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.
Wow, you've been through so much, it's wonderful that you're channelling your energies into helping others in this way. And noticing that factors like diet and stress have an impact on your eye condition is truly an incentive to keep making healthy choices. People often talk about finding their 'why', right? You've got a good one. I totally agree about self-care going from buzzword to 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
Came here to say exactly what you said Sarah. But I could never have articulated it as well as you have.
Especially:
‘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.’
I feel like I’m constantly trying to balance prioritising my health with living a little. And I constantly feel like I’m eating it wrong!
I totally agree with this too - I sometimes find myself stressing about not eating/exercising/sleeping well enough, which then leads to stressing about stressing! Not the most helpful situation. I definitely find talking about it helps, because hearing that others feel the same way often leads to a shoulder drop/exhale moment.
PS. Eating it wrong applies almost as well as getting it wrong 😂
I relate to this so much, especially you mentioning breathing twice - like, I literally never used to think about breathing and now I'm obsessed with breathing badly 😂 I partly think it's madness and I shouldn't overthink it, but I've read enough of the science to know that it's important (and also, like all of us probably have, I've experienced it when purposefully slowing your breathing helps you calm down), so it is worth focusing on. But how to improve something without obsessing about it? That's the conundrum.
Sorry, didn't mean to bang on so much about breathing there, but actually the same point could also apply to nutrition/exercise/sleep/stress, etc... how to improve without obsessing 🤔
I applaud your approach and enjoy your posts. I'm also a survivor - 28 years post an advanced triple negative diagnosis age 33 - and I also write a blog for breast cancer survivors, Uncoupling Cancer. Mine is a lot 'heavier' than yours (and I'm a bit jealous!! in a good way) but I love that we are essentially on the same page. I have learned that, for me, exercise has to have a purpose. I have to be walking to do something useful, or sweating to make my garden more beautiful. I'm getting much much better at my 10,000 steps (averaging about 7,000 across the year) and also fitting in bursts of high intensity too. My biggest breakthrough has been finding a small and beautiful local yoga studio with a very down to earth teacher who has also had breast cancer. I've never been an 'exercise class' person, but this has really hit the spot for me and soon become an essential part of my weekly wellness regime.
Ahhhh - I LOVE hearing from TNBC thrivers many years on from treatment, fills me with hope. And you make such an excellent point about exercising with purpose. Honestly the amount of times I've spent a Sunday wondering how I'm going to fit exercise in around other stuff I've got to do, ie. clearing all the dead leaves out of the garden - as if that isn't exercise! Thank you so much for that little mindset shift.
I'm in GA, a retired band director and US Navy veteran. I grow herbs and flowers, and I need to stand barefoot on the earth. Have been a student of yoga for 20 years. I'm also a Reiki Master, not broadcast in this neck of the woods! I know how to exercise, but current back issues prevent me from getting on floor. I dearly miss those things I can't do, so I focus on all I can do.
What a beautiful description - I also love standing barefoot on the earth. And growing things is wonderful for keeping you in tune with the seasons. Big week for you over there in GA. May the ground and flowers keep you calm 🙏
I’m Nadia Walker. A Brit living in the Bay Area in California. I was diagnosed a week before I turned 40 when I was also pregnant with my third little girl. My story is public on CaringBridge, a place where I wrote my way through chemo, masectomy , birth, radiation then later DIEP surgery rounds 1 and 2.
I’m very interested in healthy living but a best life version. I’d love to write more about survivorship because there seems to be so little out there about hormone therapy, chemically induced menopause and all the rest of it alongside the holistic stuff - building good community, friendships, creativity, mid-life, etc. Love your posts, their content, tone and levity ❤️
I'm so sorry you had to go through that while pregnant, I can't imagine how difficult that must have been. Hope you and your girls are doing really well now.
I love that you acknowledge community, friendships and creativity as all part of healthy living - they're so important but often ignored in favour of the more mechanical elements of eating and exercising ❤️
Hi Rosamund! What a journey you’ve had—thanks for sharing it so openly. I’m a life coach based here in England, with a focus on helping people build fulfilling lives with a balanced, realistic approach to wellness. Like you, I believe in finding ways to live well that don’t mean giving up life’s pleasures or forcing ourselves into routines that don’t fit.
It’s so refreshing to see someone approach wellness with a mix of fun, curiosity, and balance rather than the usual “all or nothing” approach. I’m excited to follow along as you share your journey and to connect with others who want to feel better without losing what they enjoy. Thanks for creating this space—looking forward to getting to know the community here!
I’m Kate Leaver, an Australian journalist who’s been living in London for nearly a decade and is… about to go home to Sydney. I’ve written two non-fiction books (one about friendship, one about dogs) and I’m working on my first novel. I also write/edit/produce other people’s books/essays/podcasts, particularly on the topics of gender equity, psychology, health, women’s safety, and pop culture.
I’ve been recovering from Long Covid for a few years now… and a number of people I love dearly have had or do have cancer, hence my interest in your lovely, excellent newsletter. I also have my own newsletter, called ENTHUSIASM.
I love swimming, walking in beautiful places, reading, Claudia Winkleman, and my dog, Bert. xxx
Hi again Rosamund, I suppose I could be considered one those 'wellness people' as I wrote a book and you featured it here (and I'm still v appreciative)!
Since The 1% Wellness Experiment was published I discovered, aged 48, I've been living with ADHD without the foggiest idea. It's quite hilarious how much it explains, including why the focus of my work as a life and positive psychology coach for the past several years, has been supporting women struggling with perfectionism, people-pleasing, procrastination, boundaries, overthinking, overwhelmed… all symptoms of ADHD. And, it turns out my book is neurodivergent-friendly from the concept to layout and everything in between! It seems my subconscious knew plenty my conscious mind didn't.
So, now I'm fine tuning the support I offer to focus on helping quiet, introverted, late-discovered ADHD women who may not see themselves in the stereotypical presentation. There's so much that feeds into it all, just as you say – diet, sleep, hormones, recharging, connecting – and there's always more for us all to find out! x
Thank you Rosamund for starting this community and for all of the work you do to share honest insights and research into the world of health and living well.
I’m Laura, I have worked in PR for 15+ years (we probably crossed paths and canapés many a moon ago!). I have a deep rooted interest in exploring living better (physically and mentally) after not prioritising it for the first 30 odd years. Also because I feel like at some major milestones I’ve been let down by the medical system. As a result, and a positive one, I have gone on to explore the fact that health is by no means linear and neither should the health system be. It frustrates me that our health system and education on health doesn’t tend to look at things holistically. This is in my personal experience so far. There is of course a lot I am grateful for from lots of health professionals.
As a woman I’m very conscious of the disparity of data and research into women’s health which saddens me but also motivates me to help change it for future generations (my daughter and beyond). If anyone has any ideas of impactful initiatives making headway in this space, please share!
I’ve recently moved to Sri Lanka with my partner and young daughter; partly in an effort to build a slower, healthier life and discover new ways to do so. The other part is to reset and hopefully discover what path is next!
I agree - there is so much to be both grateful for, and frustrated with, in the health system.
And I would also love to hear of any initiatives making headway in the space of women's health. I'd like to think that situation is improving, but certainly not as quickly as we'd all hope.
Sri Lanka is an amazing move, what an adventure for your family!
Hello Rosamund. I'm an author and scriptwriter from Brighton and I've just had a diagnosis of triple negative breast cancer. The wonderful Erin Kelly recommended your book and from there I found Well Well Well. So far the book has been a source of hope and very useful indeed though I am rationing parts of it so as not to become overwhelmed. And because I'm a writer, I decided to do a Substack too as a real time diary of my own experience with this unwanted visitor (which has arrived in a very seasonal Brussels sprout-sized lump in my lymph node). It's not commercial at all but it's a good way to keep people across what's happened and process things. Or at least I hope it will be. I also really want to stay in good health during chemo and immunotherapy and already your comments in the book about the importance of exercise asolutely chime with what my consultant says and I am really grateful for that.
Ah I'm so sorry to hear that, but really glad if the book has helped in any small way at all. Sending loads of love and luck for the rest of treatment xx
Hi Rosamund - I’m Rachel and live in London. I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in May 2023. Two months later they found a rare form of melanoma. So two cancers and two teams!
Your book helped me so much. I was able to dip into it through my chemo, immunotherapy, operations (6 of them including a lumpectomy). I landed in ICU from immunotherapy but otherwise did well and kept positive. No sign of cancer so now it’s lots of scanning.
I’m going to the gym, way less stressed, getting fresh air and trying to get through the maze of what is a good diet post cancer, particularly anti inflammatory. Your posts help not least because the tone is positive and fun.
Started writing on Substack as a new focus for me to be creative and build a community. I write about cancer but also science, environment, diversity and anything I fancy really!
Oh and turned 60 when I was diagnosed and left my job …..but that’s a whole other story.
Oh wow, you've been through the wringer. But sounds like you're coping brilliantly, and the power of fresh air is always underestimated I believe! Hope you're doing ok xx
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.
Wow, you've been through so much, it's wonderful that you're channelling your energies into helping others in this way. And noticing that factors like diet and stress have an impact on your eye condition is truly an incentive to keep making healthy choices. People often talk about finding their 'why', right? You've got a good one. I totally agree about self-care going from buzzword to necessity!
You sound great Nataliya
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
Came here to say exactly what you said Sarah. But I could never have articulated it as well as you have.
Especially:
‘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.’
I feel like I’m constantly trying to balance prioritising my health with living a little. And I constantly feel like I’m eating it wrong!
Thank you for saying this x
Getting it wrong not eating it wrong!
Love this!
I totally agree with this too - I sometimes find myself stressing about not eating/exercising/sleeping well enough, which then leads to stressing about stressing! Not the most helpful situation. I definitely find talking about it helps, because hearing that others feel the same way often leads to a shoulder drop/exhale moment.
PS. Eating it wrong applies almost as well as getting it wrong 😂
I relate to this so much, especially you mentioning breathing twice - like, I literally never used to think about breathing and now I'm obsessed with breathing badly 😂 I partly think it's madness and I shouldn't overthink it, but I've read enough of the science to know that it's important (and also, like all of us probably have, I've experienced it when purposefully slowing your breathing helps you calm down), so it is worth focusing on. But how to improve something without obsessing about it? That's the conundrum.
Sorry, didn't mean to bang on so much about breathing there, but actually the same point could also apply to nutrition/exercise/sleep/stress, etc... how to improve without obsessing 🤔
I applaud your approach and enjoy your posts. I'm also a survivor - 28 years post an advanced triple negative diagnosis age 33 - and I also write a blog for breast cancer survivors, Uncoupling Cancer. Mine is a lot 'heavier' than yours (and I'm a bit jealous!! in a good way) but I love that we are essentially on the same page. I have learned that, for me, exercise has to have a purpose. I have to be walking to do something useful, or sweating to make my garden more beautiful. I'm getting much much better at my 10,000 steps (averaging about 7,000 across the year) and also fitting in bursts of high intensity too. My biggest breakthrough has been finding a small and beautiful local yoga studio with a very down to earth teacher who has also had breast cancer. I've never been an 'exercise class' person, but this has really hit the spot for me and soon become an essential part of my weekly wellness regime.
Ahhhh - I LOVE hearing from TNBC thrivers many years on from treatment, fills me with hope. And you make such an excellent point about exercising with purpose. Honestly the amount of times I've spent a Sunday wondering how I'm going to fit exercise in around other stuff I've got to do, ie. clearing all the dead leaves out of the garden - as if that isn't exercise! Thank you so much for that little mindset shift.
I'm in GA, a retired band director and US Navy veteran. I grow herbs and flowers, and I need to stand barefoot on the earth. Have been a student of yoga for 20 years. I'm also a Reiki Master, not broadcast in this neck of the woods! I know how to exercise, but current back issues prevent me from getting on floor. I dearly miss those things I can't do, so I focus on all I can do.
Prayer and meditation keep me sane.
What a beautiful description - I also love standing barefoot on the earth. And growing things is wonderful for keeping you in tune with the seasons. Big week for you over there in GA. May the ground and flowers keep you calm 🙏
Hi Rosamund 👋
I’m Nadia Walker. A Brit living in the Bay Area in California. I was diagnosed a week before I turned 40 when I was also pregnant with my third little girl. My story is public on CaringBridge, a place where I wrote my way through chemo, masectomy , birth, radiation then later DIEP surgery rounds 1 and 2.
I’m very interested in healthy living but a best life version. I’d love to write more about survivorship because there seems to be so little out there about hormone therapy, chemically induced menopause and all the rest of it alongside the holistic stuff - building good community, friendships, creativity, mid-life, etc. Love your posts, their content, tone and levity ❤️
I'm so sorry you had to go through that while pregnant, I can't imagine how difficult that must have been. Hope you and your girls are doing really well now.
I love that you acknowledge community, friendships and creativity as all part of healthy living - they're so important but often ignored in favour of the more mechanical elements of eating and exercising ❤️
Hi Rosamund! What a journey you’ve had—thanks for sharing it so openly. I’m a life coach based here in England, with a focus on helping people build fulfilling lives with a balanced, realistic approach to wellness. Like you, I believe in finding ways to live well that don’t mean giving up life’s pleasures or forcing ourselves into routines that don’t fit.
It’s so refreshing to see someone approach wellness with a mix of fun, curiosity, and balance rather than the usual “all or nothing” approach. I’m excited to follow along as you share your journey and to connect with others who want to feel better without losing what they enjoy. Thanks for creating this space—looking forward to getting to know the community here!
Thanks so much Vincent, lovely to have you here!
Hello Rosamund, hello Rosamund’s readers!
I’m Kate Leaver, an Australian journalist who’s been living in London for nearly a decade and is… about to go home to Sydney. I’ve written two non-fiction books (one about friendship, one about dogs) and I’m working on my first novel. I also write/edit/produce other people’s books/essays/podcasts, particularly on the topics of gender equity, psychology, health, women’s safety, and pop culture.
I’ve been recovering from Long Covid for a few years now… and a number of people I love dearly have had or do have cancer, hence my interest in your lovely, excellent newsletter. I also have my own newsletter, called ENTHUSIASM.
I love swimming, walking in beautiful places, reading, Claudia Winkleman, and my dog, Bert. xxx
Ahhhh sorry to hear you're leaving London, but a nice time of year to escape to Sydney!
I love your Substack too, never miss it, hope you're going to keep it up from the other side of the world?
LOVE a fellow Claudia W fan xx
Thank you so much, lovely ❤️ yep, I’ll be keeping up the newsletter from Sydders!!! And of course still reading all of yours. Big love xxx
Hi again Rosamund, I suppose I could be considered one those 'wellness people' as I wrote a book and you featured it here (and I'm still v appreciative)!
Since The 1% Wellness Experiment was published I discovered, aged 48, I've been living with ADHD without the foggiest idea. It's quite hilarious how much it explains, including why the focus of my work as a life and positive psychology coach for the past several years, has been supporting women struggling with perfectionism, people-pleasing, procrastination, boundaries, overthinking, overwhelmed… all symptoms of ADHD. And, it turns out my book is neurodivergent-friendly from the concept to layout and everything in between! It seems my subconscious knew plenty my conscious mind didn't.
So, now I'm fine tuning the support I offer to focus on helping quiet, introverted, late-discovered ADHD women who may not see themselves in the stereotypical presentation. There's so much that feeds into it all, just as you say – diet, sleep, hormones, recharging, connecting – and there's always more for us all to find out! x
This is so interesting, and I think so relatable to a lot of women ❤️
Hi 👋
Thank you Rosamund for starting this community and for all of the work you do to share honest insights and research into the world of health and living well.
I’m Laura, I have worked in PR for 15+ years (we probably crossed paths and canapés many a moon ago!). I have a deep rooted interest in exploring living better (physically and mentally) after not prioritising it for the first 30 odd years. Also because I feel like at some major milestones I’ve been let down by the medical system. As a result, and a positive one, I have gone on to explore the fact that health is by no means linear and neither should the health system be. It frustrates me that our health system and education on health doesn’t tend to look at things holistically. This is in my personal experience so far. There is of course a lot I am grateful for from lots of health professionals.
As a woman I’m very conscious of the disparity of data and research into women’s health which saddens me but also motivates me to help change it for future generations (my daughter and beyond). If anyone has any ideas of impactful initiatives making headway in this space, please share!
I’ve recently moved to Sri Lanka with my partner and young daughter; partly in an effort to build a slower, healthier life and discover new ways to do so. The other part is to reset and hopefully discover what path is next!
I agree - there is so much to be both grateful for, and frustrated with, in the health system.
And I would also love to hear of any initiatives making headway in the space of women's health. I'd like to think that situation is improving, but certainly not as quickly as we'd all hope.
Sri Lanka is an amazing move, what an adventure for your family!
Hello Rosamund. I'm an author and scriptwriter from Brighton and I've just had a diagnosis of triple negative breast cancer. The wonderful Erin Kelly recommended your book and from there I found Well Well Well. So far the book has been a source of hope and very useful indeed though I am rationing parts of it so as not to become overwhelmed. And because I'm a writer, I decided to do a Substack too as a real time diary of my own experience with this unwanted visitor (which has arrived in a very seasonal Brussels sprout-sized lump in my lymph node). It's not commercial at all but it's a good way to keep people across what's happened and process things. Or at least I hope it will be. I also really want to stay in good health during chemo and immunotherapy and already your comments in the book about the importance of exercise asolutely chime with what my consultant says and I am really grateful for that.
Ah I'm so sorry to hear that, but really glad if the book has helped in any small way at all. Sending loads of love and luck for the rest of treatment xx
Hi Rosamund - I’m Rachel and live in London. I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in May 2023. Two months later they found a rare form of melanoma. So two cancers and two teams!
Your book helped me so much. I was able to dip into it through my chemo, immunotherapy, operations (6 of them including a lumpectomy). I landed in ICU from immunotherapy but otherwise did well and kept positive. No sign of cancer so now it’s lots of scanning.
I’m going to the gym, way less stressed, getting fresh air and trying to get through the maze of what is a good diet post cancer, particularly anti inflammatory. Your posts help not least because the tone is positive and fun.
Started writing on Substack as a new focus for me to be creative and build a community. I write about cancer but also science, environment, diversity and anything I fancy really!
Oh and turned 60 when I was diagnosed and left my job …..but that’s a whole other story.
Oh wow, you've been through the wringer. But sounds like you're coping brilliantly, and the power of fresh air is always underestimated I believe! Hope you're doing ok xx