❌ The most liberating thing you can do is let people be wrong about you

If they chose to read that email as hostile, that’s on them.

Wanting to be seen and understood is basically part of the human starter pack. We build whole identities around it. Much of our daily stress comes from fearing that we are not getting that need met.

Best-selling author Alex Elle has an idea so simple it seems revolutionary: Let people be wrong about you. In a viral TikTok video, she explains that spending time and energy to make sure you’re properly understood is a very efficient stress factory.

As Erik Barnes reports, therapists largely agree. How someone responds to you often has far more to do with their nervous system, history, or projections than anything you might do or say.

The full story is worth a read; it has tips for soothing that need. If you’ve spent a whole commute crafting and recrafting a perfect clarifying text message, this one is for you.

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And what did we learn?

Yesterday, we checked in on how your holiday shopping is going… or not. So, how ready for the holidays are GOOD readers? Almost 40% of you have opted out of the gift-a-palooza, and 11% are planning to wait until the last moment.

• I've been done for months, booyah! (18.6%)

• I'm just getting started and the stress is mounting (32.6%)

• I'll hit the mall on the way home from work the day before (11.6%)

• I don't go in for this capitalist propaganda! (37.2%)

🥴 Drunk raccoon rampages through a liquor store before passing out in the bathroom

Don’t worry, this story has a happy-if-slightly-headachy ending.

What better way to mark the anniversary of Prohibition’s end than with a tipsy raccoon who went on an all-out bender inside a Virginia liquor store? As Ryan Reed reports in this story, the furry felon crashed through the ceiling, ransacked the rum, taste-tested the scotch, and ultimately tapped out on the bathroom floor. (College, am I right?)

According to Hanover County Animal Protection, an officer arrived to find one extremely lethargic bandit thoroughly in its cups but otherwise unharmed (we’d take no pleasure reporting this story otherwise). A few hours of sleep later, our inebriated icon was cleared, released, and presumably reconsidering his life choices.

And because this saga wasn’t delightful enough, the shelter is now selling “Trashed Panda” merch to fund animal care and wildlife response. Click through to the full story to meet the furry fiend for yourself. 

💿 Time-travel to a time when the CD was new and the hype was real

Depending on your age, this story will either blast you to a specific moment in your life or introduce you to something you can’t begin to understand.

I have never felt the slightest bit of euphoria when hitting play on a new track in the Spotify app, but walking out of a Tower Records with a celo-wrapped CD I chose after sampling tracks on communal headphones with who-knows-how-many other people’s ear sweat on them? Elation!

In a recently resurfaced 1994 MTV News clip, we get a man-on-the-street perspective of the hype outside a music store (remember those) as teens spill out with their latest acquisitions. As Ryan Reed reports, The Black Crowes, R.E.M., and Wu-Tang Clan all get shoutouts, and the whole scene radiates mid-90s energy you can practically smell through the screen. (Smells like teen spirit!) 

Commenters rave about the experience and the memories. The bliss. The excitement. The $18.99 price tag that translates to thirty-two dollars today for nine songs. Oh… right. That part. No wonder we sprinted to streaming. Still, ownership was a joy, and nothing beats that CD sound quality. Maybe that's why CDs are quietly having a resurgence.

Check out the full story to experience the time travel for yourself.

For nearly 14 years, alcohol was impossible to get in the United States… unless you were a member of the clergy, or got a prescription, or ‘accidentally’ let your legally allotted non-intoxicating cider sit in that warm corner of the basement too long, or just went to a speakeasy to enjoy a fresh shipment off the fast boat from that offshore Rum Row mother ship. And then, on December 5, 1933, the 21st Amendment was ratified, and the great Noble Experiment was over.

Ironically, considering its teetotaling reputation, Utah was the state that put the amendment over the top. The reasons for the change of course were many, including the great cost and trouble of enforcement, the loss of tax revenue and jobs during a depression, and the erosion of respect for law enforcement.

In the end, Prohibition didn’t achieve its aims. We drink about as much today as before, but we do it under rules that reflect lessons learned. Today, intoxicating substances are regulated, taxed, ID-checked, and carry warning labels.

Here’s to lessons learned. 🍸

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We’re always on the lookout for uplifting, enlightening, and engaging content to share with readers like you. If you have something you think should be featured in the Daily GOOD, let me know!

💬 From the group text…

It’s the time of year when the houses around town start sporting lights. But in recent years, those lights have begun to look, well, really bad. Why is that? Let’s let an engineer nerd out about it until we understand!

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