Adventures in a (mainly) Wonderful World
January 2025 - Would you like to come on an adventure with me this year?
Dear Fabulous Friends,
Tomorrow marks ‘Blue Monday 2025’ – which is supposed to be the most depressing day of the year. I hope you haven’t got the January blues but if you do then I highly recommend an ADVENTURE…In fact why not come on an adventure with me this year?
The Adventure Retreat: 10 - 16 May, Formentera, Spain
Following the inaugural retreat in Scotland at the end of last year, this coming May we’ll be heading somewhere sunnier – the small, idyllic island of Formentera in Spain (aka Ibiza’s little sister). I can promise you a magical experience which has been curated with so much love by me and my fabulous Retreat Co-leader, Alice Todd, Director of SwimQuest. Alice has written about the first retreat we did together on her new Substack (Adventures in Wonderland – go read and subscribe!).
I describe the experience as part sea-to-summit challenge; part creative journey; part soulful wellness retreat. If you like music and movement; water and walking; silence and stories; and my all time favourite things - fabulous food and sundowners with salty snacks, then book now before the final few spaces are gone. We’ll take you on an adventure of the heart as much as the body which will leave you energized and inspired, and might just change your life. But don’t take my word for it - here’s what some of the first retreaters have recently written and said about the impact it seems to have had:
“I’m realising I’ve changed inside. Changed into a more confident, powerful person. It was sublime.”
“ I don’t think there is a day when I don’t reflect on some part of the retreat. I came back feeling fulfilled, calm, de-stressed, mindful, empty of tears, and generally feeling WOW what a journey.”
And let me assure you in case you’re worried or wondering - you don’t need to be a good swimmer, or super fit or creative to come. Whilst the Retreat may push you out of your comfort zone (whatever that looks like for you), we won’t be encouraging you to swim the Channel, climb Everest, listen to over 3,000 episodes of Desert Island Discs, or write three books and tell your deepest darkest sadness to the world. Because I did that for you and, frankly, I don’t need the competition. But I do want everyone to know about the power of adventure to change your life, and our Retreat is a unique and unforgettable experience which will make you feel ALIVE, and that you are embracing a big, brave and beautiful life. So if you want to do something amazing in 2025 why not come and join us…you’ll find all the details here:
Formentera - 10 - 16 May 2025
OR Scotland - 1 - 4 December 2025
Join my Big & Brave Family (if you haven’t already!)
Maybe 2025 is also the year when you will become an official member of my Big & Brave family. I’ve been gradually building a lovely community here (which sits behind a paywall) and it’s where all the really good stuff happens… like this:
* “The Shit Into Superpower Sessions” – next event Monday 27th January, 8pm UK Time (B&B Fam - date for your diary!)
Come and join my new monthly live online zoom sessions, co-hosted with my dear friend and colleague Dr Tara Lal, which are all about turning your struggles into strengths. If you’re hoping that 2025 is going to be better than 2024, it might just be the thing for you. Our plan for this year is to create an ‘action learning group’ of amazing people who will work with us to brainstorm ideas for our evolving ‘Your Shit is Your Superpower’ project. No specialist knowledge or experience is required - other than being a human with heart. So come and help road-test our ideas, and benefit from them at the same time. The next session is on Monday 27th January at 8pm (UK time) when we’ll be writing and dissecting our SHIT LISTS (full details and the sign up link are going out TOMORROW exclusively to all members of my B&B Family). We’ll be holding monthly sessions throughout the year, and you can also access these on catch up if you can’t attend live.
* Weekly posts
As a member of my B&B Family you also get weekly posts from me including my new series for 2025 entitled ‘Something Raw & Vulnerable - conversations with my Grandmother’. My first post in this new series landed last week and has had more comments than any other post I’ve written on Substack. It was the first time I’d ever shared publicly about the struggle of writing, publishing and believing that your creative voice matters. So if that’s something that resonates, you might want to read it. You may also want to see my first post of the year ‘Can Big and Brave be Small and Slow?’ which according to the Substack algorithm has become my most popular post EVER. I definitely feel like I’m on a Substack writing roll at the moment - come on over and see.
* Let’s have coffee or go on a micro adventure!
This year I’m planning to do much less than I’ve done for a while (more on that in the small and slow post I mentioned). To that end I’ve decided to ring-fence a limited number of days each month in my diary exclusively for meeting up with members of my Big & Brave family in person or online. So if you’d like to meet for adventure advice or anything else - then please become one of my paid subscribers and you’ll get my calendly link.
My paid subscription doesn’t cost a huge amount. And once you become one of my family members everything else at the moment in the community is free. Because to be honest - and to coin the lyrics of a great song – it’s not really about the price tag for me. It’s actually about two other important things. For the last decade I’ve done most of my work in the world for very little money and that’s ok, I’ve chosen to do it, and still lived an amazing life which has felt like privilege and purpose combined. But I also believe that writers and creative entrepreneurs should be paid for their time and thought. And what I’ve found is that this new paid community I’ve created makes me value myself and my work much more which feels really good. But I also want people to have a choice about how much content they want to receive from me because there’s so much out there and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed (I do). So if you want to continue as one of my free subscribers then that’s truly GREAT – and I’ll be back in your inbox next month with another instalment of adventure news. But if you want to support me or you think you might benefit from becoming one of my Big & Brave Family members and getting involved in all the things I’ve listed above, I’d really value your love and commitment and so I’ve created a BLUE MONDAY OFFER available for the next 48 HOURS which will give you 75% OFF subscription (which means it’s £12.50 for the whole year and is basically the equivalent of buying me a coffee and a good cake!).
And finally
Here are two other adventures coming up that you might want to join me for:
Sunday 26th January, 5pm, Online - Other Words: Searching for Solidarity
I’m delighted to be the inaugural speaker on this brand new series featuring writers from the childless community. Hosted by Rosalyn Scott (Founder of the NoMo Book Club) and Lisa Kissane (who has just launched her own Substack called Really Honest Business), I’ll be talking about some of the women who have most inspired my writing journey. More info and booking link here.
Saturday 8th March - The Big Swim in celebration of International Women’s Day
For the second year running, I’m delighted to be an official supporter of The Big Swim organised each year by my fellow AdventureMind Ambassador the inimitable Pink Nicky. Last year 500 people dived into the sea to demonstrate their love of women and water, and this year we’re aiming to double that figure creating the South Coast’s biggest gathering of wild swimmers ever - with 500 women in Brighton and 500 women in Dorset. Tickets are limited and booking launches tomorrow at 12 noon. Join us and swim! More info and booking link here.
That’s it for this month. But please leave me a comment or send me a direct message as it’s always lovely to hear your news too. And if you’ve read all the way down to here and could press the ‘like button’ that would be amazing - as it helps more people find my adventure inspiration.
