Life Can Be Such A Mess Sometimes — What Do You Add To Your Day To De-Mess-Ify Things?

Sunny Side Updates with TBIN || Week 48

It might have been a while since I’ve worn a smock as I dabbled and dipped in a billion paint colours to create a moderately ugly art piece for class, but life itself has not been any less messy.

It’s just moved from physical stains to emotional chaos.

From comical moments like eating a rectangular-ish sub with round meatballs that basically squish meatballs out the end like no tomorrow (yet, so delicious)…

… to that ping pong of finally sending off a task and checking it off on your to do list and getting an immediate update on the task from your boss to tackle an even bigger problem…

life is full of unpredictable messes, and this week, I need your help.

How the h*ll do you guys cope? How have you been either managing the emotional side of making messes less … messy, or tangibly reducing the mess in your life?

I’m really curious to know, but also, needed these tips, like, yesterday 🤡

Until next week,

Lucy 🍳 EIC of The Brain is a Noodle* Podcast || Twitter || Instagram || Redbubble || Newsletter || Books!!! *This is factually incorrect. Please absolutely do not go out and eat brains.

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This week’s shortform prompt
How the h*ll do you guys cope with the messiness of life? How have you been either managing the emotional side of making messes less … messy, or tangibly reducing the mess in your life?

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🍜 Piping Hot New(dle) Pieces of the Week

Challenge: *highlight* the ones you bookmarked/ read and make sure everyone gets highlighted at least once! ❤

🧠🍜 [1] All Hot Girls Have Weird Scars On Their Knees — Prove Me Wrong by Nia Simone McLeod ‘Bringing the words that used to scamper through my brain into fruition is such a euphoric feeling. My mind is always going a mile a minute. Writing helps empty my thoughts.’

🧠🍜 [2] September Interview Questions with The Brain is a Noodle! by Kevin Alexander ‘My mind is usually running a million miles an hour & trying to keep a million plates in the air all at once. All of that vanishes when I’m writing. The dopamine rush of hitting “publish” is icing on the cake.’

🧠🍜 [3] Quilted by Jeanne-Erin ‘He left you on the floor, too excited for the day he hadn’t realized your grip had slipped and you’d fallen.’

🧠🍜 [4] Plagued by Troy B. Jordan ‘Like a scab over a wound. Never healing from the constant fingernails of certainty picking at it. We must wrap everything in certainty, like Saran Wrap, around a pear. Protecting it, whether it ripens or rots: whether formed or misformed.’

🧠🍜 [5] Saturday Night’s Alright for Dying by Luke DeLalio ‘We pushed the windows wide open Let clothes find their way into any old drawer The fan is jammed and clicks, broken Whatever We’ll visit it later at fan hospital’

🧠🍜 [6] Evolution Necessitates Change by Diana Dee ‘When we simply recognize this fundamental aspect of the nature of existence, we can begin to understand its presence in our lives.’

🧠🍜 [7] Only Hers by Dennett ‘Some say, we’re pregnant — the ones with jobs and homes, the ones on track to somewhere, the ones with plans and schedules and health insurance.’

🧠🍜 [8] What Was the №1 Song on the Day You Were Brought Into This World? by Zsófia Sáfár ‘There is at least one common feature of the songs listed above: they were all #1 hits on the day I was born — according to official music charts of five different countries.’

🧠🍜 [9] Five Pics & Five Lines — Guess Where I Am Roaming! by Zsófia Sáfár ‘A burning catastrophe. A blanket of ash preserving the past.’

🧠🍜 [10] At War With Myself by Paola Perez ‘Oh, beautiful garden! My striking delight You bring me much wonder. What a pretty sight! You give me joy and grand happiness In you, there is beauty and great tenderness’

🧠🍜 [11] Same Wavelength by America Zed ‘They know we often see each other for a sudden spin.’

🧠🍜 [12] From My Dandruff to My Toenails by Barb Dalton ‘My answer is threefold; first, I love how writing has rekindled old memories that I had completely forgotten about. Being able to revisit and share them is extremely cathartic, whether they were happy or sad ones.’

🧠🍜 [13] Old School Bullies In Grown-Up Bodies Ruin Inclusivity by Lisa Gerard Braun ‘The definition of inclusivity uses “not excluding” for examples in social welfare, sociology, and government, politics & diplomacy.’

🧠🍜 [14] L’Oreal Paris by Wolfie Bain ‘I’ve waited so long there’s no wondering what to say to you, sitting in a pizza place across from you, having a pizza with you, heaven having its bivouac with sugar, my tart lemon, some water for us, salad, and the stories come out like a surrender to hiccups, forgiving, gentle, tender.’

🧠🍜 [15] Chameleon by Jac Gautreau ‘Time is a chameleon A shapeshifter, a tightrope, An unpredictable companion’

🧠🍜 [16] My Cupboards Are Full by Matt Ray ‘My cupboards are full, but sometimes I wonder If my life is empty with everything asunder I’m constantly trying to invent myself’

🧠🍜 [17] Five years by Kathy Jacobs ‘Five years of Writing wondering Sharing conjuring’

🧠🍜 [18] Imagination Will Always Thrive… Hopefully by Las siete y más ‘Sandcastles in the sand You start to structure your thoughts and ideas… What if you had all of these towers? All of the possible doors?’

🧠🍜 [19] The Wedding Tasting by Rebecca Herz ‘It started with a plaited cloth fastened by a flaxen bow a blushing wine in its exposure all delicate platters filigreed with gold too ethereal to hold’

🧠🍜 [20] Learning to Let Go by Sharing Randomly ‘Have you ever wondered if you truly want to persevere?’

🧠🍜 [21] Word Seeds by Penelope Mayfield ‘my pen scribbles what my heart hides feelings stored to remember forever some stored deeper in hopes I forget and in another chamber feelings shared by others’

🧠🍜 [22] fried chicken from the Chinese takeout joint by Hal H. Harris1865 ‘the time had come for fried rice with accompanying fried chicken wings.’

🧠🍜 [23] Where Else? by Dennett ‘Sandcastles in the sand — where else would they be? Misplaced on a city street littered with MickyD bags? Overrun by cars, bikes and delivery trucks? Painted yellow with stray dog pee?’

🧠🍜 [24] Who Am I, Lucy Dan? by Karen Schwartz ‘he gave his life, not by choice — by slaughter, his loin meaty, his hide roasted and spiced to taste.’

🧠🍜 [25] 🥔 , 🥚 , And ☕️ Bean — Let’s Talk About The Pot by Jennifer McDougall ‘Are you an egg, a potato, or a coffee bean?’

🧠🍜 [26] What Would I Do With Many People Following Me? by Jimmy Misner Jr. ‘I’ve managed the nearly impossible I’ve gathered a large following of like-minded people What do I do with the power I have in my hands? These people will follow me to hell and back Of this I am certain.’

🧠🍜 [27] My Poetry Is About Emotions by Shivangi Patel ‘I am Emotional. I am deep.’

🧠🍜 [28] Turning Pages by CARMEN F MICSA ‘Turning pages plunges us into the infinite world of books where ideas levitate and gravitate in and out of our lives — where the power of knowledge lies in the diving, delving, and devouring books.’

🔊 Voices to Amplify

We don’t have to leave it to the algorithm to suggest our favourite pieces! Here are some of my archived faves!

Thank you to Anthony Li, Cholia "CJ" Johnson, Jupiter Grant, Shivangi Patel, Simone Samuels and Elise Paxson ☕️ for writing these pieces!

🧠🍜 Thank you to the Noodle Team!

challenge: pick 3 writers you haven’t met yet and get acquainted with their pieces!

New writers: Penelope Mayfield | Pierce McIntyre | Abbey Streett | Kathy Jacobs | Mihai Brinas | Margie Willis

Jeanne-Erin | Troy B. Jordan | Zsófia Sáfár | Hal H. Harris | Greg Proffit | Rebecca Herz | Winston | Natasha Kurien | K S Fielding | Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles | Cori Holmes | Jee Young Park | Caroline de Braganza | Kate Lynch | Assumpta Nalubowa | Lisa Gerard Braun | Nes Laidler | Reanna Szeszol | The Positive Journal | Medomfo Owusu | Sh*t Happens — Lost Girl Travel | Obinna Uruakpa | Sean Peck | Susan Alison | Kevin Alexander | Sharing Randomly | Brenda Covarrubias | Jimmy Misner Jr. | Stevie Wright | Disha Choksi | Roselyn Violet | Dazzling Shene | Jennifer Leth | John Gobins | Karen Falcon | America Zed | CARMEN F MICSA | Karen Schwartz | MIGHTY MISCELLANY | Ajah Hales | Gisel La Fleur | Roselyn Violet | Marcus Chan | Jennifer Dunne | Cameron Sidhe | Earl Grey Sea | Rakshita Upadhyay | O.M. Fernandes | Beth Nintzel | Barbara Dalton | George Cloake | Nhi Diep | Tarun Gupta | HerPrivateLife | Sohrab Khandelwal | Nerissa Talique | Gracia Kleijnen | Betsy Denson | KSHernandez | Luke DeLalio | Rachella Angel Page | Teressa P. | VV Valentine | Bhavya Mehta | Suntonu Bhadra | Noah Levy | Suzy Hazelwood | Ashlea Morgan | LS | Jessie Waddell | Dave Logan | Candy Marie | Himanshi B | Zihan | Elle How | K.S. | Sherry McGuinn | Diana Dee | Rambling Rose | Doran Lamb | Avi Kotzer | A.M. Radulescu | Laurie Perez | Paul Mansfield | B.R. Shenoy | Nada Chehade| Coco Joan | Bingz Huang | Shreya Badonia | Kimberly Carter | Las siete y más | Warren Brown | Trista Signe Ainswort | Kyomi O’Connor | Kay Bee | MaggieLaFae | Alex Godley | Haider Jamal | Josie Elbiry | Anthony Jackson | Hannah M. Moore | Michael Hollifield | Yana Bostongirl | TC Hails | Orla Kenny | Samedra Carter | Tatum Hamernik | Thalia Dunn | Nia Simone McLeod | Josie Elbiry | Keegan Roembke | Noorain Hassan, BMS | Humaira Iqbal | Zachary Burg | Bob Pepe | Will Hull | Jason | Courtenay S. Gray | Sahil Patel | Meenal Gupta | Amy Lee Kite | Evan Wildstein | Hilda Carroll | Chloe Hill | Paola Perez | Matt Ray | Wolfie Bain | Dena Ogden | Tasneem Kagalwalla | Yan Huang | Tree Langdon | Stuart Englander | Jennifer McDougall | Aaron Kemp | Rachel Ramkaran (she/her) | LS | Lori Welch Brown | Nicole Jiang | Crystalclearcandace | Em Unravelling | Jupiter Grant | Elle Beau ❇︎ | Suman Sandhu | Adam Deitsch | Mia Z. Edwards | David Majister | JF | Zach Neuman | Chris Mooney-Singh | Toya Qualls-Barnette | Karen Lappa Haas | Alan Henley | Michelle Bonfils | Zach Klebaner | Anna | Deepshikha Bhagat | Carlos Garbiras | Katrina Bos | Lisa Bolin | Sohaib Roomi | The Dozen | Malik Bellamy | Olivia Th | Shaista Malik | Emily Wilcox | Brajendra | Eva Rotolo | Bhavna Narula | Shannon Hugman | Ryan DeJonghe | Ryan DeJonghe | Dennett | Swagat Choudhury | Vivian | Mark Tulin | Arslan Mirza | Amber Carlson | Urfa | Whatsinanaim | Amy Pierovich, Ed.D. | Carolyn Riker | Tally | Shivangi Patel | Giulia | ScienceDuuude | Rachael Ann Sand | Divina Grey | Sarah Paris | DISHA GARG | Jen Kleinknecht | janny’s heart | Penofgold | Blank Voice | Kele Mogotsi | Jessie London | Indubala Kachhawa | Radhika Ghose | Mil H. | Zeno Faber | Maziar Ghaderi | Julia Appa | Campbell Christensen | Allison Gaines | Lori Lamothe | Tima Loku | Kim McKinney | Baye Amina | Tom Fenske | Johannes Mudi | Kasun Ranasinghe | Just a Slytherin hissing | Dr. Fatima Imam | Ntathu Allen | Somsubhra Banerjee | Veronica Georgieva | Life is Amazing with Books and Writers | Dandy Lioness 🌻 | Mindsmatter | Michael Ranjitsingh | Anjali Samaraweera | Krupesh Raikar | Rusty Alderson | Dr. Preeti Singh | Punch Drunk Cola | Melissa Speed | Ntathu Allen | Denise G | Carolyn Hastings | Tej | Vijini Mallawaarachchi | Amy Marley | Jac Gautreau | Erivaldo Ricardo | Roz Warren | Melissa Bee | Pretheesh Presannan | Daniel A. Teo | Anuradha Wickramarachchi | Niru | Priyanka Mane | Em Hoccane | Synthia S. | Alexandra Forsyth | R. Rangan PhD | Jacobo the First | Connie Song | Fathiyah Zb | Not quite Steve Fisher | Amna Asif | Aimée Gramblin | A Fresh Pot of Coffee | Rebecca Stevens A. | Imad | James G Brennan | Mary Keating | Jay Avery | h.a wadi | Pablo Pereyra | Isaac | jenine bsharah baines | Rochelle Silva | Jade-Ceres Violet D. Munoz | Ruchi Thalwal | Clare Almand | Dana Sanford | Naomi Leilani Acosta | Dr. Jackie Greenwood | Fathiyah Zb |

Ps, if any of these links are outdated, please leave a note to let me know!