A few weeks ago I sprained my ankle. I went from excruciating pain to recovery in 8 days. The last time I had a similar sprain, it took 6 weeks to heal. Here is how I did it. (Hint: I did not use the outdated RICE protocol.) karenrile.substack.com/publish/post...

I'm honestly running out of words I can use on the air to describe what's happening in and to this economy

We need everyone out there writing letters and making calls. We need beautiful resistance. If you need the facts on tariffs/immigration/security risks or places to call/write, substack with @simonwdc.bsky.social @chopwoodcarrywater.bsky.social @rbhubbell.bsky.social @maryltrump.bsky.social

Let's thank and encourage our public officials who are standing on the front lines for us, defending our country and our future. Let's ask those who are quiet to do more. Thanks to @aoc.bsky.social @wyden.senate.gov @whitehouse.senate.gov @senelizabeth.bsky.social @sanders.senate.gov

The future of the #DNC has been placed in the hands of @kenmartin.bsky.social @malcolmkenyatta.bsky.social @davidhogg.bsky.social, and so it begins. We need robust statewide messaging against #trumptariffs etc. via channels that inform those who didn't vote with us or at all about what is at stake.

I stopped drinking entirely seven years ago, but not for the reasons you might think. Read—and consider your glymphatic system… open.substack.com/pub/karenril...

How do you wear your stress? I wear it on my eyelids (eczema) and in my breathing. Here are 5 unexpected ideas for managing stress in this hellfire month. Link in first comment.

Read this for five practical ideas for doable resolutions so you can have a stronger, safer 2025. Because we need all the help we can get. Happy new year, friends! I wrote this for you. karenrile.substack.com/p/resolved-n...

Here’s a 5-minute breathing exercise guaranteed to bring down your holiday stress! Link in the first comment.

Are you a #coffee snob? Have you ever wondered about the secret life of #baristas? Well then, this is the story for you. Big thanks to @karenrile.bsky.social and @writesofkathryn.bsky.social and the whole gang at #Cleaver. www.cleavermagazine.com/because-at-l...

Thanks so much to Beth Kephart @bethkephart.bsky.social for this fun interview!

“ Why though did pollsters call thousands of people and offer ‘immigration’ as one choice? Testing the Republican message, a message jet-fueled by billions from the greedy…. Democrats don’t attract that kind of money because we are working for the people.” open.substack.com/pub/hjs24pea...

For a long time, I pursued intermittent fasting like an extreme sport. I used an app called Zero to help me track all the calories I wasn’t eating. I believed that calorie restriction was the key to longevity. That theory’s been around for almost a century... open.substack.com/pub/karenril...

“The events in Seoul also cemented the shift in social media from X to Bluesky, where news was breaking faster than anywhere else, in a way that echoed what Twitter used to be. .” open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

New essay, against gratitude (sort of). Visual edition! open.substack.com/pub/karenril...

“The language of politics must needs be direct and unironic. Political speech can have style, vernacular eloquence, and rhetorical flourish. (Yes, please, let it have those qualities.) But in politics, and government, irony is the tool of the devil.… What do you think? 1/2

Sunday movement snack: train your down dog and lift your spirits

(1) It has been a long game for the Republicans to create an ignorant and easily manipulated electorate. Thanks to right wing new media, the stupidification of America has accelerated dramatically.

We assume, logically, that exhaustion is the result of overexertion and depletion. Used up, your body begins to shut itself down… but what a fatigue is really an emotion?

4/8 breathing, a nervous system hack. You can quickly bring yourself into the parasympathetic (“rest and digest”) nervous system by doubling the length of your exhaled breaths, thus increasing the ratio of carbon dioxide in your bloodstream. [read more…]

I’ve learned to listen to pain as a message from my body. It’s a message in a language I don’t necessarily speak. A metaphor, perhaps, or even a bit of fake news.

First post. Please follow my Substack! karenrile.substack.com