#36 Your Slow Sunday Scroll ☕️
Life after influencing, coffee, Barbie and my new book
Hi all, as you probably know my new book The Success Myth published this week (it’s been a bit book heavy this week I know! Even though I’m still tempted to say ‘sorry for the book spam’, I won’t say that, I’m super proud of it and excited about it reaching people).
I had such a lovely book party with my friends and family at Holland Park’s Daunt Books which I LOVED. Super chilled: books and white wine. I wore a Kemi Telford dress at (pic here). Kemi Telford is a Nigerian-British sustainable fashion clothing brand, she creates such joy through clothes. We’ve known each other for almost ten years and it’s been wonderful watching her brand grow and evolve. I got a decaf coffee and went for a quick stroll around Holland Park alone earlier in the day and muted my phone to have a moment with myself. I felt grounded and calm. The whole vibe around this launch felt so different; less hectic, less pressured, less expectations, less hustle.
Usually I’d be pacing up and down on publication week, refreshing the Amazon page, hoping that it won’t be one big embarrassment. (The ‘industry’ can often make you feel like everyone’s watching — they probably aren't). This time around, I got to truly define success for myself. I wrote it. Some people will read it. I feel good and healthy. Tick. It probably won’t be a Sunday Times Bestseller. There are hundreds of books published every month. It’s just not likely for 99.9% books. I don’t mind at all.
Mainly because of the subject matter of the book I’ve learned to distance myself from all the shiny stuff and genuinely focus on the joys of the process itself. Burnout helped with that as it forced me (over the past six months) to find other things to enjoy other than work.
Last week I announced a limited mini-series called The Success Myth Diaries with some brilliant thinkers who are bringing their own myths and learnings to the table. The first guest is author and CEO Chelsea Fagan and she has quite a few countercultural thoughts on success that I loved hearing about. The second episode is with actor Sian Clifford which is a good’n too. I have a wide-ranging line-up and we’ve got episodes coming on ageing, transformations, spirituality and everything in between.
📚 In the press 📚
An extract of The Success Myth was published on Glamour and I was interviewed on BBC Radio London. I also spoke to The Telegraph with the headline “our addiction to success is making us sick” and I was so pleased that they really ‘got’ the vibe of the book. I went on the SAGE Sound Advice podcast and spoke in quite a lot of detail about my burnout and what it taught me. I’m SO excited for this book to be out in the world 🌎.
Hope you enjoy the links today xo
(For any new subscribers to the Hyphen, hello, welcome! This is my Sunday Scroll instalment that I send out every two weeks with links, book recommendations, podcasts and bits and bobs I’ve enjoyed lately. Upgrade to membership, at £1.50 a week, to read all the links below and receive every other week.)