9.18.26 | 📝 How to customize your life

September 18, 2026

You are the steward of your life, so make it your own.

Warmly,
AmyAnn Cadwell
& The Good Trade Team

A peaceful playlist for when the world feels too loud. 🎶

"Like many adults, I’ve found the shape of my true self hard to make out these days, buried as it is beneath layers of convention. So I’m trying to chip away at the veneer by doing things my own way."

Read How To Customize Your Life So That It Feels Uniquely Yours

Our editors tested the best essential oil diffusers for a more nontoxic approach to home fragrance, from simple plug-ins to waterless designs and luxe spa-like models!

Browse Nontoxic Essential Oil Diffusers

Adding "make spa water" to our list of meal prep to-dos for the week. This list gives us some inspo for tasty combinations that keep us happy and hydrated.

Make Infused Water

🥣 The award goes to: Since we loved finding the best pancake mix, we’re back with another Wirecutter favorite — this time, the best cottage cheese for everything from breakfast to baking.

👋 So long, smart phone: Our editor loved this Substack that chronicles one writer's year without a smartphone and has her thinking about ditching hers.

🌾 Harvest season: Our founder reminds us to be generous with our abundance, in whatever area we find ourselves with plenty.

💼 For job seekers: Inside Then Out is looking for a Copywriter/Creative Strategist to help grow their brand of guided journals, planners, and daily rituals for a richer inner world.

📝 A good question: As the seasons change and we take stock of our harvest, what is in your hand to give away — with thanks, with generosity, with abandon?

Our next virtual meet-up is on Wednesday, September 23rd at 10 a.m. PT — We’ll be chatting with our editor Kate, whose article about doing a low-spend month inspired many rich reader conversations we can’t wait to dive into. Join us for a guided meditation and community discussion, plus a financial roundtable where we share our tips on making the most of our budgets. We can’t wait to see you!

"Instead of living to get to a destination, what if you started living directionally? As in, leaning into what lights you up and letting that lead the way? The book "Directional Living: A Transformational Guide to Fulfillment in Work and Life," has been my latest read, and I love learning more about this concept!" [Check it out]

One reader's reco:

"I've been loving the audiobook “The Danish Secret to Happy kids” by Helen Russell, narrated by the author. The content is fascinating and inspires me in how I'd like to raise my child. Also just the sound of her voice and how she speaks is so calming, it instantly makes my heart rate lower.

On that note - not a podcast or audiobook, but a playlist I'm constantly constructing, for when I wake up in the morning to get my day started on the right foot, with a peaceful and gentle mind — wake up slow." - HM

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