Stronger together 💪
Meet the Well Well Well community
It’s about time we got to know each other a bit better, so I’d love it if you would let me know about you in the comments.
I’ll go first.
Hi, I’m Rosamund, a London-based journalist who spent years working in women’s magazines, most recently as deputy editor of Grazia.
Since moving from smalltown nowheresville to London aged 18, I spent the next 20 years surviving on either free drinks and canapés at press events or, in my normal life: Supernoodles, Tesco cava, and Marlboro Lights (but only socially, because health 😂).
A breast cancer diagnosis aged 40 was a wake-up call. I’m lucky to have been diagnosed in time for treatment to be curative but, now I know what it’s like to feel properly unwell, and spend time in hospital, my goal is to future-proof my body.
To be clear, this is not to say that I believe I can eat or exercise my way out of ever having cancer again. I know that you can do everything ‘right’ and still get cancer.
But I also know that being healthier will increase my chances of sticking around to see my kids grow up, while also helping me feel good as I get older (oh, and chemo caused early menopause, which appears to have accelerated the ageing process 👵🏻).
The trouble is I’m not a natural exerciser (‘lazy’ is another way of putting it), nor much of a cook. I dreaded a dull life of boring virtue in order to be healthy. So I’ve been on a mission to find ways of living well that I actually enjoy.
I’m interested in learning about ways to eat, drink, move, sleep, grow, connect and recharge in a way that feels great. And I want to help those who don’t see themselves as ‘wellness people’ feel better, live well - and have fun!
So there you go, that’s me. Now tell me about you.
It’s a great idea, Rosamund; lovely to meet you. I’ve came across your Substack recently and I find it really helpful in my own search for wellness.
I’m Nataliya, also London-based. I’m a novelist with two books (Four Minutes and Arrival) and I work in content and marketing, mainly with non-profits. I moved to the UK 20 years ago after a difficult childhood shaped by domestic abuse, and since then, I’ve been writing about and supporting marginalised communities in various ways. In that sense, I’m also something of an activist, using my work to push for social change.
Five years ago, I was diagnosed with a progressive eye condition that eventually leads to blindness. That diagnosis shook me, much like yours did, Rosamund. While there’s no cure, I’ve come to realise that factors like diet and stress have a real impact on my sight. This understanding has really pushed me to make some big changes.
I recently left a toxic, high-stress job, and I’m now focused fully on my writing (I’ve just finished my third novel), running workshops, mentoring, and consulting on making art spaces and online content more accessible. It’s surprising how much workplaces still fall short on accessibility, despite all the talk of diversity and inclusion. The barriers I face are mainly socio-cultural, and they’ve become a key part of my latest writing project – in a hopefully very engaging fiction form.
Right now, I’m playfully embracing my creative work, and I’m confidently reinventing my identity as a woman going through sight loss.
My Substack, What Keeps Me Going, is a blend of reflections on craft, writing, and finding ways to stay healthy and balanced. I’d like it to be a space for writers to explore different themes and creative approaches together. I’ll also be offering one-on-one mentoring for writers. It’s all a work in progress, and I’m finding that self-care is less a buzzword and more of a genuine necessity.
Love this! I was gifted your book reconstruction during my cancer journey. I’ve always eaten pretty well but have a tendancy to get highly anxious about food choices. I didn’t exercise enough pre diagnosis and was highly stressed / busy and probably breathing badly. Like you, cancer has been a wake up call to prioritise my health. I’m also in early menopause thanks to chemo and hormone treatment. I love your newsletter as it’s health but in a practical light hearted way and not so intense as some of the info I’ve found online which scares me. I want to still enjoy some pleasures in life (cheese and wine and laughter with friends!) but also max outI my chances of being here for the next 50 years. I have a tendancy to be quite hard core about food choices and after cancer it’s easy to feel you need to strip out all the joy in life (bread, pasta, cheese, wine, dairy, any form of sugar including fruit and etc) I’m trying to find an 80:20 balance that optimises my health whilst not being so restrictive it’s a source of stress. It’s a hard balance! Also having two young girls im conscious I need to role model food and good nutrition as a source of joy not deprivation and anxiety as I want them to have a healthy relationship with food as they grow up. It feels very extreme. At one end of the spectrum is your average supermarket FILLED with UPF and junk food, at the other end is an all vegan raw diet…. And somewhere in between is probably the answer - combined with good breathing, sleep, stress management etc. but it can be utterly overwhelming on top of a full time
Job and parenting responsibilities