Carrie Saum

In the spirit of fall, I'm sharing this with you. You need it. I need it. We all need it to make it through the final days of fading sunshine and early days of falling leaves. Or something.

Instead of making lunch once a day, I make it once every three days. It saves on energy, brain power, and I don't have to figure out feeding myself in my janky kitchen more often than absolutely necessary.

Stuffing things is the best. I mean it. Can you think of ONE THING that is stuffed that you hate?

I didn't have even an ounce of energy to spare to process my own feelings. Everything I had went to my son.

In an age where we are isolated but still technologically connected, this is important. It’s okay to be alone. It’s okay to be unoccupied.

Here’s a crash course on self-talk. Self-talk is the voice in your head, the invisible responder, the captain of your brain ship.

Here's my favorite lazy food dish. I like it because I feel like I'm doing my body a solid by plying it with veggies, and my taste buds rejoice with spicy-sweet comfort food. It's like your very hardworking grandmother is hugging you from the inside.

Gather anything orange, brown, olive green, harvest yellow, and dead. Dead leaves, dead flowers, dead hopes and dreams, and arrange them artistically on your front doorstep.

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So, what do you do when you make something that looks a mess but tastes like the Virgin Mary give birth in your mouth? You add more sugar and salt to hide its minor imperfections and nobody gives a damn how it looks after the first bite.