Today’s Solutions: December 20, 2025

Lifestyle

Alongside taking care of other people and the planet, make sure you take good care of yourself. The Lifestyle section at the Optimist Daily has solutions for everyday wellbeing on topics like food, beauty, fashion, and the latest trends. Curious about caring for houseplants, eating plant-based, or parenting tips? It’s all in there.

Why the breakfast omelet is th

Why the breakfast omelet is the perfect bedtime snack

If you’re one of those people who enjoy having breakfast for dinner, we have good news for you. According to nutrition specialist Uma Naidoo, M.D., author of This Is Your Brain on Food, eating breakfast for dinner can help you sleep better. Before you get too excited, Naidoo isn’t talking Read More...

Study suggests microdosing LSD

Study suggests microdosing LSD could provide pain relief

A first-of-its-kind study has found evidence that microdosing LSD may help to manage pain. The study, which was led by researchers from the Netherlands' Maastricht University and the University of Basel in Switzerland, lends some new empirical credence to theories first explored in the 1960s by Read More...

This eucalyptus-based hoodie c

This eucalyptus-based hoodie can be composted in your garden

Just over a year ago, we wrote about Vollebak, a Dutch clothing startup making T-shirts that you can bury in your backyard once you’re through with them. That’s because the shirts are made entirely out of wood pulp and algae, which breaks down in soil and becomes “worm food” within months. Read More...

Delivering bad news is hard. H

Delivering bad news is hard. Here’s how to get better at it

At one point in your life, you will find yourself in a role where you must deliver bad news. For some of us—such as the doctors or managers out there—this role might be played on a regular basis. And while it’s a part of life, that doesn’t make it any easier to be the messenger with bad Read More...

Australia is minting coins tha

Australia is minting coins that are designed to be given away

Australia has created a coin unlike any other in the world. It is a new Australian $1 coin that can be spent like any other money but is intended to be given away to people in need. With an image of Queen Elizabeth II on one side of the coin, the other side is stamped with the message: “Donation Read More...

Thought Leader Series: Post-pa

Thought Leader Series: Post-pandemic travel needs to be regenerative

Tourism has been decimated by the pandemic, but when travel returns, what will it look like? This week’s Thought Leader Series from The New York Times, shared with us by an Emissary, looks at the concept of regenerative travel and how we can take sustainable vacations one step Read More...

Zero-waste eye-mask is both co

Zero-waste eye-mask is both compostable and plastic-free

Along with plastic pollution associated with their packaging, skincare products often contain chemical ingredients that can have a harmful effect on the environment. Seeking to offer an eco-friendly alternative, sustainable beauty brand Haeckels has developed a zero-waste product that solves the Read More...

Venture capital firms collabor

Venture capital firms collaborate to offer African startups a pandemic lifeline

The pandemic has taken a toll on African start-ups. One estimate predicts that investment in African startups could drop by as much as 40 percent by the end of the year. In an effort to keep these companies afloat, Ventures Platform, an Abuja, Nigeria-based early-stage fund, is creating a relief Read More...

How to move on from regret

How to move on from regret

Uh oh. You thought you were making the right move, but it backfired and now you regret your actions. These feelings of regret can well up and leave us drained and frustrated. There’s no way to change the past, so here are eight ways to move on from regret and focus on the future.  Accept Read More...

Is your houseplant leaning to

Is your houseplant leaning to one side? Here’s how to fix that

When a plant is outdoors and surrounded by 360-degrees of sunlight, its auxin (plant hormone) levels are evenly distributed, and it can grow straight up towards the sky. But when you put a houseplant indoors by a bright window, it only gets light from one side. This causes the plant to grow Read More...