#16: Faking My Own Death
The first newsletter of the year, let's go!
I am having a very slow release into 2025. Every year I make the mistake of trying to unveil this completely fresh and invigorated person when, in reality, I’m still the exact same person I was two weeks before, but just a more tired, more cold, and more bloated version. But I’ve missed nattering to you on here, so I thought I would ease back into writing with a catch-up newsletter.
So what’s included this week: A song; a timely reminder to be kind to yourself with 2025 goal setting; a product recommendation; some really interesting articles about rosacea and appearance; TV recommendations for fellow January hermits; and an app I’m loving.
If you’d like to catch up on my recent newsletters, you can find them all HERE.
Listening: the title of this newsletter and the song I’ve been loving this week is Faking My Own Death by Allison Ponthier. It feels quite fitting for this time of year as January often feels like a rebirth, and after the absolute horror-show that was 2024 I do feel a little bit like I’m rising from the ashes.
Sharing: I love this collaboration between Dove and Freeda, but this stat made me quite sad: “Research from Dove reveals that 1 in 2 women make New Year’s resolutions because they feel dissatisfied with their bodies.”
I tried to be very gentle with my 2025 goals as I think it’s easy to slip into self-flagellation and unkindness. So when I was setting out my goals for the year, I asked myself: do I have control over this goal? Would achieving this goal improve my life in meaningful, lasting way? Am I setting this goal to please someone other than myself (and is that ‘other person’ society?) We are so much more than our appearances, and I refuse to waste any more of my one wild and precious life on it.
This, from the wonderful Rubyetc sums it up perfectly:
Using: I had a hankering to wear foundation the other day. I was going to a party and just wanted to play about with my make up a bit. I look at make up as fun now, rather than a necessity, and that will always give me a moment of pride at how far I’ve come. I chose the Scultped By Aimee Tint & Glow, which is a low-medium coverage liquid foundation that gives a really lovely skin-like finish, which is exactly what I wanted. I don’t have any photos because we were running late, but let me know if you’d like a mini review video showing application and finish.
If you want to read more about that product, as well as my other foundation recommendations for rosacea, you’ll love THIS POST.
Using: I’ve been using an app called Finch for about a month and I’m finding it really useful. It’s like a to-do list combined with a Tamagotchi. The gamification of the app keeps me interested and inspires me to look after myself a little better. My daily list has things like ‘take 3 deep breaths’, ‘take my supplements’, ‘write in my journal’, and ‘take a stretch break’ and, so far so good! It’s free to use, but there are paid options with more features. You can download it and become my friend HERE (I won’t be able to see any of your goals, they’re private, but we can just send each other encouragement!)
This is my little bird, Peanut, and her friend Parley the parrot. Adorable, I know.
Reading: For those of you who like keeping up with studies of potential rosacea treatments, this article may be of interest: “Ferulic Acid Effective in Treating Papulopustular Rosacea”. As noted further down in the article, all participants (including the control group) were also given oral doxycycline tablets, so the impressive results can’t be solely attributed to the ferulic acid, but the difference between the two groups is certainly interesting.
Reading: This article from New Scientist. So much of skincare advice is focused on appearance and how we can avoid or delay ageing. This ignores the skin’s main function, which is that it’s an organ that not only protects us but works around the clock to keep us healthy. Issues with the skin can indicate or result in many health conditions. It’s so worth educating yourself so that you can look after your skin while it cares for you. Read the article HERE.
Watching: We’ve been watching some great TV recently, most of which is on AppleTV (I’d recommend getting a free trial, blocking out a particularly chilly weekend, and just hitting it hard).
Silo S3 has been our main focus and it hasn’t disappointed. I still think the books are better (yes, I’m that person) but I’m so pleased it’s been renewed until the story is finished (a rarity nowadays!)
Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters. This is something I probably wouldn’t have been all that fussed about watching, but my husband put it on and we were hooked. It’s set in the MonsterVerse that includes Godzilla, King Kong etc. and it stars Anna Sawai, Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell - all of whom are incredible.
Bad Sisters. I’m so far behind on this and I assume most of you have already watched it by now, but if not I really recommend it. It’s a dark comedy drama about 5 sisters and their odious husband/brother-in-law. I honestly think JP might be one of the most hateable baddies I’ve ever seen on screen. Every scene with him, I was clenching my fists and my shoulders were around my ears!
Severance. If you’re like me, you’ve been (not-so-patiently) awaiting the very delayed second series. After watching episode 1 of S2, we decided to go back and rewatch S1 as I’d forgotten so much and I’m really enjoying it.
From S3. The third season has just come out on Now TV and I just don’t get why more people aren’t talking about this show. It’s absolutely incredible TV and Harold Perrineau’s acting is fantastic. If you liked Lost, Yellow Jackets, Severance etc, I really, really recommend it. And I think the first season is on Apple TV, so you can include it in your aforementioned binge.
Lost. Speaking of Lost, we’re also rewatching that from the beginning. I think the first two series might be some of the best TV I’ve ever watched. The characters, the atmosphere, the storylines… just perfection!
Writing: In case you missed my most recent Substack posts, here’s a quick recap. I summarised and reviewed most of the 120 books I read last year (including some of the worst books I’ve ever read and really needed to vent about!).
Before the Christmas break I also wrote about exfoliators and how to use them when you have rosacea, complete with tips and recommendations.
Reading: This advice column responds to a person concerned about their rosacea spreading (read it HERE). I often get questions from people who are experiencing ‘rosacea-like’ symptoms on other parts of their body. I think it’s a fair assumption to look at a rash or redness similar to the rosacea on your face and assume it’s all the same thing, but it’s worth getting any kind of skin irritation or issues checked out by a doctor. Rosacea most commonly presents on the face, so any symptoms on other body parts could be something that needs medical attention or could be helped with medication.
And that’s your lot! As I mentioned earlier, 2024 was a truly terrible year for me personally, but I’m hopeful that my 2025 will be much better.
I hope the same for you. And I hope when those great things do happen for you, you believe that you deserve them.
For the second year running I am giving myself a “Gentle January”. Easing myself slowly back into exercise and healthy eating. I can recommend it. 😀
JP might be the worst man ever (and that's saying something).
Excellent round up of 2025 thus far.