Somewhere between you and I, there’s a place.
It exists when we call it in, breaks our days with enchantments, and offers us a respite from all of this (gestures to everything).
In this every day in-between, a spell has fallen that silences the world for just a moment. It shuts out all the noise and the very things that divert you, take away your attention, and capture you in their imagination, rather than your own.
You’ll find that in this space you can hear yourself again. And no longer just those messages that tell you you’re just that little bit broken, or not enough, or doing life wrong; those are gone too.
You’ll find no promises here, but you will discover treasures that offer magic of a different kind.
Over there, that’s where you’ll find a gathering of my favourite people. Some of them are already friends and some thinkers, writers, creators, and fellow Substackers who feel like that to me. I like to thread them through my days and you might too.
I’ve left a copy of a book on this path; you’ll find it over here. It’s just the beginning, the first few chapters, but it might offer as much to you reading it as it does to me writing it.
If you listen hard enough, you’ll hear the whispers of spoken words, remnants of podcasts, talks, and conversations.
Be careful not to trip on the piles of books though do pick one that appeals to you and we can talk about it together.
There are scraps of paper found fluttering in the breeze, little notes that hold wisdom, capture thoughts and other things that like to be shared. See if you can catch one.
A couple of times a week I’ll meet you here (though I’ll leave the gate open if you’d like to come in more often).
I’ll probably be lingering wherever the coffee is: you’ll find me sitting in one of those comfy chairs with a warm latte in hand. Pull up a seat when you’re ready and let’s talk about what keeps you up at 2 a.m., the question that presses into your life the most or that long-held and ever-persistent dream that’s still calling to you.
Stay as long as you need. Discover what more good days mean to you, search out what you need, and leave behind what you don’t.
I’d like us to get a little bit lost together, as I’ve learned that there’s as much magic in that as there is in being found.
I invite you to just follow your curiosity. I’ve left threads for you to unwind. See where they take you.
Allow yourself to reach for awe and wonder, to play and adventure out (you may even find a mirror ball in the trees) and uncover what lies beneath, resides above, and is possibly just in front of you, even if it feels like it’s out of reach.
It’s OK if you want to look back too as you walk these trails; I do that often, and it’s never really the monsters I expect that are following me. Often it’s just a friend who wants to walk this way too.
Come join me as we adventure into everyday life?
Hi, I’m Claire,
It took me a while to get here.
I arrived after more than a decade in the London art world, and equally as long a time in San Francisco, though my story started in Manchester.
I left my day job in museums a little while ago but hope to bring the practice of curating into the well-being world.
That’s taken shape in what I’m most proud of and where I still spend most of my time: creating a platform for better mental health and emotional well-being for everyone that was inspired by my mum’s decades-long struggle with her own mind.
I also love working 1:1 with people, helping them be in their lives in ways that feel good again. As an ICF-accredited ACC coach and one of the world’s first emotions coach practitioners, I help people have more good days by exploring how to create a life, how to navigate midlife and how to feel better. Sometimes I just sit with people as they find their way.
In this publication, we’ll be exploring life and all that it now needs to contain together, asking all the questions, and listening in for our own answers. You’ll find I’m obsessed with anything therapy-adjacent (I studied psychotherapy for a year at CCPE and am coming back to that now), so I’ll also be bringing all that I’m learning about the magic that happens when two people sit in a room together.
While you are here, I’ll bring you my recent discoveries, my braver learnings and some favourite strategies and approaches, so all the good things. If you’re into exploring, meandering, and just getting really curious about your life, come join me.
The day is just getting started.
