Friday Finds and Feelings

This week’s emotional highlights, pop culture discoveries and lingering thoughts.

Hi there,

This week I’m feeling…

relieved that GCSEs are so close to being over in our house (anyone going through exam season and getting flashbacks to your own?)

surprised to discover that there is bird song at 8pm — this became the anchor that the Calm App invited me to return to when my mind wandered during meditation which of course it did

grateful to all the incredible people taking a chance on talking to me for a new project (coming soon!)

proud to be interviewed for a piece on solo-dating yourself for gorgeous Happiful magazine this month

overwhelmed because my daughter has been off sick but the days don’t stop (though she has influenced some of this week’s finds as I type next to her while she watches YouTube Shorts).

excited for a weekend ahead where I may get to go on one of those solo dates: thinking Hauser & Wirth Somerset’s new Niki de Saint Phalle show and The Newt’s Creamery - billed as a modern reimagining of a station cafe.

Have you experienced any of these feelings this week? If so, how did they come up for you? Share in the comments.

On to this week’s finds…

There’s something going on with our boys

Adolescence knocked many of us over and made us pay attention to our boys. New podcast series Lost Boys might do the same. Hosted by Anthony Scaramucci it’s a fascinating and alarming investigation into what’s happening to our boys.

Also see great episodes from What Now? with Trevor Noah and interestingly Modern Love with unconventional relationship therapist Terry Real.

Attending HowTheLightsGetIn Festival — one of the world’s largest philosophy and music festivals that takes place in Hay-en-Wye each spring — the stand out talk was with Jordan Stephens talking about his own struggles with heartbreak, ADHD and masculinity, particularly how he’s only just learning how much emotions matter and how love can be a tool for better navigating our lives. Check out his memoir Avoidance, Drugs, Heartbreak and Dogs.

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Wellbeing misinformation

A Guardian investigation has found that “More than half of all the top trending videos offering mental health advice on TikTok contain misinformation”. More of us are turning to social media for support — we believe we can get access to the information we need, but the darker side is sometimes it’s incorrect or misleading, at worst harmful. Have you experienced this yourself?

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Reading and how does that make you feel? by Joshua Fletcher

I’d probably read anything about therapy, but I turned to how does this make you feel? in the hope of finding another Lori Gottlieb’s Maybe You Should Talk to Someone. And in a way I did: Joshua Fletcher’s book shares a similar weaving together of behind-the-scenes clients session, with psycho-education and his own story, and similarly demystifies therapy. But there’s a focus on anxiety - the area that Fletcher specializes it (see also his podcast The Anxiety Toolkit) - and because I’m also from Manchester his approach all seemed reassuringly familiar.

“The biggest mistake people with anxiety make is to live in trepidation that their fears are around the corner and about to come true, despite the unlikelihood. The fear comes from the belief that we won't be able to cope if the bad things do happen, which is almost always untrue. Humans have a remarkable ability to adapt. My motto is: 'The bad thing almost certainly isn't going to happen, but even if it did, I will be able to cope with it.” — Joshua Fletcher

New old discoveries

I seem stuck in the past with streaming right now. Watching heart-warming Young Sheldon and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. I know I should be watching the latest Netflix blockbuster but there’s something comforting about an old watch that people have discovered long ago that you’re only now getting to. Kind of like vinyl in the streaming world. Though I am excited for this in November

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Substack love

Too Late is a Lie: I loved this piece by Sarah Powell writing on

Elevenses

because I’ve often had the same thought that if I only I’d started sooner, and also I’m equally as in love with my Notes app.

“I’ve never really worked out or done proper exercise and had decided it’s somehow too late now to find something I like.

But here I am at the age of 41 seeking change. I’m bored of my bad habits. Sick of saying ‘one day I’m going to…’ and then not.” — Sarah Powell

So much wisdom shared here! 30 things women over 40 want you to know by

sam baker

“If you're waiting for something in order to begin – waiting to get done with something or the next chapter of your life to be done in order to do something – maybe actually just see what you could do right now instead. What little way you could begin now today, instead of waiting to be ready.” — Miranda July

If you’ve ever looked at your list of ideas and thought, hmm, what to write about and written nothing, this is for you.

Marissa

offers lots of creative inspiration, while reminding us that there's so much we can be (and probably are) doing when we're not posting. Sometimes though we make publishing the part of our creative practice that means everything. It’s a great refocus on playing with our creativity rather than perfecting it.

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And some pop culture love

Listening to Self Esteem’s Focus is Power.

Also Sabrina’s ManChild - just a month till I see her at BTS.

Watching TwoGayMatts first listens — particularly Miley Cyrus’s Easy Lover — just makes me very happy.

Oh and this is delightful and will definitely calm your nervous system.

Let me know about anything else you’ve been discovering that helps you make sense of the world or just feel that little bit better when it all gets too much.

Until next time,

Claire

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