5. Runner’s World
I’ve found that although I love running, that love usually comes AFTER the fact—in other words, once I’m finished with a run, I love it, but getting the motivation to get out the door…
That’s the hard part.
I’ve found that the best way to help me with my motivation is to constantly fill my mind with inspirational stories and tips about running, something Runner’s World does in every single paragraph. (Reading books such as Born to Run and Eat & Run have also been helping!)
So if you’d like to get into the running mood, check out this bible for runners.
4. Ladies’ Home Journal
This magazine is a recent discovery for me, but I have been seriously impressed so far–even though this magazine has its fair amount of fluff (I mean, check out the articles on the cover), it also has plenty more features that are definitely NOT just fluff—like one of the longest-running women’s feature columns in the U.S., “Can This Marriage Be Saved?,” which tells a (true) story of a marriage that seems doomed to fail, but then tells what happens after the couple seeks therapy and starts working on their union.
I love that this magazine is rooted in traditional values like family, marriage, and faith. While many magazines today shy away from acknowledging many of the values that our nation was built on, this one does not—even the celebrity interviews often talk about faith and religion, which I love.
3. Good Housekeeping
Another keeper of a magazine for upholding traditional values is Good Housekeeping, which I’ve subscribed to (and loved!) for almost two years now. To me, this magazine is all about how to make a house a home (but not with unrealistic Martha-Stewart-like expectations of perfection).
Two regular features I particularly like in this magazine:
*The column “Ask Heloise,” which is all about getting advice on how to clean or de-stain difficult surfaces or items (I’ve learned a ton of really valuable cleaning tricks this way!)
*The fact that each month, they run a feature on a type of consumer good (like vacuums or cars or beauty creams) where they’ve run the top products through hundreds of tests and tell you which ones came out on top. Not only that, but some of the best of the best products get the “Good Housekeeping” seal, which means that if you buy the product and for some reason don’t like it, Good Housekeeping will refund all your money. A company that’s willing to put its money behind the products it promotes?
That’s pretty awesome.
2. Country Living
To date, Country Living is the only magazine I’ve never had the heart to recycle after I’m done reading it. In my opinion, CL is the most visually stunning American magazine on the market today, and each month, I find myself breathlessly awaiting my new issue in the mailbox. I love the clean, elegant, and simple beauty promoted in the magazine, but I especially love that most of the time it actually seems ATTAINABLE. So many home decorating magazines feature ridiculously pricy renovations and furniture, but CL features a wide range of products, many of which are actually affordable (even for me!).
And as if all that weren’t enough, I should have you know that about half of my pins on Pinterest all come from this magazine—I don’t know how they do it so consistently, but Country Living consistently produces some of the most decadent photography and the most aesthetically beautiful homes and entertaining ideas I’ve ever seen. Plus, the magazine promotes a simple, close-to-the-land, ecologically responsible lifestyle, which I’ve been trying to incorporate more into my own life.
1. O the Oprah Magazine
And of course, my list could not be complete without the magazine I’ve been faithfully subscribing to for 8 years. The O Magazine consistently features articles that blow my mind, including articles by top authors, researchers, and poets. There are so many articles I’ve clipped out of this magazine so that I can have them forever—articles like the one about a couple who restored hundreds and thousands of dead acres in New Mexico and Arizona to their original, lush state, prompting the return of native (endangered) species. Or the article about Michael Pollan, the famed food researcher of our day, whose books In Defense of Food and Cooked have changed forever the way I feel about the food I put on my table and into my body.
Other features to love:
*I love how much Oprah promotes good literature. So many people in our world today seem to think that reading isn’t that important, and I’m so glad that someone so influential has made it one of her life’s missions to promote lifelong learning through the reading of great books.
*I also love the monthly column written each month by Martha Beck, a fully licensed therapist and excellent writer who talks about the psychological obstacles holding most of us back and how we can overcome them.
If you want a magazine of top quality, you cannot let this one pass you by.
Are you a fan of magazines? Any I missed?