How Hoda Kotb stays happy and positive amid COVID-19 and election fatigue.
By Heather Newgen
2020 has been a year. We're eight months into a deadly pandemic and we just experienced the most chaotic presidential election in our country's history, which has left us exhausted, on edge and burned out. While we can unplug to get a break from the negative news cycle, Hoda Kotb, the main co-anchor of the TODAY Show can't. Every morning she brings her infectious energy, huge smile and positivity that radiates through TV screens to viewers. So how does she stay so cheery during this uncertain and dark time?
"If you pause your morning and focus on a couple of good things, it really does change your brain chemistry. Before I look at my phone in the morning, before I see who said what about whom and what's our lead story and what are all my notes I need to read for the show, before I do anything, this is like 3:30 a.m., I literally after a shower, I sit downstairs and play the music that I love. I write down three things I'm grateful for," she told The Voluntourist.
Hoda added, "Literally sometimes I struggle with the third because you're like, 'I can't think of anything because I've got too much going on.' When you sit there your brain starts looking for those things. Literally when you're done with those three things you weirdly feel lighter. Then I write one amazing thing that happened the day before and I do it in the morning and not at night because I feel like morning is your reset. That coupled with a random act of kindness--I actually stole this whole thing from a TED Talk I saw. They were like, 'here's how to be happy,' and I'm like, 'what is it?' Write down the three things, one amazing thing that happened to you, do random acts of kindness, pray or meditate and exercise. They say if you do those five things daily, it will change how you feel."
In addition to her morning ritual, Hoda is mindful of the people she's around and takes note of how they contribute to her mood and well-being. If they're a constantly negative, she limits her time with them.
"The other thing I do is they say you're the sum total of the five people you spend the most time with. Choose wisely. If you're with someone who is constantly telling you how bad it is and is 'oh my God it's going to rain today and did you hear about so and so?' Have you ever had the friend that's like, 'did you hear?' You're like, 'please don't. Back up.' So I try to surround myself with five good people and if that doesn't work then it's straight booze and then everything is great. You gotta do what you gotta do," she joked.
You can catch Hoda every morning on the TODAY Show and in addition she'll be co-hosting the 94th annual Thanksgiving Day Parade live on NBC on Thursday, November 26 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. EST.