Why I started The Other Feed - and why I think a lot of people need it

I want to be honest with you before you read another word.

I don't have it figured out.

I'm not writing this from the other side of some big transformation, sitting in a perfectly calm flat with a perfectly organised life and a perfectly quiet mind.

I'm writing this from the middle of it, still working a job I've handed my notice in on, still navigating anxiety that's been with me for years, still figuring out what a quieter life actually looks like in practice rather than just in theory.

That's the whole point of The Other Feed. Not the finished version of calm.

The real one.

For as long as I can remember, I've felt like I wasn't quite in control of my own life.

Not dramatically, just a persistent low-level feeling that things were happening to me rather than being chosen by me.

The job I ended up in wasn't really chosen.

The habits I fell into weren't really chosen.

The hours I spent every evening scrolling through social media definitely weren't chosen.

They just happened, the way things happen when you're not paying attention.

I've struggled with anxiety and depression for a long time.

My brain is essentially a very enthusiastic smoke alarm that goes off when there's no fire, helpful in theory, exhausting in practice.

And what I've come to understand is that a lot of it is connected to that feeling of being out of control.

Controlled by a job that drains me.

Controlled by an algorithm that decides what I see and how I feel about myself.

Controlled by the noise of a world that never stops and never asks if you're okay with the pace it's setting.

Long before I started this newsletter, I'd been craving something quieter. Not a different life, exactly, just a different relationship with the one I had.

Less noise. More intention. More of a sense that the hours I was spending were actually mine.

The decision to leave my job wasn't really about the newsletter. It was about the workplace; it had become toxic in a way that was quietly affecting everything, and I knew staying wasn't an option anymore.

But having savings behind me made the leap slightly less terrifying than it might have been.

And once I'd made the decision to go, something shifted.

Suddenly, I was thinking about what came next. What I actually wanted. What a reset might look like.

That's when the idea for The Other Feed appeared. Not as a grand business plan, just as something honest I wanted to build while I figured the rest out.

A weekly email about finding a calmer life, written by someone genuinely in the middle of trying to find one.

I don't think I'm unusual.

I think a lot of people, especially people in their twenties and thirties, are quietly exhausted by the version of life that's been handed to them.

The hustle culture that says you should always be optimising, always be grinding, always be building your personal brand or your side project or your passive income stream.

The social media that promises connection and delivers comparison.

The jobs that take the best hours of your day and give you just enough back to keep going.

The constant connectivity that means there's never really a moment that belongs entirely to you.

None of it was really chosen. It was just what was there, and most of us walked into it without really deciding to. Like accidentally joining a group chat you can never leave.

And I think a lot of people are starting to notice.

Starting to feel fed up.

Starting to wonder if there's another way, not a dramatic off-grid retreat or a complete rejection of modern life, just a quieter, more intentional version of the one they already have.

That's who I'm writing for.

The quietly fed up.

The people who want out of the noise but aren't sure where to start.

The people who've put their phone down and immediately felt better for it.

Every Tuesday morning, a short, honest email lands in your inbox.

Five minutes to read. Three sections. Nothing overwhelming.

The first section - This Week From Me - is always personal. Something real from my week. A thought I couldn't shake, a moment that taught me something, an honest reflection on what building a calmer life actually looks like when you're in the middle of it. Not polished. Not performative. Just true.

The second section - One Idea Worth Sitting With - takes one concept and explores it properly. The psychology behind why we scroll. Why the big moments never feel as big as we imagined. Ideas that help make sense of why modern life feels the way it does and what we might do about it. Each one ends with a quiet prompt — something to sit with rather than immediately act on.

The third section - One Small Thing - is exactly what it sounds like. One small, gentle, completely achievable thing to try this week. Not a life overhaul. Not a productivity system. Just one small nudge in the direction of a quieter day. Sometimes it's so small it feels almost embarrassingly simple. Those are usually the best ones.

Because I think the newsletters worth reading are the ones written by people who are honest about where they are, not just where they want to be.

I'm 27. I'm from the UK, Wirral.

I'm leaving a job I should have left sooner.

I have anxiety.

I've spent too long feeling out of control of my own life.

I'm building something from scratch with savings, a laptop, and a dog called Buddy, who contributes nothing to the business but is an excellent reason to go outside.

I'm not an expert in slow living or digital wellness or intentional anything.

I'm just a person who got fed up with the noise and decided to do something about it, and I thought that writing about it honestly every week might help other people who feel the same way.

It might work. It might not. But it'll be honest either way.

If any of that resonates, if you're one of the quietly fed up, if you've ever put your phone down and immediately felt better and wondered why you don't do that more often, then The Other Feed could just be for you.

It's free. It arrives every Tuesday morning. And it's written by someone who's figuring it out alongside you rather than someone who already has all the answers.

If you haven't already, you can join below. 😊