Settle in. The Uplift is here

Grab yourself a hot drink and make yourself comfortable

Apr 16

Hello,

Thanks for signing up to my new newsletter and welcome to the very first one.

I wanted to launch a newsletter featuring good news because it’s been a tough year for everyone and trying to find something positive in every day has helped me get through it. Who doesn’t like an uplifting hit on a Friday, one of the best days of the week?

The Uplift will also feature themes of self-care, which has been instrumental in getting me through the highs and lows of the past 12+ months.

This week, I was thrilled to have a piece published in the Independent: I’ve found a way around expensive, post-lockdown holidays (and involves cats). They didn’t want my cat pictures for the piece, so I’ll share them with you here.

I also wrote for the i: The easing of lockdown means I am rediscovering the joy of living alone. As restrictions eased again in England on Monday, it’s been a hopeful week for a lot of people. In this piece, I talk about taking the day off on Monday to go for brunch with five friends and visiting the hairdressers and the beauty salon. I hope wherever you are, you have been able to do something nice for yourself.

Self-Care Tip

A question to ask yourself regularly, especially in times of struggle is: “What’s the kindest thing I can do for myself right now, even just a little?” This is one of the most useful things I have learnt from the Museum Of Happiness, where I recently completed a happiness facilitator course. It’s another way of thinking of how you can be your own best friend. After all, the only person with us for the entirety of our lives, is ourself.

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Uplifting News Stories

Mystery Tree Beast Turns Out To Be Croissant | BBC News

Cat's Bedroom With TV for Watching Birds on YouTube Goes Viral | Newsweek

Tan France From Queer Eye Is Expecting A Baby Via Surrogate | HuffPost UK

Features Worth Sharing

That Glorious Mix Of Chilly Air And Clear, Bright Skies? There’s A Word For That | The Guardian

Caring For My Plants Has Become A Way To Care For Myself | gal-dem

These Women Have Stayed Motivated Throughout Lockdown By Taking Up Alternative Exercise | Black Ballad

Book Review: Stronger by Poorna Bell (Out 29 April)

Poorna Bell is an astonishing writer. She has the ability to make you laugh out loud and then cry within a matter of pages. After asking my Instagram followers to share tips on how to read more, I took the advice to read first thing in the morning. On Thursday at 8am, I lay in bed with tears in my eyes as I finished this beautiful book. Stronger, Poorna’s third book is about how power-lifting helped her process her grief after her husband Rob died by suicide. But it’s not simply this, it’s a radical love letter to all women and girls, it’s a rallying rethink of how we view bodies and strength and gives voice to unheard stories and underrepresented voices. Poorna writes with so much love, strength and wisdom. This book is powerful on so many levels and I devoured it.

“Being your strongest self has got nothing to do with how far you can run or how much weight you can lift. It’s about freeing yourself from any and every limitation you have silently ingested like poison over the years.” Poorna Bell

What I’m Reading Next

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I have so many books on my “currently reading” and “to read next” piles, but I am loving The Comfort Book, by Matt Haig (out 1 July) and want to read Burnt Out by Selina Barker, which came out on Thursday, next.