My brain is shutting down for Christmas and New Year a bit early
But I’ll be back in January
I’ve written about how my brain shuts down sometimes and I’m in such a period now. August and September have been my best months where I was able to create a lot of content. I love these kinds of months.
Now, I’m finding it hard and painful to write this newsletter, even focusing on sending it out is difficult, which is why I'm going on my break a bit earlier than anticipated. This is the last newsletter before the new year. I hope and plan to be back sometime in January.
Honestly, I hate taking these breaks as I’m always worried whether people are still there when I get back, but I’m chosing to trust that it will be ok. And I’m finally beginning to gain momentum, there is a steady instream of subscribers every week and I love it. Regardless, these month-long breaks are important for me to be able to continue writing without burning out, or worse, crashing.
And I do have something for you today!
I was interviewed for
’s Substack about how wellness culture’s focus on ‘food for recovery’ can be taken too far:“The idea in wellness culture that you can cure complex illnesses with food turns into a stigma about ill people being unhealthy or “if they just stopped eating white bread they would get much better.” This kind of thinking is incredibly stigmatising and ableist and can cause isolation for many people. I felt ostracised from my yoga community when I became ill because of this stigma.”
Dieting for health is incredibly complex as food can definitely help in managing illness (I, for example, have tons of intolerances that are important for me to stay away from), but taken too far can have downsides and can create a disordered, almost anxious and shameful relationship to food. We also talked about the harmful consequences of dieting for weight loss.
Read the full interview here:
And a big huge welcome to all my new subscribers and a huge THANK YOU to all you subscribers who’ve been with me for a while!
I love seeing every single one of you here. Having people to write to and with gives my life so much meaning. I can’t wait to get to know you in the comment sections of my posts! I won’t be gone for long, so in the meantime here are my most popular posts for you to read:
How shame works to legitimise social injustices and why you need to know
“There is nothing wrong with you, you’re as healthy as an eagle” the doctor told me. I could barely walk the 100 metres from my taxi to the clinic, I couldn’t sit upright and I was cold and clammy. I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but I was being medically gaslighted (gaslit?). And it didn’t feel good. Was I really not sick? Was I just stressed and bur…
What it’s like to live with severe ME
I’ve thought about this post for a long time and whether I should send it out or not. It’s vulnerable to speak of my body in this way, but at the same time I find it important to share what living with an illness that makes you invisible to the world is really like. Most people won’t get to see a person with severe ME, and this is a small window into th…
Challenging wellness culture’s stigma towards chronic illness
I remember, a long time ago, I noticed a judgmental thought come up internally when I saw a young man with multiple sclerosis (MS) on TV. The thought was: “If he just ate less white bread he would be much better.” I was deeply engrained in wellness culture at that point and it had brainwashed my way of thinking.
I’ll see you in January and while it’s a bit early I wish you a happy holidays when you get to it!
Bye for now,
Madelleine
Enjoy your rest and the holiday season. I'm about to hibernate myself for a couple of weeks.
Kudos to you for listening to what you need. We'll be here for you when you get back.