Better Read Book Festival

Perfect For

Better Read Book Fest is for readers interested in self-development, mental health and emotional wellbeing. It's for coaches, therapists and wellbeing practitioners. If you want to learn more about how you can support your own mental and emotional wellbeing this festival is for you.

Why You’ll Love It

Better Read Book Fest is the UK’s first literary festival dedicated entirely to wellbeing books. It's a one-day celebration of books focusing on self-development, mental health and emotional wellbeing, and their authors. The festival is taking place on Saturday 3 October in Abergavenny, south Wales.

What Makes It Special

Literary festivals may include books on mental health and self-development, and wellbeing festivals can feature wellbeing authors alongside workshops and practical experiences. But until now there hasn’t been a UK literary festival dedicated solely to books focused on personal development, mental health and emotional wellbeing, and their authors.

No workshops, no other genres, purely authors sharing their books, their experience, research and expertise with readers. These books provide validation, greater self-understanding and practical tools, empowering the reader where they’ve felt lost and alone, in an accessible form and price.

You will leave feeling inspired, informed, empowered and uplifted. 

The If Lost Take

When we first heard about a festival dedicated entirely to wellbeing books, it was an instant yes. It brings together so much of what we care about: wellbeing and words, connection and community, ideas and the people who love them too.

We believe there’s something powerful about the right book finding you at the right moment. It can steady you, shift your thinking, or simply help you feel a little less alone. And already, the authors announced for this festival feel like exactly those kinds of voices.

There’s also something quietly joyful about being in a room full of people who care about these books as much as you do — who know the non-fiction bestseller list almost as well as their local takeaway menu.

We’ve interviewed Gabrielle (and speaker Suzy Reading) on the podcast, and what stands out is the warmth and intention behind this festival. It’s been thoughtfully curated with a genuine belief in bringing people together around ideas — not to prescribe what wellbeing should look like, but to help each of us explore what it means in our own lives.

Founder’s Story | Gabrielle Treanor

“Years ago when I was struggling with anxiety, people-pleasing, overthinking and overwhelm (which I later discovered was due in part to my unrecognised ADHD) it was picking a book on positive psychology off the shelf in my local bookstore, and subsequently diving headfirst into wellbeing books, that gave me a sense of agency. In these books I found explanation and understanding as well as ideas and tools to support myself.

I then embarked on a journey which ultimately led to writing my own book, The 1% Wellness Experiment (published Dec 2023), and supporting others as an ADHD coach, writer and podcaster.

My respect and appreciation for the writers who pour their knowledge, skills, experience and heart into their wellbeing books inspired me to champion and celebrate this genre by creating Better Read Book Fest.”

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Some Practical Details

The festival is a day of interviews and panel discussions with the authors about their books, self-development, mental health and emotional wellbeing, and space to ask them questions. There will be the opportunity to purchase the authors’ books and have them signed by the authors. Festival merchandise will also be on sale. 

Authors confirmed so far are Suzy Reading, Natalie Lue, Dr Helen Wall and Natasha Page.

The festival won't be available online but there will be interviews with the authors in a special festival season on the Pressing Pause podcast.

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Venue: St Mary’s Priory Hall, Monk St, Abergavenny NP7 5ND

Date: 3rd October, 2026

Website | Social media

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Feeling Stuck Until You’re “More Confident”? Curiosity Might Be a Better Place to Start

“I’ll do this when I feel more confident.”

We tell ourselves we’ll speak up, make the change, apply for the role, take ourselves seriously, or move forward once confidence arrives. Once we feel braver, clearer, more certain about who we are and what we want.

But confidence has a habit of staying just out of reach.

Not because there’s something wrong with us, but because confidence is rarely the starting point we imagine it to be. For most people, confidence grows through experience, not before it. The problem is that waiting to feel confident can keep us stuck, circling the same questions, postponing decisions, and quietly reinforcing the idea that we need to become someone else before we’re allowed to act.

This is where curiosity offers a different way in.

Curiosity doesn’t ask you to believe in yourself. It doesn’t require certainty or bravery. It simply invites you to explore. What would happen if you tried this? What might you notice if you took one small step, not to prove anything, but to learn?

When you approach change with curiosity, the stakes are lower. You’re not asking yourself to succeed; you’re allowing yourself to gather information. A conversation becomes an experiment rather than a test. A new direction becomes something you’re exploring rather than committing to forever.

This shift matters because it changes how we relate to ourselves. Instead of measuring every move against an imagined ideal, curiosity keeps us in contact with our actual experience. Each step, however small, offers insight rather than judgement. Over time, that insight builds self-trust — and confidence follows.

Many people who want to feel more confident are really looking for something deeper: a sense that they can trust themselves, that they’re allowed to make choices without constant second-guessing, that they don’t need to have it all worked out in advance. Curiosity supports that kind of confidence because it stays close to what’s real. It helps you learn what fits, what doesn’t, and what feels meaningful in your own life.

If you’re feeling stuck, unsure, or waiting for confidence before you move forward, curiosity can be a more accessible starting point. It allows movement without demanding certainty. It gives you permission to begin where you are, rather than where you think you should be.

If confidence, decision-making, or feeling stuck are recurring patterns for you, coaching can be a supportive space to explore them more deeply. Coaching isn’t about fixing you or telling you what to do; it’s about understanding what’s going on beneath the surface and finding ways to move forward that feel steady, realistic, and impactful.

You don’t need to wait until you feel confident. You can start by getting curious.

If You’re Not Ready for New Year’s Resolutions, Try This Instead

January has a way of making people feel behind before the year has properly begun. Even if you resist it, there’s a low hum of expectation in the background — conversations about goals, questions about what you’re changing this year, lists forming almost by default. The start of a new year is meant to feel like the thrill of new beginnings, but for many people it lands more like a dulling pressure.

A lot of people arrive here in January wondering whether New Year’s resolutions ever really worked for them. Whether it’s worth writing them down again. Whether this is the year they finally follow through — or whether they’re already tired of trying to become a better version of themselves before the year has even settled.

If that sounds familiar, it’s worth saying this clearly: not feeling ready doesn’t mean you’re unmotivated. It often means you’re paying attention to where you really are right now.

Resolutions are built on an idea of certainty that most of us don’t actually have at the start of a year. They assume we know what needs changing, that we’re ready to commit to it, and that progress happens best when we draw a sharp line between who we were and who we’re supposed to become. But life doesn’t tend to work in clean breaks. We carry the previous year with us — its questions, its fatigue, its unfinished business — and January doesn’t erase any of that.

That’s one reason resolutions can feel fragile. They ask us to decide too much, too soon, at a moment when many of us are still finding our footing, and in the middle of the grey days of winter too.

There’s another way to begin, one that doesn’t require reinvention or resolve. Curiosity.

Curiosity doesn’t ask you to map the year ahead. It doesn’t demand a plan or a promise. It invites you to notice what’s already happening and stay in relationship with it. Instead of asking what you should change this year, curiosity asks what’s worth paying attention to right now. Instead of pushing for answers, it allows you to explore.

This matters because curiosity works with real life, not an idealised version of it. You can be curious about when you feel most yourself and when you feel depleted. You can notice patterns in how you spend your time, what you avoid, what you keep returning to. You can start to understand what supports you and what quietly drains you, without turning those observations into a verdict on who you are.

For many people, the desire behind a resolution is something simple and human: to feel more confident, to enjoy life more, to feel steadier or more successful in a way that actually fits. Curiosity doesn’t get in the way of those hopes. It gives them room to grow.

One of the most freeing things about curiosity is that it removes the pressure to be ready. You don’t need a word for the year. You don’t need a perfect starting point. You don’t need to know where you’ll end up. You can begin with interest instead of intention, learning as you go rather than judging yourself for not having it all figured out.

That’s often where meaningful change starts — not from fixing yourself, but from understanding yourself better. From noticing what matters, what’s shifting, and what might need a little more care.

If you’re questioning whether New Year’s resolutions work, or whether there’s a gentler way to start the year, this week’s episode of A Thought I Kept explores curiosity as a way of approaching life without pressure. In this conversation with Rebecca Frank, wellbeing editor of The Simple Things, we talk about navigating January without having to change everything about yourself — and how curiosity might offer a different, and steadier, place to begin.

HowTheLightGetsIn Festival

Perfect For

Anyone who feels most alive when they’re learning something new. For the curious, the restless, the thinkers and the dreamers—the ones who want their minds moved as much as their bodies.

Why You’ll Love it

Ideas sit so close to wonder here. New thinking propels your imagination forward, with academics out of the universities and into fairground fields, dancing late into the night.

You’ll spend your days soaking up mind-expanding discussions on subjects like black holes, AI, anxiety, and epidemiology, and your evenings beneath glitter balls at riverside discos or swaying to live music.

It’s a rare space where Nobel Prize winners and Grammy award-winners share the same billing—and where you leave feeling stretched in the best way.

What Makes It Special

HowTheLightGetsIn is the world’s largest philosophy and music festival (that these go together says it all). It’s not just about intellectual sparring or abstract debate—it’s about weaving ideas into real life, combining heavyweight talks with laughter, connection, and dance.

The magic comes from the mix: sitting under a tent roof in the afternoon listening to leading thinkers, then catching comedy sets or live bands as the sun goes down.

The Story Behind It

It all starts with the name.

“There is a crack in everything… that’s how the light gets in.”

These Leonard Cohen lyrics trace the festival’s origin story and tone. The “light” here is unarguably ideas—but also a reminder that light comes through imperfections, through play, through music, and through gathering. Held bi-annually, the festival takes over Hay-on-Wye each spring for one long, invigorating weekend, and Greenwich in the autumn for a shorter city edition.

The If Lost Take

HowTheLightGetsIn isn’t just about absorbing knowledge—it’s about feeling the spark of aliveness that comes when we expand. This festival offers intellectual adventure and playful escape all at once: a space to be both serious and silly, thoughtful and joyful, stretched and soothed. For anyone seeking a festival that feeds both brain and soul, this is your place.

Practical details

Location: Hay-on-Wye, Wales

Tickets: A range of options available, including day and Flexi passes. Under-25s and students receive a 40% discount; children under 12 attend free.

Accommodation: Choose from self-pitch camping, pre-pitched tents, or glamping.

Accessibility: The festival is committed to inclusivity, with accessible facilities and support.

More info & booking here

How to Find Your Way Back to Something That Feels Like Wonder

There’s a part of you — a quiet, flickering part — that still wants to feel something.

It’s not loud. It doesn’t shout. It doesn’t demand attention.

But it’s there. Beneath the routines, the responsibilities, the relentless noise of everything that needs doing. A small ache. A soft whisper. A sense that life could feel… more alive again.

Not bigger. Not busier. Not more impressive.

Just with more of you in it.

I know that feeling.

I’ve stood in the middle of my life and wondered where my curiosity went.

Where my joy went.

Where my sense of play or possibility or even lightness had gone.

And I’ve looked at my full calendar, my full shelves, my full days — and felt strangely empty inside them.

It’s not that anything was wrong. It’s just that something had quietly dimmed. Something I hadn’t even noticed slipping away.

And for a long time, I told myself I just needed a break. Or a holiday. Or a good night’s sleep. But what I was really missing was something else that I’d been overlooking for a while:

Wonder.

Not in the magical, childlike, fireworks-and-miracles kind of way (though maybe sometimes that too).

But in the sense of being moved by something again.

Touched. Stirred. Lit up, even momentarily, by something that reminded me I was still human, still noticing, still capable of feeling something beyond obligation or exhaustion.

And slowly — gently — I began to find my way back.

Not through anything big or profound. Just small shifts in attention.

Small moments.

I started capturing tiny glimmers each day. Nothing curated or worthy or remarkable — just things that made me feel something, even briefly.

A painting that enlivened something in me.

A phrase that landed well.

The smell of toast.

A pop song on the journey to school.

The sound of rain on the roof while I lay in bed on a Sunday morning.

These weren’t dramatic changes. But they were enough to soften something.

They were enough to remind me that I could still feel.

That I could still find beauty in things.

That I could still belong to my own life.

Because that’s what wonder does — it brings you back.

Not just to the world, but to yourself.

So if you’ve been feeling flat, a little grey around the edges, a little disconnected from the feeling of joy or inspiration or spontaneity — start smaller.

Don’t search for a grand purpose or a huge transformation — ways to blow up your life or burn it down.

Search for texture. For moments. For anything that catches your breath or relax your shoulders or makes you pause and think: Yes. That.

That’s enough.

That’s the beginning.

That’s wonder — quietly making its way back to you.

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How Might Wonder Show Up In Your Well-being Prescription?

If you’re curious about how to bring more awe and wonder back into your days, book one of our sessions to create your tailored well-being plan.

You can opt to look at how wonder could show up more in your life, how to follow curiosity wherever it leads you, and how to seek out the interesting during these midlife days.

Learn about our wonder pathway here and how our well-being prescriptions work here.

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Subscribe to our special midlife newsletter for tailored advice about navigating this part of your life with more curiosity and wonder.

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What Coaching Really Is (and Isn’t): A Q&A for Curious People

Maybe you’ve been reading along for a while now — nodding, recognising something in yourself, slowly starting to feel seen again.

And maybe, quietly, you’ve wondered…

Would coaching help me?

Is it for someone like me?

Do I even know what it really is?

We hear those questions a lot.

So here are our non-sales-speak answers (because there’s already too much hustle in this industry).

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Q: Is coaching just life advice?

Not at all.

In fact, coaching isn’t advice-giving.

It’s not someone telling you what to do.

It’s not a checklist or a five-step plan or a quick fix.

Coaching is a conversation where you get to hear yourself more clearly.

It’s space.

It’s reflection.

It’s being asked the kinds of questions that help you untangle what’s really going on beneath the surface, in a way that feels safe, not exposing.

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Q: But I’m not trying to “transform my life.” Would coaching still be useful?

Absolutely.

Coaching doesn’t have to be about big reinventions.

In fact, the most powerful work often starts in the smallest moments — when you notice what you’re tired of carrying, or what you’ve been quietly craving, or what part of you you’ve been ignoring.

You don’t need a grand plan.

You just need a willingness to come back into focus again.

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Q: I’ve seen a lot of shiny coaching online. I’m not sure that’s for me.

Us too.

And this isn’t that.

Our coaching isn’t about perfection or even performance.

It’s about being human, and finally having a space where you don’t have to keep holding it all together.

There’s no hype here. No positive vibes only.

Just grounded, clear, thoughtful support for the real version of you — the one who’s doing her best, even when she’s unsure what that looks like anymore.

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Q: Do I need a goal to bring to coaching?

No. You just need to bring yourself.

You don’t need a mission statement or a project plan.

Sometimes the goal is simply: to feel like yourself again.

To hear your own thoughts. To name your own needs. To soften.

That’s more than enough to begin.

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Q: What even happens in a session? What do we actually do?

We talk. We pause. We ask better questions. We listen inward.

Sometimes there are tears. Sometimes laughter. Sometimes we sit in silence for a moment because something lands, and that alone is a shift.

We might name what you’re carrying.

We might explore what’s underneath the overwhelm.

We might simply ask: Where do you want to feel more like yourself again?

It’s not a script. It’s not therapy.

It’s a gentle, guided space for self-connection — at your pace, in your language.

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Q: Who is this really for?

It’s for the woman who’s wondering what happened to her spark.

The one who feels emotionally full but strangely flat.

The one who wants to feel seen, not just by the world (that would be nice too), but by herself.

It’s for the woman who’s quietly tired of being the person everyone relies on… but doesn’t know where to put her own feelings.

It’s for you, if something in you has whispered:

I want more space. I want to feel more real. I want to come back to myself.

It’s for you if you have questions and you’re living in the space between.

It’s for you if you just need to press pause on life for an hour.

If this sounds familiar, we think you’ll find these sessions exactly what you need right now.

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There is nothing we love to do more then hold the space for you and to ask the big questions that hold the shifts you need.

You can read more about our Coaching Sessions here and our current Drop-Ins here.

And if you’re not on our mailing list, join here, for more guidance for all your lost days.

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Less Stress, More Care: Tailor Self-Care to Your Real Life

Does it ever feel like self-care has become just another to-do list item?

Between “perfect morning routines,” endless lists of self-care must-dos, and the latest wellness trends, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Instead of feeling better, you might find yourself feeling more exhausted.

But what if self-care could actually be about less? Less pressure, less perfection, and more about what genuinely supports you?

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Why Self-Care Feels Like Another Task on Your To-Do List

Everywhere you look, there’s advice on how to meditate better, eat cleaner, or optimize your downtime. We’re bombarded by messages about self-care that often seem to suggest we need to add more things to our already busy lives. The result? Many of us feel like we’re failing at self-care. Instead of feeling relaxed and rejuvenated, we’re left stressed out and exhausted, wondering if we’re doing it all wrong.

But self-care isn’t supposed to be another area where you feel like you need to excel. It’s about supporting yourself in a way that feels right for you. It’s time to rethink self-care, moving beyond the latest trends and finding what truly helps you reconnect, recharge, and feel good.

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How to Make Self-Care Yours—And Actually Enjoy It

How do we do that? By shifting from a one-size-fits-all approach to a personalized one. These five practices will help you make self-care yours, focusing on what genuinely fits your life and needs.

1. Identify Your “Non-Negotiables”

What are the small actions that make a big difference in your day? Maybe it’s your morning cup of coffee, a quiet walk, or five minutes of stretching. By figuring out the few things that you genuinely need to feel good, you can prioritize them no matter how busy your day gets. Your non-negotiables are the anchors that keep you steady, even when everything else is chaotic.

2. Create a ‘Done for Today’ Ritual

We’re often caught up in a cycle of constant productivity, but self-care can start with the simple act of letting go. Establish a small ritual to mark the end of your workday, whether it’s turning off your computer, lighting a candle, or putting on your favorite music. By creating a boundary between your work and personal time, you give yourself permission to relax and unwind without guilt.

3. Experiment with Micro-Moments of Self-Care

Self-care doesn’t have to be a grand gesture. It can be as simple as taking a deep breath, stepping outside for a minute, or savoring a piece of chocolate. Think of it as sprinkling little moments of care throughout your day rather than waiting for a big break. These micro-moments can be powerful ways to reset and recharge, especially when you don’t have time for a full routine.

4. Embrace the Power of Saying “No”

Sometimes the best self-care is knowing when to set boundaries. If you’re someone who often says yes to others, start practicing the power of a gentle “no.” Declining an extra project, skipping an event, or simply carving out time for yourself is not selfish—it’s essential. By saying no to what drains you, you’re saying yes to your well-being.

5. Revisit an Old Hobby or Passion

Self-care can also be about reconnecting with things you once loved but have set aside. Whether it’s painting, gardening, reading, or playing an instrument, revisiting an old hobby can bring a sense of joy and fulfillment. It’s a reminder that self-care is not just about maintaining your well-being but also about nourishing your passions and interests.

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There’s No ‘Right’ Way to Self-Care—Only What Feels Right to You

Self-care shouldn’t be a source of stress. It could be a way to bring a little more joy, ease, and connection into your life. By identifying your non-negotiables, creating rituals, embracing micro-moments, learning to say no, and revisiting old passions, you can create a self-care practice that feels authentic, attainable, and genuinely helpful.

There’s no right or wrong way to do it—just your way. So, how will you make self-care yours today?

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Ready to Make Self-Care Simple?

Sign up for our free guide, 5 Ways to a Better Well, and discover easy, practical tips to boost your well-being every day. Get started on your journey to feeling better, one step at a time.

Feeling lost in the wellness world? Here’s how to find your way back.

The wellness world can feel like an endless cycle of "shoulds" — wake up early, meditate, run five miles, eat perfectly clean, and somehow stay balanced. But what if all those routines don’t fit into your life? What if, instead of feeling better, you feel even more overwhelmed by the pressure to do more?

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Well-being Isn’t One-Size-Fits-All: Here’s What Really Matters

We’ve all been there — staring at the screen, scrolling through endless wellness advice that promises to change everything, only to feel discouraged when we can’t seem to keep up. It’s hard not to compare ourselves to others and feel like we’re falling short. The truth is, that the wellness industry has created an unattainable standard for many of us. It suggests that wellness is only for those with time, energy, and resources to spare, and it forgets that real people have real — often messy, unpredictable, and busy — lives.

But here’s the thing: wellness shouldn’t make you feel like you’re failing. True well-being isn’t about working your way through someone else’s routine. It’s about reconnecting with yourself, finding balance, and doing what works for you. Whether it’s carving out time for a walk in the park, engaging in creative activities, or simply taking a deep breath amidst the chaos of daily life, well-being is deeply personal.

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A Personalized Well-being Prescription: Tailored to Your Life

That’s why we’ve developed Bespoke Well-being Prescriptions. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, we focus on creating a personalized well-being practice that works for you. This isn’t about keeping up with wellness trends — it’s about understanding what truly makes you feel good and building that into your daily life.

With our program, you’ll receive a Bespoke Prescription for Everyday Life, which includes practical tools, emotional support, and Culture Therapy recommendations. These sessions are designed to explore what well-being means to you personally, and how you can create space for it in your unique reality.

We start with a free call to get to know you and your needs. From there, you can choose a 90-minute starter session or dive into our twelve-session program, where we’ll guide you step-by-step to craft a sustainable well-being practice that fits your life. Whether you’re searching for emotional balance, creative fulfillment, or just more peace, this program will help you get there.

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From Overwhelm to Balance: Your Well-being, Your Way

Imagine waking up feeling like you have a handle on your day — not because you’ve mastered the perfect routine, but because you’ve crafted a well-being practice that fits into your life effortlessly. You feel more grounded, more connected to yourself, and more capable of handling life’s ups and downs.

With your Bespoke Well-being Prescription, you’ll have the tools and insights you need to feel better, not just today, but every day. You’ll experience the benefits of a life that feels good to you — one where you’re thriving emotionally, mentally, and physically, without the pressure to be someone you’re not.

Ready to begin your journey? Find your unique way to better well-being today with a free call and see where life can take you.

Embrace the magic of September’s new beginning

September is here, and with it comes the promise of fresh starts, new beginnings, and that unmistakable “back-to-school” energy that fills the air. For many of us, it’s not just the kids heading back to class; it’s a time for us to rediscover our own rhythm and seize the moment to create the life we truly desire.

From Summer Chaos to September Calm

This morning, I found myself savoring my first hot coffee in what feels like weeks, the house was finally quiet after dropping my daughter off for her first day of school. The hustle and bustle of summer, with its constant activity and joyful chaos, has given way to a serene, almost sacred silence. After weeks of juggling too many things (and learning which balls were made of glass and which were just plastic), it was a moment of calm.

September always brings a whirlwind of emotions: anxiety about the unknown, the inevitable scramble to find a missing shoe, the thrill of new beginnings, and a wistful glance back at summer’s cherished memories. But amidst all these feelings, there’s a powerful sense of hope—a belief that this new school year isn’t just for the kids, but for us too. It’s a chance to start over, a blank page ready to be filled with whatever we choose.

Turning New Beginnings into Lasting Change

September’s gentle nudge feels different from January’s forceful push. There’s less pressure to be perfect, and more space to figure out what matters. It’s like the first page of a new notebook, where anything is possible. This week, as I navigated the usual back-to-school rush—ordering uniforms, helping with geography coursework, and planning for the months ahead—I also took a moment for myself. I paused to review the key areas of my life that often get overlooked but are essential to my happiness.

What I found were three areas in need of more attention: social connections, creativity, and mind-body practices. I realized that these aspects of my life are what truly nourish me, yet they’re the first to be neglected in the chaos of daily life. So, this season, I’m committing to nurturing relationships, embracing my creative writing journey, and exploring ways to move my body that support both my physical and mental well-being.

Your Path to a Joyful, Fulfilled September

So, what about you? What areas of your life are calling out for attention as we step into this new season? Maybe, like me, it’s about deepening connections, unleashing your creativity, or finding harmony between mind and body. Or perhaps your focus lies in digital wellbeing, meaningful work, or contributing to your community.

What new start might September bring for you?

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Join Us in Seeking a Better Way to Well

The path to well-being isn’t linear—it’s personal, evolving, and sometimes messy. What matters is finding what works for you.

If you’re looking for a way to start, we’ve created A Better Way to Well, a free five-part email series designed to help you cut through the noise and connect with what truly matters. You’ll receive practical, research-backed prompts to help you reflect, reset, and create your own personalized approach to well-being.

Sign up here and take the first small step toward feeling better in your everyday life.

Reads to make your summer that much better

What makes the perfect summer read? Is it the latest bestseller purchased in the airport while racing to your flight? Is it the book your sister-in-law just finished, passed to you across the beach lounger? Or is it a book you bought long ago that you’ve never quite had the time for until now?

We’ve rounded up our picks for summer reading this year. Some are recent hits. For others all the chatter happened a while ago. Books are made to last so we’ve included a selection of our favorites from different moments, for different moods, and with different intentions.

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The One You Won’t Want to Put Down | Romantic Comedy, Curtis Sittenfeld

To be read by the pool. On the plane. In bed in the morning. At any moment you can grab really. Curtis Sittenfeld's Romantic Comedy is a witty and insightful exploration of love and modern relationships set against the backdrop of a late-night comedy show. With sharp humor and relatable characters, this novel offers a fresh take on the classic rom-com genre. If the sun isn’t warming you, this book will.

The Joyful Read | Still Life, Sarah Winman

Probably the book we most recommend at the moment. We read this earlier in the year and regretted that we hadn’t sooner. Sarah Winman's Still Life is a heartwarming tale that spans decades, blending art, love, and friendship in post-war Florence. At a moment when we’re only ever reminded about what divides us, this book shows how we can make our lives better by connecting, both wildly and with joy.

The Darker And Twistier One | The Marriage Portrait, Maggie O’Farrell

And the opposite, though still a great read that you’ll tear through. Maggie O'Farrell's The Marriage Portrait is a captivating historical novel that transports readers to Renaissance Italy, unraveling the life of Lucrezia de Medici through a richly woven tapestry of art, power, and intrigue. Full of twists, turns, and surprises.

The Secret Find | Enchanted April, Elizabeth von Arnim

We picked this up after our local bookshop Winstone’s made it their book club pick of the month. Knowing nothing about Enchanted April this book has become one of our surprise reads of the year. Elizabeth von Arnim's novel published in 1922 is a delightful escape to a sun-drenched Italian castle, where four women find renewal and unexpected friendships. If you want to still believe in people’s capacity to change and to surprise themselves, read this. Though it captures the magic of springtime and renewal, it’s still perfect for a summer when we’re all longing to feel more hopeful.

The Heavy Book That Shouldn’t Have A Place In Your Suitcase But Does | Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

Summer doesn’t have to mean new. Or light. Or contemporary. It can mean older, weighty, and historical. During the non-summer months, we often fall asleep after a few pages because we are so, so exhausted. But on vacation, with the promise of more hours free, that also hopefully means more hours for reading. That’s where Wolf Hall (and the following two books in the series) can come in. Hilary Mantel's masterful historical novel brings to life the complex and cunning world of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII. With its rich detail and compelling narrative, this Booker Prize-winning book will immerse you in the political intrigue and drama of Tudor England. Deeply engrossing, you’ll ignore everyone you’re on holiday with.

The One Everyone Else Has Read (and Watched) Except You | One Day, David Nicholls

Yes, we spent spring talking about the Netflix show. Yes, there’s another book out by David Nicholls that we’re falling for too. But in case you haven’t read One Day, do. Not just a beautifully crafted love story between the seemingly mismatched Emma and Dexter as we revisit their lives on the same day each year, but a nostalgic remembering of the two decades that it spans. It may even have you longing for a pre-smartphone age.

The One That Will Have You Thinking | Such a Fun Age, Kiley Reid

This came out some years ago but it’s still lodged in our heads. Such a Fun Age is a sharp and thought-provoking novel that delves into issues of race, privilege, and identity through the lens of a young Black babysitter and her well-meaning employer. Summer reading doesn’t have to mean throwaway; it can include those books that just stay with you through the years. This is one of them.

The Trusted And True One | Tom Lake, Ann Patchett

Really anything by Ann Patchett. Could be The Dutch House, Commonwealth or These Precious Days. We’re mid Tom Lake, and we couldn’t leave this off the list. Already we’re been drawn into one of those intimate stories that only Patchett can tell. It’s a beautifully crafted novel that explores themes of love, memory, and family through the lens of a summer theater production in Michigan. By the time you read this, we will have finished it and will be reaching for the next Patchett novel. We’re slightly envious that you’ve yet to start.

The Ultimate Summer Read By The Ultimate Summer Author | People We Meet on Vacation, Emily Henry

Pick anything by Emily Henry and you’ve got the perfect summer escape. We first discovered her with Beach Read which is exactly what it says on the cover. People We Meet on Vacation is a delightful and heartwarming romance that follows the evolving friendship and love between travel writer Poppy and her best friend Alex. An easy, breezy summer read.

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Let us know if any of these become your favorite summer read. And tell us about other book discoveries from this summer or those long past.

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Love books as much as we do? Explore our Culture Therapy series or book an appointment to match the best podcasts, books, or series with what ails you.

Reignite your spark: 5 playful ways to nourish your curiosity and boost your well-being

When we’re feeling a bit lost, disconnected, or overwhelmed, we might not think of taking the temperature of our curiosity. Instead, we might try to eat better, move more, or sleep in.

But cultivating more curiosity in your life can be a game-changer serving as the very fuel you need to guide you back to a place of joy and connection.

But how to do this when curiosity can feel harder to nourish than our bodies? Let’s explore five playful ways to feed your curiosity and lift your spirits.

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1. Dive into independent magazines: Your new paper adventure

Sure, we all love a good digital scroll, but there’s something magical about flipping through the pages of a magazine. It’s the very kind of tactile and analog experience that we might all be losing touch with.

Independent magazines can be your go-to for a refreshing dose of inspiration. Visit indie magazine stores like Magalleria in Bath or Mag Culture in London and wander the aisles for new reads. Or subscribe to services like Free Range Magazines and Stack Magazines to get a surprise read delivered to your door.

Indie magazines often cover niche topics and unique perspectives that you might not stumble upon otherwise, sparking new interests and ideas.

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2. Discover new Podcasts: Your portable therapy and entertainment

Podcasts are like a buffet for your brain — there’s something for every palate. We’re always hunting for new takes even as we add another new listen to our queue.

Great resources for discovering new shows include Feed the Queue and Your Next Podcast. Whether you’re driving, walking, or just chilling at home, a good podcast can be both a companion and a guide through life’s complexities.

Podcasts can introduce you to big ideas, new perspectives, or even a bit of free therapy.

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3. Explorer days: Rediscovering the joy of local adventures

Ever feel stuck in a weekend rut, not knowing what to do? Enter "Explorer Days," a fun way to rebrand leaving the house and discovering new places. It’s a simple reframe that can help you break free from your routine and explore the possibilities of nearby places.

Here’s how it works: Create your own Explorer Formula. Yours could involve visiting an indie coffee shop, a bakery, a creative space, and a bookstore — ideally with a scenic spot nearby. Or maybe it needs to include charity shops, a local museum, and a pub, preferably with some greenery around.

Some of our favorite places to explore include Lyme Regis, Totnes, Stroud, Point Reyes, and Alameda. What’s your explorer formula? Share your favorite spots!

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4. Embrace the experiment: Tiny glimmers of curiosity in daily life

Life can sometimes feel like an endless to-do list, but weaving small moments of curiosity into your day can make a huge difference. Create and have to hand feel-good prompts to help explore new things and keep your curiosity alive. These can be little micro-adventures you can do anywhere, whether you’re out and about or cozy at home.

Adopting a mindset of experimentation means being open to trying new things, even if they’re just tiny tweaks to your daily routine. Maybe it’s a new recipe, a different route for your daily walk, or a spontaneous visit to a local art gallery. The key is to stay curious and open to where these small changes can lead you.

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5. Books, always: Reconnect with the magic of reading

Now that life has gone on Zoom, it can be easy to forget the joy of getting out of the house and connecting with inspiring people in-person. Seek out author talks and literary festivals and discover how enriching these experiences can be. You’ll leave feeling inspired and with a fresh perspective.

If getting out feels like a chore, remember that there’s always the simple pleasure of getting lost in a good book at home. Books can be gateways to new worlds, ideas, and conversations. You might already find yourself surrounded by books you haven’t shelved yet, but there’s a certain joy in that organized chaos.

For a seamless blend of curiosity and convenience, pair a good book with a related podcast. This way, you can dive deeper into topics that fascinate you.

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Over to you: Where could your curiosity take you?

Now that you have these playful ways to nurture your curiosity, which will you choose to do? Where do you go to feed your curiosity already? How could curiosity connect to your mental and emotional well-being?

Remember, curiosity isn’t just about seeking information — it’s about opening your mind and stretching your world. While online curiosity can lead us down endless digital rabbit holes, true curiosity thrives in the real world, where books, people, and natural wonders abound.

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More Curiosity, More Joy

Curiosity is one of our company’s core values, which is why we created our Well-being Prescriptions. You’ll discover how curiosity can enhance your mental and emotional well-being. You’ll also get to create curiosity-based practices to help you feel happier, calmer, and more confident.

Whether you’re navigating life’s twists and turns or simply seeking to add more adventure to your days, the tools and prompts you’ll learn will help you harness your curiosity in ways that feel right for you.

Your only challenge? To see how you best feed your curiosity. Happy exploring!

Life advice for the spiritually-curious

Today we have a guest post from Hannah Carey, the founder of Rewild The Empress, a place and community in which there is infinite space for self-acceptance.

In Hannah’s practice, she supports the spiritually curious as they navigate, discover and recommit to living in an authentic and aligned way: “to be the me you were always meant to be”. Rewilders often come from a place of feeling destined for more and, at the same time, fear they may not be enough or that they are unfulfilled and failing. Something that Hannah has experienced first-hand as she writes here:

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Spirituality for me has become about confronting the conscious unrest within us.

But it wasn’t always that way: I was brought up in an informally Christian household, was baptised and attended traditional schools in which formal religion, regular chapel attendance and hymns were woven throughout the school week. My weekends ended on Sundays at 6 pm with a Sunday Service or Hymn Practice, the school’s version of informality.

Internally I was already rejecting the patriarchal God our Father, the Almighty and the governor of us all. It wasn’t me and didn’t align with my values of Freedom, Authenticity and Personal Growth.

And yet my heart rejoiced when an entire congregation of people sang in unison and in troubled times I found the voice in my head speaking to a higher power – I assumed God.

And so commenced the constant narrative of right or wrong, god or no god, and the general black-and-white thinking that goes with this, which might also be familiar to you.

As a teenager (pre-google, damn and pre-mainstream internet access) I bought tarot cards and explored. I read about paganism, and astrology. I aligned with nature and the cycle of the year. But wasn’t this “Witchcraft”? I couldn’t call myself a witch and be taken seriously – at 15 I knew enough to know that it was safer to keep it quiet.

Years passed by and in the many times of existential crisis in my 20s I muddled through beating myself up with the shame stick (it’s one of my personal favourites – what’s yours?). I figured I was agnostic, got married in a church because I rationalised that there was ‘something there’ and it may as well be God and continued to aspire to success and fitting-in-ness so unaligned with my personal values I wound up deeply misshapen and lost. I viewed it as ‘just the way it is’ and carried on.

But that internal compass just wouldn’t let it go. The conscious unrest ebbed and flowed like a tide and every so often I allowed my inner self a small win… I closed a ‘successful business’ searching for more. I took a slight detour down ‘what the fuck were you thinking avenue’ and finally landed at a rest stop in which I dusted off my tarot cards, took a deep breath and shuffled.

Death, The Emperor, The Hanged Man and 10 coins stared back at me. Plain as day my ‘god’ was telling me – Change it girl. You are meant for more.

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Hannah is one of our ‘People We Love’ - handpicked practitioners who can help us feel better in our lives. To work with Hannah reach out to her here (we may get affiliate fees which help support our work but in no way influences who we choose to feature).

Hannah offers coaching in all areas of life whilst exploring your personal version of spirituality.

By recognising where systems, structures and history may have led you astray, unpicking family dynamics, the messaging you took on from the big people around you as you grew up, and your beliefs and the “shoulds” that keep you small and unfulfilled, you’ll get to re-decide and choose to do life differently.

Whether it’s through modalities like Astrology, Human Design, or the lunar cycles,  you will get to connect with yourself and deepen your self-awareness. Hopefully, from working with Hannah you’ll discover that there is a glorious permission and freedom that comes from knowing you are whole and OK just as you are.

Find Your Way to a Better Place

As we've navigated our anxieties and everyday life together, we've learned that returning to the basics, again and again, is what serves us best — reaching out to a friend, putting our phones away, going on a daily walk — but we still get distracted by the latest well-being trends and cute social media posts that sell us something different.

We've been supporting each other, and now our clients, to develop an everyday well-being practice that focuses on what matters and filters out all the noise so that we can feel more confident and connected throughout the ups and downs. We've found that when we're lost, we return back to this practice again and again and again. It brings us back to ourselves, creates space to move (in the direction we want, not one that we unheedingly follow), and reduces those familiar feelings of being unmoored, fearful, or full of self-doubt.

We want to share this practice with you too and have distilled this into our new Find Your Way Reset designed to reorientate your life to what really matters. To bring more of what you need into your everyday life. And to discover more of what makes you feel good.

Where will it take you?

Where do you want to begin?

Before I became certified as a coach I had some ideas about what this profession was — big personalities, large audiences, lots of ‘motivational speaking’ — so much so that I hesitated to train for a very long time. Finding coaches who were nothing like this — who listened, created a safe space, and challenged yes, but supported also — led me to rethink some of my biases.

You may also have some thoughts about who coaches are and what they (or rather we now) do, so I thought I’d try and dispel some of your own myths.

Or maybe you haven’t come across this helping profession — you’re more familiar with its sister practitioners counseling, therapy, or mentoring. Maybe you are curious to just know more. Hopefully, this helps you gain an inkling of what it is and if you would benefit from coaching,

So what is coaching?

The ICF (the prestigious international accrediting body) defines coaching as “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.”

But what I love about coaching is that we (the coach and the client) co-create the experience together. See sessions as a structured conversation, where the coach walks by your side.

Coaching is client-driven – you set the focus of the session – and the coach partners with you to identify what you want to explore, facilitate new insight and learning, and find a way to create what you need in your life.

And it’s non-directional – which means that the coach won’t tell you what to do – but will hold the space for you to think and discover, clarify and align with what you want to achieve in your life. The coach’s role is to encourage reflection and self-discovery, help you reach strategies and solutions for your life, and to hold you accountable where you need this.

Sessions can be exploratory, giving space for you to think and reflect (maybe for the first time), and enabling you to take your thoughts in new directions.

Or sessions might be more goal focused, formulating the steps to take you from where you are to where you want to be while figuring out the resources, support, and skills you need to get you there.

You may end a session with something to work on or something to process, or a shift in how to show up in your world and how you think about it.

And what coaching isn’t.

This is key: It’s not consulting, therapy, counseling, or mentoring. In coaching sessions you can work in depth – you may touch on limiting beliefs, learning from earlier experiences, and even relational dynamics – but you’ll do this in a forward-focused way and in relation to a goal or a desired change.

If during sessions, you or your coach feel that you are better served by someone else (like a trauma-informed coach or a psychotherapist), or a resource outside of the coaching practice, these may be suggested to you.

How do I work?

In my training, I learned how to coach the whole person and work holistically across different coaching approaches and modalities, including Positive Psychology, Transactional Analysis, and Neuroscience, which help to understand what it means to be a person in this world, and how we can possibly do life with all that life can contain. As a Trainee Emotions Coach Practitioner, I'm learning how to help clients make contact with the full range of their emotions and use this awareness to bring insights and shifts to their lives.

In our sessions together, clients can be assured of a safe space, thoughtful inquiry, and openness to what they would like to bring. My approach is always shaped by courage and compassion (and challenge framed within both if needed).

5 expansive questions to ask yourself:

In coaching sessions, you’ll be asked some situationally-appropriate questions to bring more awareness into your life, like these:

1. Where are you now in your life?

2. Where would you like to be?

3. What sits in the gap between the two?

4. Where do you want the first steps to take you?

5. What’s most meaningful to you in your life? Is this showing up in ways you like?

Grab a pen and paper and take a moment to answer these. Is anything coming up for you? Any new learning?

If you had the opportunity to be coached, how would you like to use it?

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If you’re interested in knowing more, finding out how coaching can specifically help you, and curious about how to move forwards in your life, let’s chat (sounds scary but really it’s just a conversation to get to know each other and find out how we can best work together). Or check out some options for 1:1 coaching here.

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A Magazine Prescription from Magalleria

When we first started If Lost, Start Here, we knew that we wanted to take a broader view of the things that make us feel good in life. Wellness can mean yoga and spa retreats, but it can also mean finding connection dancing to live music, planting your own magical terrarium to find your way back to nature, and refining your emotional intelligence at a School of Life.

Restoring our own equilibrium, and helping others find their balance, has meant searching far and wide for the therapeutic in the everyday. That’s where Bath’s Magalleria has stepped in for us, particularly during the lockdowns. For me, losing myself in a store dedicated to independent magazines has been a crucial form of respite. It has helped me find ways to get off my phone and reconnect with the analogue, get out of my head to access different points of view, and push against assumptions of what printed material is, what creative expression can be and who gets to live a purposeful life.

Over the past few months as we couldn’t get out into the world, we’ve folded some of our go-to independent magazines into our Culture Therapy series but what we’ve really wanted to do for a while is bring in the expertise of Magalleria founder Daniel McCabe. So we invited him to write his own Culture Therapy prescription based on the magazines he knows so well and he very kindly agreed. Below are Daniel’s recommendations for all the things we need when we’re lost, lonely, anxious, or just curious, in his own words for why these choices matter.

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For Awe & Wonder: Rakesprogress 

For Untethering: The Analog Sea Review

For Mind/Body Connection & Nature: Emergence Magazine

For Connection & Community: Point.51

For Spirituality & Meaning: Sabat

For Mental Wellbeing: Sick

For Creativity & Culture: Luncheon

For Doing Good: Positive News

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Learning to Count to 100

As we’ve both been homeschooling our Kindergarten girls (one of us by choice, the other by necessity), we’ve also been learning to count to 100. You know, 100 Lego pieces, a hundred marbles, a hundred Fruity ‘O’s — anything we can find at home to make this very serious academic lesson a bit more concrete.

And it made us think about — stay with us here — what as adults we might want to count at this time. Less shiny plastic objects and tiny snacks, more the things we rely on and reach for. The things that we’re grateful for and that bring us joy or make us laugh or give us that warm feeling in our chests. The things that energize our minds, the things we are desperate to share because they are so good, the things that linger once they are over. And the things, maybe most importantly, that help displace our fears and anxieties, pause the endless loop of overthinking and help us manage our own mental wellbeing through this pandemic.

So it is with that in mind, that we’re bringing you a very adult list of counting to 100. Yes, it’s super idiosyncratic. Yes, it roams widely across subjects. Yes, you may have no idea why something is included or left out. And if you want to analyze this, yes, this is probably a way of us asserting some control in uncertain times, by grounding 100 things that do make sense to us.

It’s maybe an odd exercise, but in writing this list we found that it captured not just a need to organize but a way of marking where we are right now. Last week this list would have been very different. Next week it certainly will be. For now, right now, this is what the threads of our life and attention look like. Some of it may resonate or inspire; some of this may leave you wondering about the legitimacy of how we’re spending our time. But the key thing here is that we all do lockdown differently, and we all need to approach our mental health in ways that fit us.

We’ve arranged our list — because if you know us by now you know we love lists — into our four modern life conditions that we might all find ourselves in, particularly as life is being played out for many of us: Curiosity, Loneliness, Anxiety and that complex feeling of being Lost wherever we are. See it like a gratitude journal, but totally random and super reflecting the very personal choices that we’re all learning to make to survive life under lockdown.

As an extra gold star bonus (can you tell, homeschooling brain is taking over) you can make your own list of counting to 100.

1. Kitchen micro-discos

2. The Happiness Lab special episodes on approaching our wellbeing during the lockdown

3. Taking just a little too long to come out of the bathroom (we all need to take our pauses when we can)

4. Going to Holland when you could have been going to Italy

5. The Getahead Virtual Festival

6. Designing Your COVID LIFE

7. Be Kind magazine making its issues free

8. Rediscovering jigsaw puzzles

9. Watching every rom-com we can find on Netflix and starting Parasite on Hulu thinking it was a comedy

10. Eating all the cookies, brownies, and cakes that we’re baking with our kids (ok, we try to bake with our kids until they lose interest and we do all the work) and then wondering why we’re piling on the pounds.

11. Every Mind Matters Campaign and William & Kate talking it up this month

12. Snack Cleanse (we only have so many options in our kitchens right now, don’t judge)

13. The calming voice of Andy from Headspace

14. Being ok with a messy house because no-one will be visiting soon

15. The game Bears vs. Babies

16. A toolbox for living with worry and uncertainty

17. Bike rides to nowhere

18. In contradiction to number 14, keeping our houses very clean for one day, even though no one else will see it.

19. Winged eyeliner. (Why now? Why ever? Who knows.)

20. Tele-therapy (I know you can see me crying in my car but I DON’T CARE)

21. Deciding now is the time to get super new-age and find a spirit guide

22. Making at-home music videos

23. Morning meetings with Glennon Doyle (helping us to feel less alone, and MUCH less shitty for our subpar parenting)

24. Focusing on the relationships that matter most.

25. Doing slow-deep breathing out of necessity, but taking the opportunity to explain the value to our children.

26. Listening to Ted Connects with Elizabeth Gilbert: on the gentler stakes of following a journey of curiosity rather than passion

27. Create a list of 100 dreams from the Before Breakfast podcast

28. Rob Walker’s book The Art of Noticing: 131 Ways to Spark Creativity, Find inspiration and Discover Joy in the Everyday

29. A new love of the theater: National Theater Live weekly plays, Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Friday night Musicals The Show Must Go On, and the original theater version of Fleabag now on Amazon Prime as a fundraiser

30. Taking the bins out in our ballgowns

31. All the animals: Going On Safari / Beluga Whales at Georgia Aquarium / Koala bears and chubby unicorns (read Rhinos) at San Diego Zoo

32. Discovering our libraries at home and finding books to read amongst our own shelves

33. Histfest Lockdown edition

34. Mo Willems’ drawing residency and lessons in pigeon drawing

35. Watching Rolly Pollies cross the road

36. The Sunday Read: The Woman Who Might Find Us Another Earth

37. Skill Share classes!

38. Picking wildflowers along the side of the road.

39. Online dog training courses for our whole family! (We’ll probably start a circus soon. YOLO!)

40. Khan Academy for teaching us how to do math the right way.

41. This collection of research assuring us that all the video games our kids (and, yeah, maybe we) are playing, might actually work to ease anxiety and depression.

42. This “make-up” tutorial that had us crying laughing!

43. This Spotify playlist we made.

44. Unexpected gifts from friends left on our front porch.

45. Jen Gotch’s book The Upside of Being Down (there really is an upside, guys).

46. Global Citizen’s Together at Home concert series.

47. Gary Vee

48. Tip Your Waitstaff (and everything Mike Birbiglia has ever done).

49. Taking the time to find all of the automatically renewing things we’ve signed up for over the years and CANCELING ALL OF THEM.

50. Realizing if it weren’t for societal pressure we would probably wear the same seven items on repeat.

51. Phone calls with friends 80s style.

52. A new research paper suggesting that however we fill our social tank — yes, even with non-traditional social strategies like listening to music or watching a favorite TV show — works just as well as the traditional ones like spending time with a friend.

53. Carissa Potter of People I’ve Loved sharing her essay On Love in Confinement

54. Paper Profanities from Erica Frances George

55. Making friends with the people who go out for daily exercise at the same time — even though all you do is exchange a wave at six-feet apart. These relationships however tentative make our mornings most days (also to the lady who walks her dog each day and witnesses our red-faced runs each morning thanks for the silent encouragement)

56. Hello (from the Inside) An Adele Parody by Chris Mann

57. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Big Read

58. Female friendships getting us through

59. The High Low being back on podcasting air

60. Organizing a Zoom Scavenger hunt with our extended family - ‘go find an elephant / something important to you / favorite thing, etc’

61. This song which contains a certain amount of irony

62. Anything Hamilton but particularly The Zoom Where It Happens

63. Dancing Alone Together

64. Kat Vellos new book Connected from Afar

65. 8pm Daily Howl, 7pm weekly clap for carers, and however you are singing into the empty streets with your neighbors

66. Hearing piano playing on our daily walks, a guitar player in town, kids playing in their yards

67. Spike Jonze, Her

68. Esther Perel’s podcast on couples under lockdown

69. Wondering what we can send in a package and why our handwriting is so bad

70. The Social Distancing Festival

71. Knowing your neighbors for the first time

72. Connecting and falling in love with small businesses (local and otherwise)

73. Being endlessly thankful for social media for…maybe the first time?

74. Basking in the glow and glory of everything Serious Mom Fun says/does.

75. Reveling in the beauty of missing things and taking note of the things we don’t. [Though we’re currently longing to go grocery shopping (without a mask and gloves) so our judgments can hardly be trusted.]

76. Foldall in Bath

77. Indhi Rojas’ spreadsheet for organizations that need our donations now

78. Some Good News with John Krasinski

79. French Fry Burritos (a real thing that you need to put in your face immediately)

80. Learning to make a decent latte at home (and also teaching our kids to make them for us cause you know #homeschool)

81. Battersea Power Station Community Choir paying tribute to NHS carers by singing ‘Something Inside So Strong’

82. Reading The Salt Path by Raynor Winn

83. Living hyper-locally (and using that exact buzz word so that it sounds much more intentional/chic.)

84. Bookstores counting as essential services in Europe.

85. The concept of practice days (if there was a time to do it all over again tomorrow but a little bit better that’s now)

86. A visit to a Pet Food Store feeling like a bad sci-fi movie

87. Looking at photos from just two months ago feeling like they were another age

88. This Human Moment — looking forward to these Friday sessions

89. Making new routines / realizing we’re bad at routines / accepting a life free of routines!

90. Mentally dedicating ourselves to ‘vision boarding’ but then forgetting to actually make the thing.

91. Keeping all the cookie ingredients on the counter so we can easily bribe our children and/or convince them that we’re fun and crafty and/or consume only cookie dough between the hours of 11am and 6pm.

92. The vulnerability and honesty of some of our favorite creative women in the world, including Megan February of For Women Who Roar

93. Distraction Tactics with Dan Smith from Bastille

94. This bag we made.

95. Playing charades with our kids.

96. Following creative prompts from places like Sketch Appeal

97. Daily walks without time constraints or destinations.

98. Slowly making our way through the Top 50 Teen Movies of All Time and understanding why we are the way we are. (Spoiler alert: even if you remembered them being good, they are almost always inconceivably horrible.)

99. Looking for the helpers and finding them everywhere.

100. This quote from Jane Eyre: “I see at intervals the glance of a curious sort of bird through the close set bars of a cage: a vivid, restless, resolute captive is there; were it but free, it would soar cloud-high.”

Now that you have a glimpse into our lockdown life, let us know what your ‘Learning to Count to 100’ list would look like. Even better, make one of your own, tag us on social media, and we’ll spread the joy of the unique ways we are all finding to negotiate this as we’re very much alone and very much together at the same time.

The Natural History Museum

“The Museum is a world-class visitor attraction and leading science research centre.

We use our unique collections and unrivalled expertise to tackle the biggest challenges facing the world today.

We care for more than 80 million specimens spanning billions of years and welcome more than five million visitors annually.”

— The Natural History Museum

London’s Natural History Museum exhibits a wide range of the natural world throughout time. I'm sure many of you have heard of it (and maybe you've even been there already!) but I had to share it, as it's one of my favourite places to visit. Entry to the museum is free, which makes it accessible to everyone. It also means that you can visit as many times as you like—which I've definitely taken advantage of—taking a couple of trips in the same week so that I could go at my own pace and fully enjoy the experience.

Besides the main appeal of learning all about plants and animals throughout history, I go to The Natural History Museum because it's a great place to escape the busy world outside. The building is so spacious that even when there are lots of people, you don't feel like it's overwhelming and crowded. You can stroll around the exhibits at your own speed, stop for a bite to eat in one of the cafes and spend time being fascinated by everything you see. I come out every time feeling like a child because I've learned so many new things that I want to share with everyone.

As a creative, I've also found that it's a hub of inspiration. The building itself is a work of art—with grand staircases, stained glass windows and detailed brickwork. There's an endless source of beauty around every corner, which is what I love about it the most. Stop in one of the many places to sit around the building to admire the exhibitions for as long as you need to take them in.

The Natural History Museum is a place to seek out if you're looking to relax and also be creatively refreshed. I’ve found that being in nature is one of the best ways to calm my mind, so why not learn about the history of it too.

To find out more: Website, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

Eureka Hall & School of the Alternative

Have you ever been to a place and felt like you have been there before? Something deep in your soul knows that the location holds more than wildlife, plants, and man-made structures. Can you sense something in the air? Maybe it’s the spirits of those who have come before, or is it the feeling that all of the stars have lined up for you to be in this moment? Time feels like it stops and you are in this place fulfilling your destiny.

This is the feeling that I experience every time I step foot onto the grand porch of Eureka Hall, formerly “Lee Hall” at YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly in Black Mountain, North Carolina. 

Years ago, I was traveling with my now-husband Adam Void, passing through the Appalachian Mountains. He noted that we were just a hop and a jump away from the historic Black Mountain College Campus and we should check it out. Entering the town of Black Mountain was something special. Surrounding us were the mountains that had been inhabited by the Eastern Band of Cherokees for generations. The feeling of peace is evident and the desire to be immersed in nature immediately takes over. 

Photos: Bronwyn Walls (left) and Rita Kovtun (right)

Once we made our way up the winding rhododendron filled, one-way mountain road, we saw the historic building standing high on the hilltop. This was something we had seen in pictures and dreams, but never before in the flesh. When we walked up those steps and turned around, we were awestruck by the view. The Appalachian mountains “Seven Sisters” are lined up perfectly like they were ready for a photoshoot, standing tall as they have for generations. Yes, the view is extraordinary but something else is there; something unspoken. 

One explanation for this feeling of spirits is the incredible history of those who have stood countless times in exactly the same place. The many native Americans that found this oasis and treated it as gold. Fast forward thousands of years to the early 1900s when the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly started operating as a fully functional conference center and meeting place for people all over the globe. It has since housed summer camps, yoga retreats, youth groups, and many other gatherings.

In 1933 Black Mountain College began its legacy on this porch by using these grounds to change the course of art education and to house some of the leading artists of the 20th century. On this very same porch Joseph Albers taught painting classes, faculty met to discuss the future of education, and students danced the night away. These leaders, and soon-to-be leaders, of creative thought, looked over the mountains while passing the hours, soaking up the sublime possibilities. 

Even today, the porch of Eureka Hall supports budding creative minds from all across the globe. Every Summer in the month of May, School of the Alternative creates a live-in, passion-driven education experience that functions in the spirit of Black Mountain College. At SotA, anyone can take classes in the same rooms that once held Albers office and the old BMC library. On a hot summer day, you can lay in the grass in front of Eureka Hall and feel the decades fade away. This grand porch still houses late night debates of contemporary literature, plein air painting classes, DIY movie shoots, and general creative shenanigans.  

I feel like I’m one of the lucky ones. I live less than five miles away from this creative hub. On days when I feel lost, insignificant, and creativity confused, I find myself drawn to those steps. A couple of months after the birth of my second child I came to sit on these steps wondering if I’ll ever make art again. “Did I lose it? Is my mojo gone?”

Sitting on those steps I reminded myself that destiny can’t be erased or lost. That no matter how treacherous the journey and the amount of times we feel lost we will always find our way to what we’re destined to do. Whatever that is. I felt the comfort of knowing that if my heart is in it, I will always have a guide. This is just one example of how this place, these steps, this view, has changed me. 

Photos: Adam Void. Cover image: John Engelbrecht

Headlands Center for the Arts

Sometimes self-care isn’t a practice it’s a place. We’ve felt this about the Headlands Center for the Arts for a while. 

Located in what seems like the middle of nowhere, the Headlands Center is really just 30 minutes from the city of San Francisco across the Golden Gate Bridge. The tiny one-way tunnel to get there (or you can take the winding, treacherous feeling high-road), and the oftentimes bleak former military surroundings of Fort Barry, throws you off. Also, there’s sandy Rodeo beach and the vast Pacific Ocean right there when you step out of its doors. It’s not the place that you expect to find a cluster of artist-renovated buildings hosting art residencies, exhibitions and workshops. But the Headlands Center attracts an international roster of creatives seeking the time and space to make work in its renowned residency program, as well as a committed local art crowd who make the pilgrimage when it does open its doors to the public.

Time your visit carefully as the Headlands Center is something different at different times of the day/week/year. This is no static exhibition venue — rather it’s a place that shifts with its participating artists, writers, and other creatives and programmatic themes. You’ll need to pay some attention to the calendar for the things you can see and do here. On the Open Days — a handful a year — the place comes alive with a buzz of activity and many people wandering its rooms. The Project Space now offers sometimes Sunday-to-Thursday shows to visit and there’s the occasional intervention on-site, like Wall Space in the outdoor Commons area. Want a more intimate experience? Attend a dinner in the Mess Hall by Headlands chefs and invited guests or a walk, conversation, talk, performance or another public event. Whenever you visit try to grab a coffee in the Ann Hamilton designed Mess Hall.

We all have our favorite places to go to when we want to run away, maybe also when we want to run towards something. They are the ones we sink into when you get there, even if it means we don’t turn off our minds but open them instead. The Headlands Center has become that place for us. One of seeming retreat but also a restorative connection to people, to what they create and the ideas they get to explore whilst here.

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Hauser & Wirth Somerset

“Hauser & Wirth Somerset is a pioneering world-class gallery and multi-purpose arts center that acts as a destination for experiencing art, architecture, and the remarkable Somerset landscape through new and innovative exhibitions of contemporary art. ”

In the unlikeliest of places — outside a small village, on a working farm — sits one of the most well-regarded galleries of contemporary art in the world. Maybe it's the giant bucket at the entrance that gives away the fact that something different is afoot in these fields. 

Opened in 2014 Hauser & Wirth Somerset joins the esteemed network of galleries launched by founded Iwan & Manuela Wirth (with Ursula Hauser) in Zurich and which now includes such places as Hong Kong, New York, London, and Los Angeles. You can see why Somerset sits oddly within this company.

But the Wirths, though globally roaming, are now locals and they have cultivated the once derelict 17th-century Durslade Farm into a hugely popular arts destination in an area known more for cows than culture (though that’s all definitely changed — see also The Chapel, The Newt and favorite local brand Selfish Mother).

That they did this not just by continuing to focus on the high-end art that is the heart of their business, but by bringing in other values to make that heart beat, namely education, conservation and sustainability, is probably the most striking aspect.

Yes, here are the shining lights of the visual arts and architecture — the derelict buildings were renovated by French architecture firm Laplace into white-walled galleries (albeit in barns) and a six-bedroom Kinfolk-worthy renovated 18th-century farmhouse available to rent (note vintage furniture next to a Pipilotti Rist installation). The gardens were landscaped by Piet Oudolf of New York’s High Line, who has crafted an abundant yet tempered (though in ways you won’t expect) version of an English landscape, dotted with a changing display of outdoor sculptures, like Franz West’s incredible talking heads.

The striking pavilion by Smiljan Radić was brought in space-ship like from the Serpentine Gallery and is a liminal place of imagination and learning for grown-ups and kids alike (note — running up that ramp, also note the talks series). Even restaurant Roth Bar & Grill is art-orientated, with a site-specific bar by Björn and Oddur Roth, the son and grandson of artist Dieter Roth. And that’s all before you get into the galleries themselves, that show the kind of artists you’d find in a MoMA or Tate: you know Louise Bourgeois, Martin Creed and Phyllida Barlow.

But with Hauser & Wirth Somerset, the Wirths haven’t just plopped a little bit of the art world into the countryside. Even as it exhibits its bonafide visual arts roots, it also blazons its community, local Bruton village leaning, credentials. There’s an active education and events program that brings in schools and the local community — see ArtHaus, Open Source Salons, Family Saturdays, seasonal Pumpkin Festival and Summer Party. There’s also a permanent library and learning center built into those barns.

And if that’s not quite enough to shift the cultural landscape in this part of Somerset, in 2018 the Wirth’s opened Make Hauser & Wirth Somerset in the heart of the village, exhibiting works of contemporary makers, emerging and established, available to purchase. This storefront also offers workshops like charcoal drawing or spoon carving. And they haven’t abandoned completely the farm on which the gallery is situated; this autumn Durslade Farm Shop will open, stocking produce from it’s still working 1000+ agricultural acres.

Where we least expect it, though maybe also most need it, Hauser & Wirth Somerset proves the point that culture can go anywhere, and be for anyone. Its barn doors are open to whoever chooses to cross its threshold. Though you might want to leave your muddy boots at the entrance.

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