had a love and tenderness for very small children, and his skill in taking and handling a baby was in remarkable contrast to his awkwardness with animals and tools.”
He also had a close relationship with his second child, Ellen Tucker Emerson. She was equally devoted to her father and never married. Instead, she served as his secretary and editor, as well as his housekeeper and caregiver.
Emerson’s parenting advice
In a letter to Ellen dated 1854, Emerson shared fatherly wisdom that encouraged her to move on from mistakes and live confidently. It’s advice that parents today may still find applicable when trying to instill confidence in their children.
“Finish every day and be done with it. For manners and for wise living it is a vice to remember. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. To-morrow is a new day; you shall begin it well and serenely, and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. This day for all that is good and fair. It is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on the rotten yesterdays.”
Emerson acknowledges that his daughter will make mistakes, but encourages her not to dwell on them for too long. Each day is a “new day,” and she can move forward with confidence without needing to be perfect.
Tips on raising confident kids
Parents can help their kids process mistakes and move forward without relying on the pressures of achievement and perfectionism. The American Psychological Association (APA) explains that this sense of being valued and supported is called “mattering.”
Mattering is defined as “the feeling of being valued to loved ones and communities, regardless of external evaluations of ‘success’.”
To strengthen a sense of mattering, the APA recommends that parents try the following:
Spend engaged time with kids
The goal is to send kids the message that their worth is based on who they are, not what they do. Flett recommends that parents put away their phones and laptops during interactions to encourage better engagement and listening, helping kids feel heard and understood.
Normalize setbacks
This can be done by explaining to kids that mistakes are part of being human and that your love for them is not contingent on never making them.
“As soon as you make those things contingent on achievement, which is very easy to do in this culture, then kids start to learn very quickly that they’re only really worth something when they’ve done well, and they are a failure if they haven’t,” Thomas Curran, PhD, a social psychologist at the London School of Economics and author of The Perfection Trap, explained to the APA. “That creates a dependency on other people’s approval, which is a very quick way to perfectionism.”
Serve others
According to the APA, volunteering has been studied as a helpful way to build resilience and self-esteem while reducing the pressures of achievement. By focusing on the well-being of others, kids can also develop a stronger sense of usefulness and purpose.
“I would recommend to any parent who’s concerned about a child becoming a workaholic perfectionist who’s only focused on achievement [to] try to model going out there and being prosocial and finding some causes,” Flett said.
Many people delight in logic puzzles and the brain challenge they offer. But one of the most studied logic tests has proven persistently befuddling for people across the board.
Developed in 1966, the Wason Selection Task has a high failure rate despite its seeming simplicity. According to Michael Stevens of VSauce, studies have shown that somewhere between 90% and 96% of people are unable to come up with the correct answer.
What exactly is this test? There are various versions of it, but let’s look at the original one that Peter Wason created.
You have four cards in front of you labeled A, G, 7, and 8, like this:
Each card has a letter on one side and a number on the other. Your task is to determine which cards you would need to turn over to judge whether the following rule is true: If there is an A on one side, there is a 7 on the other.
That’s it. Sounds simple enough, right? Then you start working your way through the reasoning, and your brain starts to feel a bit sticky.
Even a Cambridge math professor had to backtrack on the test
Hannah Fry, a British mathematician and University of Cambridge professor, went through this task with Stevens on their joint YouTube channel, The Rest Is Science. Fry said she had encountered a version of the test before and gotten it wrong the first time, but she didn’t remember what trap she had fallen into or why.
This time, she walked through the logic aloud and figured it out. (If you want to try solving it yourself, go for it. Spoilers are below.)
Here’s how Fry worked through the problem in real time:
“So, right, you know that these four cards, a letter on one side, a number on the other, which means that there is a number hiding behind the A, there’s a number hiding behind the G. There’s also a letter behind the 7, and there’s a letter behind the 8.
The rule says if there is (this is what I’m trying to test) if there is an A on one side, there is a 7 on the other. Right? So, turning over the 8 doesn’t tell me anything. I mean, I don’t really care what’s on the other side of the 8 because even if it’s an A…”
Then Fry stopped herself.
“Uh oh, no, wait. That’s not true. Oh, hold on. I’ve got it wrong already.”
She recalibrated.
“Immediately, the first thing you want to do is check whether there’s a 7 on the reverse of the A. To see if there’s a 7. Turning over the G, I don’t think tells me anything because I don’t really care what’s on the reverse of the G. The rule doesn’t involve G’s. It says if there is an A on one side, which there isn’t, so I don’t care. So, I can ignore the G card.
The 7 card I’d be really tempted to turn over to see if there was an A on the other side, because then that would be another instance of the rule. But the way the rule is phrased is that it says if there is an A on one side, there is a 7 on the other. It doesn’t say you can only have sevens where A’s exist. So actually, you could have a J on the other side of the 7, and it wouldn’t violate the rule. That would be fine.
So, even though my temptation is to say turn over A and 7, actually, I think you need to turn over A and 8. Because if you turn over 8 and it’s got an A on the other side, that would violate the rule, right?”
Bingo. You would turn over the A and 8. Fry was correct. But even this Cambridge math professor, who had seen a version of the logic test before, stumbled through it a bit.
Changing the letters and numbers to a story about drinking changes the failure rate
Stevens then asked Fry how she would approach a different version of the task. Instead of letters and numbers, the cards show the ages of different people on one side and what they are drinking at a bar on the other. This version of the task includes a “human” storytelling element.
“Once again, you have four cards,” said Stevens. “And you are a police officer, and it’s your job to make sure that no one is drinking underage. On some of these cards, you can only see their age. You’re going to have to turn them over to see what they’re drinking. On others, you only see what they’re drinking. You’ll have to turn them over to get their age.
A social rule-oriented version of the Wason Selective Test. Photo credit: Canva
This is what you see in front of you, these four cards: The age 12, the age 35, the drink soda, and the drink beer. Which ones do you need to turn over to determine whether or not the rule is being obeyed that you cannot drink underage?”
The answer is the same as before: the first and last cards. But this task feels much easier than the first. As Stevens and Fry said, “It’s instinctive.”
Making the test about people and a potentially broken social rule makes the task much less abstract. But it also makes it clear that the puzzler needs to do something key to solving the letters-and-numbers version as well: look for a counterexample.
A counterexample is something that would disprove the rule. In the first task example above, if the 8 has the letter A behind it, the “If A, then 7” rule would be disproven. And that’s the only card that could possibly disprove the rule.
In the drinking-age version, we instinctively look for the counterexample, most likely because it’s socially ingrained in us to look for someone breaking the rule. It’s the same logic, but we have a better natural sense of how to figure it out when it involves a human story that taps into the way we naturally think. Few of us naturally think as abstractly as the first version requires without some training in logical deduction.
If you’re interested in diving deeply into the logic details, the full video does just that. But isn’t it fun to see how a small tweak shows us we’re a lot smarter than we thought?
Forget the corner office. Gen Z is rewriting the rules of professional success, and their approach might save us all from burnout.
While previous generations dutifully climbed the corporate ladder rung by rung, Gen Z is choosing to do things differently. These youngsters, born between 1997 and 2012, embrace a clear philosophy: work should fund your life, not consume it. It’s a simple dogma. This emerging trend, dubbed “career minimalism,” goes beyond the corporate buzzword, representing a fundamental shift that challenges what we thought we knew about ambition, success, and the definition of “making it” in today’s economy.
The statistics are striking: 68% of Gen Z workers claim that they would not pursue management rolesunless they came with higher pay or a better title. This isn’t laziness. It’s a well-thought-out strategy. Generation Z watched Millennials sacrifice their twenties to corporate culture, only to face economic uncertainty, housing crises, and unprecedented stress levels.
Gen Z is boldly saying “No thanks” to that traditional blueprint.
Janel Abrahami, Glassdoor’s Career Pivot Strategist, puts it perfectly. “Gen Z is more willing to embrace a flex mindset than older generations,” Abrahami tells Upworthy. “While past generations often prioritized climbing the corporate ladder, Gen Z is looking for the career equivalent of a lily pad: a sustainable route where they can jump to whatever opportunity best fits their needs at the moment. That could mean taking a pay cut for more free time, accepting a lower title for a more creative role, or switching to an industry they see as more stable. Since 70% of Gen Z questions their job security as AI advances in the workplace, many are proactively moving toward sectors like skilled trades, healthcare, and education.”
This lily pad mentality represents a profound shift in how an entire generation views professional growth. Instead of linear progression within a single company, Gen Z sees their careers as a series of strategic moves that prioritize personal fulfillment, financial stability, and most of all, time for the things that actually matter to them.
Generation side hustle
Despite the moniker “career minimalism,” 57% of Gen Z employees have at least one side hustle, more than any generation before them. Is it about the money? Not exactly. For Gen Z, side hustles are where their ambition thrives.
Nearly half (49%) of Gen Z side hustlers say their primary motivation is to be their own boss, while 42% are driven by the desire to pursue their passions. These numbers tell a story about a generation that refuses to wait for opportunities. When their 9-to-5 doesn’t provide creative fulfillment or meaningful impact, they create it themselves.
A teacher in Iowa sums it up, saying, “I always joke that I don’t dream of labor… If people were truly passionate about their job, it wouldn’t pay anything. Passion is for your 5-9 after the 9-5.”
Similarly, a research analyst echoes this sentiment, saying, “While having a job that you’re passionate about is really cool, it’s important to have other interests that are not tied to your work life.”
The broader statistics are even more telling: 66% of Gen Z and Millennials have started or plan to start side hustles, with 65% intending to continue their entrepreneurial ventures long-term. Meaning, this isn’t a phase, it’s a fundamental reimagining of how work fits into a fulfilling life. The pattern is clear: younger generations are diversifying their income streams and refusing to put all their professional eggs in one corporate basket.
Work-life balance as a non-negotiable priority
While older generations might view work-life balance as a nice idea, Gen Z regards it as essential infrastructure for a sustainable life. Thirty-two percent of Gen Z rank work-life balance as the most critical aspect of a job, compared to 28% of Millennials and 25% of Gen X. More significantly, they’re willing to prioritize this balance over higher compensation, a move that would have been unthinkable to previous generations entering the workforce.
“Employers may be surprised by the changing attitudes of Gen Z in the workplace,” says Abrahami. “However, this doesn’t mean that Gen Z is abandoning work; instead, they are redefining ambition through career minimalism. If Gen Z feels unsupported in achieving the work-life balance they seek, they may become less motivated or start looking for opportunities that align better with their values and lifestyles.”
Canva provides a standout example: through initiatives like “Force for Good,” the company encourages employees to contribute over 10,000 hours annually to community projects. This commitment to purpose-driven work has helped Canva achieve a 92% employee satisfaction rate.
These changes aren’t just nice-to-haves, they’re competitive advantages. Companies that embrace Gen Z-friendly policies are seeing measurable improvements in engagement, retention, and overall performance.
What every generation can learn from career minimalism
Gen Z’s approach to work is not radical; it’s rational. After watching previous generations sacrifice their health, relationships, and personal fulfillment for corporate success that often proved fleeting, Gen Z chose a different path.
These lessons are valuable for everyone, regardless of age:
Boundaries create sustainability. Gen Z’s insistence on work-life balance is a nugget of wisdom. By setting clear boundaries, they dodge the burnout that has plagued older generations and create space for long-term productivity and creativity.
Diversification reduces risk. While previous generations sought security in a single employer, Gen Z believes that proper security comes from multiple income streams and transferable skills. Their side hustles are money-generating insurance policies against rapidly changing industries and A.I.
Values-driven work increases engagement. When work aligns with personal values, engagement and performance naturally increase. Gen Z’s demand for meaningful work benefits everyone by forcing companies to clarify their purpose and impact.
Flexibility enhances productivity. The data is clear: flexible work arrangements lead to higher retention, better performance, and increased job satisfaction across all generations.
For Abrahami, the way Gen Z operates in the workplace feels like a breath of fresh air, and she encourages managers to get to know their Gen Z direct reports. “Gen Z’s habits will continue to shape our workforce, so it’s important employers take the time to truly understand them,” Abrahami notes. “Their approach isn’t about laziness; rather, it’s a new representation of how they define success. They want sustainable careers that align with their goals, whether that means prioritizing a job that prevents burnout or one that provides security from layoffs. Older generations have much to learn from Gen Z, and we’re likely to start to see these values become more widely accepted.”
Gen Z’s philosophy in the workplace offers a compelling answer to the age-old question: “What if there’s a better way?” Their formula is refreshingly simple: stable jobs for security, side hustles for passion, and strict boundaries for sustainability.
As workplace dynamics continue to evolve, the rise of career minimalism, fueled by Gen Z’s values, will reshape not only how we define professional success but also how we experience fulfillment. The future of work may belong not to the climbers, but to those content to hop from lily pad to lily pad with purpose and self-awareness.
The corner office can keep its view. Gen Z has found something better: a career that actually fits their life, instead of consuming it. And honestly? The rest of us should take notes.
This article originally appeared one year ago. It has been updated.
Sure, it’s lovely to see pristine, perfectly curated homes that look like they belong in Architectural Digest. A little inspo never hurt anyone. But as we all know, the spotless life is simply not an achievable reality, especially for those with busy lives and limited budgets (read: most of us).
But you know what? Maybe even the messy homes deserve some love. The ones with constant junk piles, unfinished projects, dirty dishes, and misplaced toys. The homes that will never grace the cover of a magazine but still do a wonderful job of containing all the moments life has to offer—the big, small, extraordinary, mundane, and everywhere in between. ‘Cause at the end of the day, isn’t that a home’s true purpose anyway?
Lets normalize “average” because there is nothing wrong with it. Everywhere you look on social media you see big gorgeous houses in perfect condition and its hard not to compare yours to them. But its not the norm and half the time its staged. Our house is lived in, and its filled with love and tons of memories and at the end of the day thats all that matters.
Stephanie Murphy, a mom and TikTok creator, seems to think so. Murphy took viewers on an “average house tour,” and it was the exact opposite of aspirational. Highlighted in Murphy’s tour are the pantry door that’s remained unpainted for three years, blinds held together with binder clips, air conditioners held in place by duct tape, a full dish rack tray that’s “a permanent fixture” on their countertops, and not one but two junk drawers (honestly, that’s a little low by my count). You’ll also notice a fridge that is covered in her kid’s artwork and school pictures. Not in any cohesive way, but merely thrown on randomly, as nature intended.
Meanwhile, in the master bedroom, Murphy and her husband have two separate blankets on their bed because neither of them like to share. A genius idea, and just another example of how we really, really don’t need to continue with marital sleeping norms that don’t actually feel comfortable.
Her reason for sharing it is everything
As for why Murphy decided to showcase her “average, middle-class house,” it’s all in the caption of her video: “Let’s normalize ‘average’ because there is nothing wrong with it. Everywhere you look on social media, you see big gorgeous houses in perfect condition and it’s hard not to compare yours to them. But it’s not the norm and half the time it’s staged. Our house is lived in, and it’s filled with love and tons of memories and at the end of the day that’s all that matters.”
She further explained her reasoning to Good Morning America. “I feel like social media is full of one perfectly curated video after another, and there is just so much pressure from social media to be perfect in all aspects — to have perfect skin, perfect makeup, perfect outfit, perfect house. And the reality is no one’s perfect,” Murphy said.
“Honestly, I feel like there’s a very good chance that all those videos that we see were staged and they probably like, moved a pile of toys behind the camera to film and then moved it back when they were done. But that’s the part that people on social media just aren’t sharing. They don’t show you the behind-the-scenes and that is what I was looking to change,” she continued.
Judging from the comments sections of this viral post, it seems like other people are ready for more average content.
“This is awesome! I’m constantly feeling inadequate when people have a perfect house that looks like nobody lives there!” one person wrote. “I feel seen,” added another.
Hear, hear. No need to feel inadequate about having a home that’s lived in. Imperfection has its own kind of beauty.
This article originally appeared three years ago. It has been updated.
In 1971, a year after the break-up of the Beatles, John Lennon released his most important piece of music, his single “Imagine.” The song is an appeal to humanity’s goodness and urges the listener to “join us” in visualizing a world without war, hunger, or greed.
The song provides a glimmer of hope in that if we can visualize a perfect world, then maybe one day it will be achievable. Over the past 50 years, the song has become a secular hymn that can conjure hope in the aftermath of the most tragic events. The song was played by Queen at Wembley Arena the night after Lennon was murdered in December 1980. Stevie Wonder sang it at the closing ceremonies of the 1996 Olympics to honor the lives of those lost at the Centennial Olympic Park bombing. Neil Young played it at the 9/11 Tribute to Heroes concert. And who could forget the infamous celebrity singalong to “Imagine” in 2020 barely a week into the initial COVID pandemic shutdown?
Why Julian Lennon vowed never to sing it
“Imagine” is widely seen as Lennon’s signature song that encapsulates his artistic persona, which is no small feat given the earth-shattering effect the songs he wrote with the Beatles have had on the world.
Given the song’s incredible power, Lennon’s son Julian vowed never to perform it in public. Julian has had success as a musician over the years, most notably with his 1984 hit, “Too Late for Goodbyes.” He’s also a philanthropist who has produced numerous documentaries.
The war in Ukraine pushed Julian to break his vow and he performed a beautiful rendition of “Imagine” as part of Global Citizen’s social media rally, “Stand Up For Ukraine” on April 8, 2022. The campaign worked to raise money for the war-torn country, a cause Julian still adamantly supports.
During the 2022 performance, Julian was accompanied by guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, who is best known as the lead guitarist of the Boston rock band Extreme and a longtime guitarist for Rihanna’s world tours.
“The War on Ukraine is an unimaginable tragedy… As a human, and as an artist, I felt compelled to respond in the most significant way I could,” Lennon wrote in the video’s description in 2022. “So today, for the first time ever, I publicly performed my Dad’s song, IMAGINE. Why now, after all these years? — I had always said, that the only time I would ever consider singing ‘IMAGINE’ would be if it was the ‘End of the World’…But also because his lyrics reflect our collective desire for peace worldwide.”
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Lennon went on to say he was influenced to sing the iconic song “because within this song, we’re transported to a space, where love and togetherness become our reality, if but for a moment in time… The song reflects the light at the end of the tunnel, that we are all hoping for…
“As a result of the ongoing murderous violence, millions of innocent families, have been forced to leave the comfort of their homes, to seek asylum elsewhere,” Lennon concluded his message. “I’m calling on world leaders and everyone who believes in the sentiment of IMAGINE, to stand up for refugees everywhere! Please advocate and donate from the heart. #StandUpForUkraine.”
Lennon’s decision to never play “Imagine” was a wonderful way to honor his father’s legacy by respecting the power of his song, but John would probably be proud if he knew that he sang it at a time when we all need to imagine “all the people living life in peace.”
Julian Lennon keeps his father’s legacy alive
Julian Lennon continues to advocate for those suffering in the world by raising awareness and offering help through his charity, The White Feather Foundation, which was established in 2007 and exists “for the Conservation of Life” and provides aid for the environment, the preservation of Indigenous cultures, and access to clean water, education, and health.
In 2023, The White Feather Foundation launched an emergency campaign alongside World Central Kitchen to feed those in need in response to the Israel-Hamas conflict. And in early 2025, Lennon and The White Feather Foundation donated a split $10,000 to MusiCares and FireAid in response to the Los Angeles wildfires.
Clearly in all that Lennon does to help the world and others, whether through his philanthropy or his music, he’s supporting the vision of “Imagine” and making his father proud.
This article originally appeared four years ago. It has been updated.
Kindergarten is one of the most formative experiences in a child’s life. Not only do they learn there how to navigate the tricky world of friendships and the seeds of independence, they also start their education journey. All of that is made extra special if they have a teacher who really loves them. When you’re a kindergarten teacher, you know that you have the power to make a serious impact, and that shouldn’t be taken lightly. A retired kindergarten teacher warmed hearts on TikTok as people learn just how great that impact is.
Then, one by one, they filed through the gate
In the video shared by user Kim Hamilton (the daughter of said teacher) in 2022, a woman, who is identified in the comments as Mrs. Pearson, is sitting on her porch when a girl in a cap and gown shows up at the gate. “Congratulations!” Mrs. Pearson calls out, waving. Soon, she realizes that the young girl isn’t alone.
“What’s happening?” she asks her daughter, who can be heard chuckling behind the camera.
“They’re your kindergarteners,” Hamilton replies, as kids in caps and gowns start filing through the gate.
“Did you know this was happening?!” Pearson asks, the shock and joy clearly evident on her face.
“Oh my gosh, I love you all! Look at you!” she exclaims as she runs over to the kids.
Hamilton explains to her that these kids, clearly high school graduates, are the last group of kindergarten students Pearson taught before retiring. As each one of them comes into the gate, the joy on Pearson’s face grows exponentially. It’s clear that these kids were her babies, and even though now they’re all grown up and going off to college, they’ll always have that special place in her heart.
“Oh my god, you’re all just gorgeous!” she says, giving each one a hug.
The kids are just as happy to see their beloved Mrs. Pearson as she is to see them. They eagerly shuffle together to pose for a picture as she just stops and looks at them, taking it all in. Presumably, she hasn’t seen them much in the many years since she retired. Maybe they’ve seen each other around. As a kid, I loved running into my teachers outside of school. I still do. But the fact that these kids showed up to see her, to allow her to celebrate her integral role in their lives, that’s really special. And I’m not the only one who thinks so.
People in the comments lost it completely
Here are just a handful of the comments people left on Hamilton’s video:
“Proof they never stop being our kids after they leave us.”
“The love she showed and was shown, she must have been one heck of a teacher”
“I started crying when your mom did.”
“Love this! ❤ I teach kindergarten and only hope my students will remember me like this! She must have been extraordinary!”
“Literally teachers like HER are the reasons I still talk to my teachers from middle school, HS & college good teachers are so special.”
“The best gift a teacher can receive is seeing her former students bloom.”
Teachers can truly make a lifelong impression on us, for better or for worse. When you get a good teacher at any age, it’s never too late to offer them your gratitude and appreciation.
This article originally appeared four years ago. It has been updated.
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