The 2024 round-up ✏️

A year of abundance. All ~70 columns. Plus introducing, guest writer season!

Hi! This is Leyla from A Day Well Spent, a newsletter seeking pathways to more purposeful living.

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I can’t help but feel very reflective, warm and fuzzy in December. I’d like to say a huge thank you for reading A Day Well Spent this year.

Thank you for being interested, interesting, sharing and liking. And for the incredibly wise, personal and meaningful discussions that happen under each post – it all means a great deal.

I launched this newsletter on 1st June 2023

After six months of feeling my way through the dark, trying to figure out what works best for me and my readers, I feel like 2024 has allowed me to really find my voice here.

And I’ve felt a lot of support from the community along the way.

Other writers on Substack, that I greatly respect, wanted to interview — me! To find out more about me! I’m usually on the other side of the interview mic, so people even showing an interest in what I had to say felt like a big deal.

It started with

Kirsten Powers

interviewing me about choosing a slower life. Then

Jo Thompson

had questions about my love for gardening (which led to my little London garden being featured on Gardeners’ World!).

Jane Ratcliffe

got in touch with 11 questions about the body, brain and books. And my good friend

Emma Gannon

and I had a chat for her Creative Coffee podcast about creating everyday joy.

In February I launched a Substack raffle charity fundraiser which raised an incredibly generous £1788 for Practical Action, the charity I am a proud ambassador of. Thank you once again to everyone who bought tickets back then!

And in April the community had its first online meet-up — we got to see and hear each other! It was such a delight. I intend to meet some of you in person in 2025.

The readership of A Day Well Spent has doubled over the past 12 months

It’s gone from around 3200 total subscribers at the start of January to 6700 today. That is a lot of people. We’re talking a sports stadium full of people.

I still find it hard to believe there are readers all over the world (now in 113 countries) that eagerly tune in to what lil ol’ me has to say. It quietly blows my mind.

The 4 goals of this newsletter

I’ve always had the following four main goals for A Day Well Spent:

1. to help us learn new things, discuss interesting topics and do cool stuff

2. to help us discover, awaken and nourish ourselves and each other

3. to give you regular doses of connection and accountability

4. to get to know you, the person reading this

I think we’re doing really well. I think we’re firmly on that path.

I’ve rounded up all my 2024 columns

Now that we’ve had an unbroken calendar year here. I saw writers do this at the end of last year and loved the idea.

All my personal essays, practical how to guides, curated lists, interviews and the glorious Sunday discussions, all with the common themes of self-empowerment, personal fulfilment and growth, and ways of slow and sustainable living.

I hope you enjoy dipping into whatever takes your fancy, re-reading some favourites or catching up on any columns you might have missed. I’ve sorted them into the overarching energies of The Mind, The Body and The Spirit.

Thank you so much for being here. 2025 is shaping up to be its own version of abundant, I hope you’ll be able to join me for the ride.

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🎁 A reminder

I’ve previously written about the fact I really, really don’t like shopping and my discomfort at the heightened level of consumerism and tat-buying at this time of year.

If you feel the same, or know someone who does, giving a Substack subscription to A Day Well Spent might be a nice antidote (£7.95 for a month or £59 for a year).

Members have said this newsletter brings a ‘dollop of joy’ and ‘positive blasts of energy’ to their inboxes. Which sounds like a pretty decent and unique gift!

You can also set the start date to whatever you like, for example, Christmas Day.

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Introducing guest writer season!

Starting from next week and lasting for a few weeks while I’m on the road, I will be publishing some brilliant columns from guest writers here on A Day Well Spent – I’m so excited to share their voices with you!

The topics are interesting and varied, as is often the case here. You’re going to be hearing some magnificent personal stories and learning some cool stuff along the way.

I’m really excited to read your reactions and I’ve already decided I’ll be hosting a guest writer season on my newsletter every year.

I published 68 articles for you during 2024:

The Mind (17)

Challenges, change and how we think

Self-empowerment (7)

• The things that make us feel self-empowered

• Why sometimes it’s OK to just quit

• On promoting yourself

• What’s the best case scenario?

• Knowing what you don’t want

• What are you looking forward to?

• Identifying our limiting beliefs

Personal fulfilment and growth (8)

• How do you define friendship?

• The path of evolution? Embracing change

• I was recently asked to define my ‘style’

• TV used to dominate my life

• Growth from discomfort and fear

• What happens when we do the opposite

• What I’ve learnt from 1 year on Substack

• What’s your Word of the Year?

Slow and sustainable living (2)

• I still really, really don’t like shopping

• Summer reads

The Body (22)

Connection, nourishment and action

Self-empowerment (7)

• How to ferment (pickle) any vegetable

• How to make kefir, the easiest of the ferments

• What I use to strength train at home

• How to grow kilos of raspberries

• How I bathed in Japan naked and in public

• Why my body is my best friend

• My daily sweet treat that’s actually good for me

Personal fulfilment and growth (8)

• An honest ‘day in my life’

• Hobbies: how to find out what you’re into

• This is Europe’s best kept festival secret

• A trip?

• In defense of alcohol

• This 15 min podcast is improving my life

• Our food memories

• This is how - and what - I eat

Slow and sustainable living (7)

• Alternative therapies and medicines

• How to make natural wall paint

• Home hacks that make tasks easier

• Taking breaks

• How we had a London wedding for <£15,000

• The toxic chemicals in our cosmetics

• The things we do to relax

The Spirit (16)

Consciousness, passion and how we live

Self-empowerment (2)

• Reflections on death and dying

• Dining out solo: why everyone should try it

Personal fulfilment and growth (10)

• The world according to your Mum doing the washing

• Why I’m so selective with who I spend time with

• End of year rituals

• How to slow down the passing of time

• Paying it forward

• My holiday (friendship) romance

• What we cannot see or measure

• ‘True’ wealth and what it means to me

• Our routines and rituals

• The secret of life

Slow and sustainable living (4)

• Why I want a rural life of self-sufficiency

• How to create more being time

• January’s nature, food and captured thoughts

• How decluttering my home changed the course of my life

You can also take a look at the back catalogue of the 11 interviews I have carried out, where every few weeks I ask someone who inspires me, interests me and embodies the ethos of this newsletter, 15 quickfire questions.

This newsletter exists only because of those who support it financially. If you would like to join the community by becoming a paying subscriber for 2025, you can sign up below. Then why not introduce yourself to the lovely readers already here — we look forward to welcoming you.