💬 Sunday Reflections #36 (doing the opposite)
Plus the February round-up and new juicy end of month features!
Hi! This is Leyla from A Day Well Spent, a newsletter seeking pathways to more purposeful living.
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Welcome to Sunday Reflections ☕
For new subscribers, welcome to our twice monthly gathering. This is our intimate and friendly space for community and accountability. And the last Sunday of the month (that’s today) is always a juicy one.
How it works
On two Sundays each month I pose a prompt or question which we discuss (and say hi) in the comments. Topics tend to cover self-empowerment and personal growth and these regular check-ins allow us to share our wisdoms and get to know ourselves and the other members of the A Day Well Spent community better.
Feel free to have a browse through previous Sunday Reflections to get an idea of the stuff we talk about.
ICYMI February round-up
All my published pieces from the month in one handy list.
1. Did you know more women and girls live in extreme poverty than men and boys?
And do you fit the following?
I enjoy great writing by bestselling authors ✔️
I care about the women of the world most affected by poverty and climate change ✔️
I have £3/$3/€3 to spare ✔️
If you’ve ticked all the above, I’ve got great news for you!
To mark the upcoming International Women’s Day on 8th March, I’m running a Substack raffle charity fundraiser in aid of the incredible charity I’m a proud ambassador of, Practical Action. And it sounds like you’re just the kind of amazingly wonderful, considerate and compassionate person who would buy a ticket ❤️
If you buy a raffle ticket for less than the price of a coffee, you’ll be in with a chance of winning an annual subscription to one of 52 bestselling Substack newsletters (including A Day Well Spent). Topics are broad and the RRPs of these start from £50, upwards!
The current odds of winning are about 1/4, so it’s really worth entering. And there are just 3 days left of the discounted early bird ticket bundles. I’ve bought a bunch myself because the prizes are so damn good.
If every person reading this (yes, that means you!) was able to part with just £3/$3/€3, we would raise a whole heap of money. And entry is global 🌍
Thanks to so much heartfelt generosity, we’re already on £381 — what joy! But I know that collectively, we can do a lot better than that. We are aiming high — over £1000. So I’m asking every single reader of this newsletter, and beyond:
Do you have some spare change to help raise this amount for such a deserving cause?
To those who have already bought raffle tickets — Matt A, Laura M, Lisa R, Lynn F, Trudi GW, William S, Jonny M, Emma C, Martin H, Gavin D, Aine OF, Candi M, BTien, Nadege K, Mex I, Simone D, Marilia B, Zach B, John K, Sophie R, Celia L, Tim E, Roseanne C, Cindy OD, Lynette C, Lauren P, Emma K, Alexandra G — I see you and I THANK YOU.
Now it’s time to ramp things up:
2. Did you know the people we habitually associate with determine as much as 95% of our success or failure in life?
I wrote about why I’m so selective with who I spend time with, how these people have a huge influence on the trajectory of our lives and why it’s therefore important to choose our circle of friends wisely.
To help with this, I share 16 different personality traits I actively surround myself with, and why:
3. Do you struggle to answer the question ‘what do you like to do in your free time?’
A lot of people do.
I wrote a piece about hobbies and the free time needed to both discover and enjoy them. I share my tips on how to cultivate free time and figure out what lights your fire:
4. I had a holiday romance, and wrote about it
And why I secretly know it won’t last.
“I don’t think I have ever hit it off so completely and instantly with another person before. Neither of us wanted me to leave. She even — jokingly — asked me to marry her.”
5. Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you
We talked about taking breaks — how we do them, what they look like, whether they’re easy or difficult to implement, things in our lives we need regular breaks from and more. As always, truly insightful and enlightening wisdoms from the community down in the comments.
A big WELCOME to new community members ✨
Should you join this community and leave a message when doing so, it would be a lovely thing to read and I’ll be sure to share it in these monthly round-ups.
Welcome to Sara, Eliana, Anne and all other February new joiners!
Sunday is for awakening the mind, body and spirit 🧘
Now let’s begin.
Today’s topic: doing the opposite
