Whimsy Is Getting Us Through Uncertainty

Sometimes the answer is googly eyes on your door

As I’ve shared, my family has been navigating a deeply personal uncertainty over the past five months (see here and here if you missed it). The uncertainty isn’t going away anytime soon, and yet the demands of life continue.

While our particular brand of uncertainty is health-related, others are grappling with different types of uncertainty, including job uncertainty, and even career uncertainty, as AI comes for what we thought were stable professions. And we’re all, of course, faced with geopolitical, economic, and climate uncertainty.

It’s terrifying.

So how has my family been coping? By leaning into whimsy.

It’s not something we did intentionally (not on brand for Ms. Practically Deliberate, I realize.) But when I read a recent New York Times piece about the rise of whimsy as a larger trend that’s helping people maintain a sense of control amidst uncertainty [gift link], it became clear that we were on this bandwagon.

The New York Times piece describes whimsy as “a lifestyle that blends playfulness, spontaneity, and being present” that serves as a “form of everyday escapism.”¹ We’ve certainly adopted elements that are working for us.

Here are a few of my favorite examples:

• Strategically placed googly eyes. For April Fool’s Day this year, my kids and I decorated various household items — many in our fridge — with stick-on googly eyes from the stash of art supplies I panic-bought in the early weeks of Covid lockdown. April 1 has come and gone, but the eyes have stayed up. When I spy them on the carton we use to store hard-boiled eggs or above the lock on our front door, it makes me smile. We even turned the bottle we use to make sparkling water into a cyclops. There’s something about googly eyes that is entirely delightful. They’re low effort, high impact — and cheap! You can find them at any local craft store (or the giant behemoth that has gobbled up so many local craft stores).

I'm partial to the egg carton, personally

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• Taking turns positioning a 3D printed figure. My older son made a 3D printed figure in school, and like many things he brings home, it sat on our entryway dresser for a few weeks. One day, I decided to position him so he was doing the splits (he’s quite flexible). The next day, I saw that he was seated with one leg crossed jauntily over the other, looking contemplative. He’s also done a backbend, a handstand, and meditated, to name a few. It’s such a small thing, but it’s become a ritual we both look forward to. And as I’ve written about before, rituals are grounding.

Our flexible friend

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• Embracing unlikely emojis. A few months ago, a friend texted me a link to this Saturday Night Live skit, suggesting that my family watch it if we need a good laugh. I don’t want to ruin it for those haven’t seen it, but suffice it to say that it delivered. Since then, we’ve been responding to one another’s texts with RBF emojis, and they never fail to make me chuckle (if you have no idea what I’m talking about, take a 5 minute break and watch it now…I’ll wait).

Texts with my teenager that will make sense once you watch the video

Once you start looking for whimsy, you find it everywhere — that’s the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, a fancy term for how when something enters your radar, you notice it constantly, even though it was always there. It explains why, as I’ve embraced my inner whimsy, I’ve been more attuned to spotting things like yarn bombing; creative little free libraries; and fairy villages on my favorite local hiking trail. Please enjoy some of these whimsical things below.

Not a recent pic, but a favorite yarn bombing sighting in Bozeman, MT

How perfect is this Little Free Library?! And it's even more perfect when you zoom out.

I’ll see your fairy door and raise you an entire fairy village

I’m curious: is there a way you’ve embraced whimsy that’s helping you feel in control? Share it in the comments!

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Abby’s Latest

In the spirit of whimsy, I’m sharing a recent candy discovery my whole family has embraced (despite having very different candy preferences). These are not cheap, but they’re not your standard-issue sour candy, either. We’ve had good luck finding them locally but you can order direct from the source as well.

Deliberately yours,

Abby

1. Brian Josephs, “’Whimsy,’ a New Trend, May Be a Life Raft for Zillennials,” The New York Times, May 20, 2026.