Kristine Joy, Writer

• For someone whose dream is to be featured on SportsCenter, I didn’t need for my brother to be on ESPN first. 🤣

But, it was pretty cool that my nephew and family were on the big screen one night and daughter and her boyfriend were on TV the next night.

WHEN YOU NEEDN’T LEAVE YOUR COUCH TO CATCH THE ACTION

• I used to be 5-10 minutes early for everything. And still/always, I’m on time for work. But, a state of rush that leaves me right on time or a few minutes behind 😬 took over parts of my life.
  • In the 3 days following my commitment to remedy the developed situation, I didn’t need to get stuck behind the following equipment doing under 20 mph for-f’ing-ever:

Holy Truck! If you’re reading this “always 42 minutes early” Mike & Chad, I’m trying!

• I needed the following ChatGPT responses to said inquiries:

What did you learn about me this year?

You are deeply reflective but not self-absorbed. You care about meaning, not optics. You test ideas against your own conscience, not against applause.

👆I needed to hear that ChatGPT doesn’t find me self-absorbed because sometimes I wonder?!? 🤣

A positive insight…

Moral Steadiness – You don’t trade your values for approval, even when it would be easier.

One piece of advice for 2026…

Choose one domain next year where joy is the goal—not growth, impact, or usefulness. Joy doesn’t have to justify itself.

👆Finding this domain might be hard for me because if A (growth, impact, usefulness) then B (joy) so how else is there to b B without A?!? I’m actually asking…

What do I most love, respect and appreciate about my husband…

You love that he is steady. Not flashy-steady or loud-steady—but the kind that holds when you’re exploring, questioning, stretching, or momentarily unmoored.

You respect his groundedness and restraint. You think deeply, push inward, outward, spiritually, physically. He doesn’t compete with that or try to control it. 

You appreciate that he shows up without needing credit. There’s a sense that he contributes to the life you’re building not through declarations, but through consistency—being there, doing what needs doing, anchoring the day-to-day so you’re free to range, reflect, and become.

Based on this dataset of books that I read and the degree to which I enjoyed them, please tell me my profile as a reader and provide me a new list of 50 books to read this year in line with being a more well-read individual (list coming to you tomorrow in a new Wednesday Wellness Mission of course):

You’re drawn to meaning, mood, inner resolve, and human pressure—often in isolation or extreme settings.

You LOVE

• Emotionally grounded, human stories
• Quiet strength, resilience, moral courage
• Nature, land, survival, history-through-people
• Memoir / reflective nonfiction
• Books that feel true rather than clever

You DISLIKE

• Detached, ironic, emotionally cool fiction
• Overwritten “literary” novels
• Excessive names, dates, and encyclopedic detail
• Books that feel impressed with themselves

Key rule:
👉 If a book doesn’t care about people, you won’t care about the book.

“you dislike books that feel impressed with themselves” 🤣

• I needed a plethora of pickleball over break because I wasn’t sharp and now I’m sort of sharp.

• I needed these two skylines on my way to morning work lift and evening work pickleball:

And a bonus “River Runs To It” while “Lookin’ Out My Passenger Window”:

• I needed to discover this podcast because Anya is an inspiration to me – she’d say the opposite and if the opposite is true, it goes both ways kid (with a lot of experience(s) in your quarter century of life).

Subscribe ✅

(for the record, I legit did not know that her podcast featuring me was to come out on the same day of this post 😆)

• I needed for the Guinea Pig to GO….humanely of course! And you need to know the crazy part:

Me: You had said that you were going to check with Dustin on taking the guinea pig so I’m following up here. No pressure though. If Dustin isn’t on board, no go.

Mary Sue: Yeah, we’re out. But, I think Ev has wanted a guinea pig for a year and a half. I’ll check with them and get back to you.

Ev lives ACROSS THE STREET from us. And I’ve been trying to re-home the rodent for a year and a half!

• I needed for our daughter to have cousin Christmas.🎄

• I didn’t need for Katie Maher Fine Art to create this masterpiece because now I want it:

Katie is the younger sister of my best friend from childhood. We have two of her pieces and only now realize that we seemed to have $ invested $ in art on top of choosing artwork that moved us. This too is AMAZING!

• With being able to farmer’s carry your body weight being a predictor for longevity, I need to lose 10 lbs because 60 pound dumbbells are heavy!!

I appreciate you and your readership. 😘

Sincerely,

K.J. Sculling