“Happy Birthday, Izzy.”

For years, I cried every year on my birthday. Birthdays would fill me with a special kind of melancholy. A complex bittersweetness. Both an excuse for a party and also a painful reminder of our impermanence.

Ever since I was a toddler I’ve struggled with embracing the idea of The End. My dad tells me that as a two-year-old I started asking him about ‘what will happen in the end’. And when a pet fish died and I discovered the concept of death, we had a conversation that went a bit like this.

Sitting in the garden by our house, I pointed to the shrubbery and asked,

“Dad, will the trees die?”

“Yes, eventually.”

“And will our house die?”

“Yes, one day it will be gone.”

“Will everything die?”

“Yes, nothing lasts forever.”

“But Dad… will you die?” (starting to look worried and sad)

“Yes sweetheart, I’ll die one day.”

“…Will I die?”

“One day, yes.”

(tearfully) “I don’t want us to die. I want us to be together forever.”

“I know, Bee.”

Our modern society’s collective fear of aging stems from a fundamental fear of loss.

If nothing lasts forever, that means that everything that we love, we will eventually lose.

Nearly five years ago, I went on a 10-day silent vipassana meditation retreat. This fear of loss arose strongly for me on Day 5 of meditating for twelve hours per day. I felt a devastating wave of fear and grief flood through me from squarely confronting the truth of the intrinsic impermanence of everything I loved and would lose.

But through sitting with the grief and fear, I came to understand it. Even the grief and fear and anger, were actually just different faces of love.

My bittersweet sadness each birthday at the thought that I’m yet another year older, closer to my death, closer to the death of everyone I love, aging, running out of time to fulfil my dreams… was actually because deep down, I really love my life.

The weight we often feel around birthdays isn’t new. The origin of the modern birthday party was the 19th-century Kinderfeste in Germany, where they would celebrate a child’s birthday with a cake, candles and a party.

They would add one candle for every year of life. And the reason for adding a candle each year was to reflect that each year of life was a gift. Each year represented a success, a survival. An accumulation of light and life.

Last week it was my 29th birthday; 29 years of light. The last year of my 20s.

I still feel bizarrely close to the 20 year old version of myself in my mind, as if she were just here with me last week; even though nearly a decade has passed and I’m a radically different person now. I remember my 20th birthday party in my small Cambridge University room, singing outrageously to “Not Nineteen Forever” by the Courteeners.

And so heading into the last chapter of my 20s, instead of clinging to the feeling that time is running out, my perspective has shifted to embracing impermanence.

“Thank you for this beautiful experience and this full life so far. I hope I get to experience more.”

It’s the ultimate cup half-full or half-empty thing. The same event, different perspective.

Five years ago, on that 10-day silent meditation retreat, I realised that there’s another side to the coin of fear and grief. It’s called love.

And I haven’t cried on my birthday since.

I began to see each birthday as a quiet marker of having truly lived all the way to this point. A reminder of everything that makes life so full.

Birthdays, like the New Year, are small thresholds. Moments to honour who we were, and choose who we are becoming.

I’ve always found it powerful to write letters to my past and future selves around these milestones. If you’d like to try it too, here are some journal prompts I love:

🌟 What would I thank the person I was a year ago for carrying, even when it was heavy? What did she not know yet, that I now understand?

🌟 What seeds am I planting now that I hope my future self will nurture? What do I hope future-me remembers about who I am right now?

🌟 What part of myself am I ready to thank and release to step fully into who I am becoming next?

Maybe in the end, loving our messy, imperfect, impermanent lives - completely as they are, not as we wish them to be - is all birthdays were always about.

And I can get on board with that.

Lots of Love,

Izzy xxx

I’d love to hear your reflections on reaching new milestones, and the ways you choose to approach them now compared to your younger self. Please feel free to share your thoughts down below 💜

Other Life Updates

👩🏻‍🎨 I started Chinese calligraphy lessons recently, and I’ve loved being a total beginner at something again! It’s been humbling and inspiring seeing my classmates’ and teacher’s beautiful brush technique and characters compared to my irregular misshapen ones. Lots to improve on!

🐒 I went on a family outing with my husband Ali and my baby daughter to the Hong Kong Botanical Gardens. They have monkeys there, and truth be told, this outing was more for me than for my daughter - I was way more impressed than she was 😅

🎥 I filmed and uploaded two new YouTube videos, one on transforming your life before 2026 and the other on starting and growing a YouTube channel. Hope you enjoy(ed) watching them!

👩🏻‍💻 I’ve been hard at work helping to craft the curriculum for Sparkle Studios’ Lifestyle Business Academy course. It’s been an all hands on deck situation for the team to create something of value that we’re all proud of. We had our very first cohort starting recently and it’s just been incredible seeing the course come to life.

Hey there ❤️

“Who do you think you are?”

This question haunted me for years. Not in the way someone might ask it with genuine warm curiosity, but in the accusatory tone my inner critic loved to use whenever I dared to do something more or move towards an identity I hadn’t yet fully mastered. It went a bit like this:

‘Want to call yourself a YouTuber? Who do you think you are? You’ve only got a few thousand subscribers.’

‘Think you’re an entrepreneur? Who do you think you are? Your “business” is built around content creation, that hardly counts.’

My mind would forecast what judgements others might make about me, imagining what my haters would think or say if I stepped into these identities. But what I learned the hard way is that these extrapolated judgements hurt me more than they helped, and instead of protecting me they often kept me playing small instead.

For so much of my life, I felt I needed somebody else to validate who I am before I could own it. A certificate. A milestone. A plaque in the post. Some external stamp of approval that gave me permission to be the thing I was already actively doing.

With YouTube, it was literally on the day my channel hit 100,000 subscribers and I had my silver play button plaque coming in the post that I thought, “Okay, well I guess I get to call myself a YouTuber now since I have a silver plaque.”

Before that moment, I was ‘just’ someone who made YouTube videos, spending hours researching, planning, filming and editing alongside my Cambridge medical school studies and then full-time job as a doctor; essentially doing the things a YouTuber does… but I still didn’t allow myself to own the identity.

Our actions follow our identity. Who we believe we are, who we believe we’re becoming, is an intrinsic and essential part of shaping our behaviour, and therefore our outcomes in life. If I don’t internally believe I’m a YouTuber, I won’t truly act like one. The identity comes first, then the actions follow.

Looking back, I can see how much this identity-dissonance held me back. My posting schedule was sporadic at best. I didn’t fully commit because I didn’t dare allow my identity to align with my desired actions. I was hedging.

But here’s what I’ve realised. The question, “Who do you think you are?” is actually exactly the question we need to ask ourselves. Not in a critical way, but as an act of radical self-definition.

This is the shift I wish I could tell my younger self. I’ve realised there are two types of identity, each with a different purpose. First, there’s your external identity; the forward-facing label or ‘personal brand’ you show to the world. But second, and perhaps more importantly, there’s your internal identity. This is the aspirational version of yourself that exists in your own mind, the story you tell yourself about who you’re becoming. And this story has transformative, creative power.

The breakthrough for me was separating these two types of identity. On the day I committed to creating YouTube videos, I didn’t have to announce to the world externally, “I’m a YouTuber! Look at me!” But I could claim the identity quietly, internally, without resistance or self-judgement. Internal ownership comes first, and then the public, external identity naturally follows.

And reflecting on the impact this had on my life, I realised an uncomfortable truth: my insecurity about stepping into a new internal identity actually made me add less value to the world. I was adding so much emotional friction to the process of creating, constantly wrestling with this internal voice saying, “Oh, but I’m not really a YouTuber.”

It was as though I was fully smashing the gas pedal while also slamming down the brakes. At war with myself, and emotionally exhausted by it. All that friction wasted so much energy; energy I could have instead poured into creating more or better videos.

By radically letting go of both, and instead just gently tapping the accelerator, everything became so much more efficient and joyful. Less stress. Less struggle. More ease. When you’re not constantly battling yourself about whether you deserve to be doing the thing you’re doing, you can actually just do it.

So… who do you think you are?

I hope you’ll answer that question boldly, unapologetically, and with radical self-honesty. Because on the other side of that answer is less friction, more flow, and the freedom to create the value you’re truly capable of bringing to the world. 💛

Lots of Love,

Izzy xx

✍️ This week’s journalling prompts:

🌟 What identity have you been waiting for “permission” to claim? What if you gave yourself that permission right now, internally, without needing any external validation?

🌟 In what ways might your hesitation to own an identity be holding you back from adding more value to the world or showing up more fully in your life?

🌟 What judgement are you afraid others will make if you claim a new identity? Is this judgement real, or are you projecting your own insecurities?

I’d love to hear your reflections on identity, self-doubt, or moments when you finally claimed something you’d been holding back from. Please feel free to share your thoughts down below! 🫶

📣 Exciting announcements:

🤗 MOMENTUM APP UPDATES: In the spirit of owning my software co-founder identity, I’d love to share some updates about our latest app, Momentum. I’ve been using it get locked in with building consistent habits like meditating and journalling, and sharing progress with friends in the built-in accountability squads helps massively with staying motivated to actually show up for our goals every day.

• You can now try out Momentum completely for free using my code: 5VJHS. Click here to check it out on the App store

• Our Android version is nearly ready! So if you’re an Android user, join the waitlist here so you’ll be the first to know when it’s out

Hey there 🥰

Before we start today’s newsletter, I have some exciting news to share… my team and I have just launched an app! It’s called Momentum: Energising Habits, and it’s a habit-tracker with built-in accountability squads 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️

We’ve designed it so you can stay consistent on habits that give you that energy boost — like that daily run you know is good for you but keep putting off. And as a bonus for my Letters to My Younger Self readers, I’ve created a journalling squad for us, so that we can support each other and build our daily journal habit together! 💪 You can join with my invite code: R3QHI9

I’d love for you to try out Momentum and let me know what you think of it! You can download it now on the App Store using the button below 👇

Click here to learn more about Momentum 🥳

And if you want to join my journalling squad: remember to use the invite code R3QHI9

Hope to see you there ☺️

So, back to today’s Letter...

I just recently returned from my first trip back to London since moving to Hong Kong, and our first trip abroad with our baby girl (who I may or may not have totally over-packed for 🙈)!

There was something magical about returning to all the places we used to spend so much time back when we were living in London. I walked in Regent’s Park again, where I used to go for near-daily summer sunset strolls; where Ali and I went on one of our very early dates, manoeuvring a bright blue pedalo around happy ducks on the boating lake; where we went to take photographs in the blossoming rose garden together after our civil wedding ceremony in Marylebone. I revisited the coffee shops and restaurants and high streets we used to live in and among daily. Coming back felt at once as though nothing had changed and that everything had changed. Not because London was particularly different I suppose, but rather because I was.

It reminds me of a quote by Nelson Mandela:

“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”

For a window in time, London became my mirror, reflecting the ways I was not the same.

Looking back, this past year has been one of the densest periods of change in my life so far. Getting married to the love of my life, moving together to Hong Kong, growing a baby and then welcoming said baby to the world, becoming a whole mother, working on new businesses that both excite and challenge me, building a family and life together with Ali. And then coming back to those familiar British streets, I was reminded of the person I was back when it was the scenery of home. Same London architecture, same roses in Regent’s Park, same iconic black cabs and British pubs — but experienced with a changed lens.

This switch in perspective reminded me of the time I was still studying medicine at Cambridge University. I lived on-site in Emmanuel College, and every morning I’d rush bleary-eyed through the centuries-old cobbled lanes, gorgeous gothic architecture, past the punts and golden light reflecting on the River Cam, on the way to lectures about human anatomy, physiology, neuroscience and more. Day to day, it was easy to forget to look up and really see the beauty of it. It easily became ordinary through repetition. And only when returning after graduating did I really appreciate the quiet magic of the place that I was living and breathing in back then.

It was a powerful experiential lesson in romanticising life. Often we don’t realise how special something is until we step away. But in many ways, we don’t actually need to leave to feel that amazement. Sometimes we just need to select a new pair of metaphorical glasses.

So I’ve started asking myself more often: How can I view my surroundings, every pedestrian moment, with the eyes that are looking for beauty? What would it take to simply choose to view this present moment through the lens of gratitude? And, one that resonates deep in my bones when I truly think about it;

How can I view each moment as though it is my first and last time living it?

Because in many ways, that is the reality of life in each moment. Each passing moment we live is the first and last time we will experience it.

Which brings me to my baby. She has the ability to find wonder in what, to most adults, are the most plain things.

A few weeks ago, she discovered her (tiny) toes. To her, this wasn’t a “shrug it off” moment; it was a whole sensory and cognitive mind-blowing experience. She stared at them as though they were the most incredible sight, grabbed them, wiggled them with fascination, and cooed at them in genuine excitement. Her expression said it all: Wow, what are these incredible bizarre things… and I can move them! These are amazing. Wow! Wow. Extraordinary. So cool. Love it.

And then of course, she proceeded to stuff them into her mouth. (Any parent reading will relate 😂)

But watching her reminded me of a fundamental lesson in Buddhist philosophy: the concept of beginner’s mind, which invites us to approach the world as though everything is new. As though in every moment we’re beginning again. For babies, that’s not a practice; it’s simply how they live. But for us adults, it’s often a mental stance we have to relearn.

And seeing my baby discover everything for the first time, I’m suddenly brought into her world of wonder. The world comes alive again. A cup isn’t just a cup — it’s a marvel of design and invention, and somehow it holds milk which sloshes and moves in the most interesting way. A tree isn’t just background greenery; it’s a rush of branches and leaves and textures and sounds on an incredible scale. Even the sky, which can be easy to forget to look up at, can be wild if you actually pause for a moment to take it in… it’s just huge, and how far away is it, how big is it, why can’t we touch it… and (of course), why is it blue?

As a science-loving girl, I know many of these questions of wonder can be answered with logic and evidence and research. But this doesn’t mean that we need to lose touch with our innate attunement to amazement.

✍️ This week’s journalling prompts:

🌟 What ordinary moment could I choose to romanticise today? If I looked at my life through a child’s eyes, what would feel magical?

🌟 How would I live differently if I saw each moment as my first time experiencing it? Or what if I viewed each moment as my very last time experiencing it?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on change, beginner’s mind, or ordinary moments in your life that become extraordinary when seen with fresh eyes, so please feel free to comment your thoughts down below ❤️

This is what London gave me on this trip, and what my baby teaches me daily. That the magic of life isn’t only in big, sweeping milestones. It’s also in paying attention to the small moments. Living life with full attention. In noticing how our perception reflects the ways we ourselves are growing and changing over time. In choosing to romanticise the ordinary. In taking a breath to look again, with eyes that are looking for beauty… and maybe even sniff at the roses too.

Lots of Love,

Izzy xx

Hey there ❤️

I’m back from the mystical land of maternity leave! And honestly, it feels so good to be writing these Letters to you again. 🥰

First off, a (big!) life update: I’m officially a mum! I gave birth to our baby girl after 43 hours of labour, more in-depth updates and reflections are over on my Instagram and YouTube channel.

Secondly, if you’ve been wondering where I disappeared to, I promise I haven’t forgotten about you (I wouldn’t dream of it)! I’ve just been on the longest planned career break of my life, and spent 6 weeks on self-imposed house arrest. And I’ve learned so much about identity and productivity and been humbled a whole lot along the way.

When I first stepped back from work during pregnancy – the productivity guilt hit hard.

As someone who’s spent most of my life in environments where we were taught that hustle and attainment is everything – whether in formal education at high school or Cambridge medical school, to my career working as a doctor and content creator and entrepreneur – taking a big break suddenly felt like stepping into a vacuum.

I realised I’d built so much of my identity around what I do, rather than on who I am. And when I had to take a break from it all, we had all the perfect ingredients for a big old existential crisis. The questions that repeatedly popped up my mind were pretty confronting: Who am I when I’m not actively creating? What’s my worth when I’m not producing? What’s my value to the world when I’m just... resting?

But here’s what I finally learned on an experiential level: sometimes the most productive thing we can do is rest.

The Ancient Wisdom I Discovered

There’s actually profound ancient wisdom in this. It’s nothing new – traditional cultures around the world have understood this for thousands of years.

During my postpartum period, I chose to partake in an age-old postpartum Chinese tradition called “confinement”, or zuo yuezi 坐月子 in Mandarin, literally translated as “sitting the month”. This tradition consists of 42 days of intentional, intense rest and recovery for both mama and baby starting right after birth.

It involves 6 weeks of staying at home, using only boiled ginger water for washing hands or showering to keep the “warmth” in your body, consuming only hot things, eating plain yet nourishing food and soups designed specifically for recuperation, and mandating deep rest during this critical healing period. So this means no leaving the house, no touching tap-water, no chilled drinks, no tasty restaurant meals, and no hustle.

And yes, I did this voluntarily - and no, it wasn’t my mum’s idea.

It became crystal clear that this tradition wasn’t “passive rest” or simple “bedrotting” for 6 weeks. It was what I’d describe as “active rest”, where you intentionally focus on nourishing your mind, body, and spirit. Both modes of rest have their place, but the latter really builds you up for whatever comes next.

The foundation behind this confinement tradition is beautiful: they say that this one month can change a woman’s life. If you take proper care of yourself during this pivotal moment, you set yourself up for long-term health, wellbeing, and the ability to show up as your best self for your family, community, and the world later on.

And having experienced it, I’m a convert. It was exactly the protective bubble I needed, even if I didn’t always know it in the moment. My energy levels came back naturally, my body healed smoothly, and I feel strong and energised coming out of it.

These kinds of rituals around intentional rest during major life transitions haven’t persisted for thousands of years by accident. Our ancestors knew something we’re just remembering: allowing proper recovery time during pivotal moments isn’t indulgent, it’s strategic.

This extends far beyond pregnancy and postpartum. Whether you’re navigating burnout, illness, bereavement, feeling lost or directionless, navigating a major life transition, or simply sensing that you need to change something in your life – dedicating time to reset isn’t just valuable, it’s the cradle of transformation. Even smaller breaks deserve this intentionality; those scheduled date nights, the weekend afternoons spent reading instead of checking emails – these aren’t (just) treats. They’re necessary investments to “refill the well” and show up fully.

A Love Letter to Anyone Feeling Guilty About Taking a Break

If you’re reading this and even thinking about taking a break leads to feelings of guilt or even anxiety – I seriously understand. It’s natural when we’ve been conditioned to constantly strive, as rest can feel like the antithesis of everything we’ve been taught about success.

Here’s something I like to remind myself of: the very fact that you want to work and push yourself is proof that you’re not a lazy person. So once you’re ready – when your body, mind, and circumstances align – you’ll naturally return to productivity, and feel good doing it.

This isn’t about becoming someone who takes breaks indefinitely. It’s about honouring the seasons of your life responsively and understanding that rest is productive too. A break isn’t the end of all productivity, but rather a moment to refill your cup.

And, like for me, it might very well change your life. Sometimes, the best way to move forward is to have fully stepped back first.

✍️ This week’s journalling prompts:

🌟 What does “active rest” look like for you? What activities or practices genuinely restore and nourish you? Choose three simple “active rest” activities to try this week – and predict how you’ll feel before and after.

🌟 When was the last time you took an intentional break? How did it feel, and what did you discover about yourself during that time? If you could now design your own mini “confinement” period for whatever you’re season you’re in now, what would it include?

🌟 In moments of productivity guilt, what compassionate reminders could you say to yourself?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on rest, productivity guilt, or any insights about your own relationship with taking breaks. Feel free to leave a comment down below!

Thank you for being here with me as I navigate this return to writing and creating, and I’m grateful for your patience during my time away. I’ll leave you with a quote I’ve been reflecting on a lot in this season:

“You find your rhythm when you realise that even the steps backwards were part of the dance.”

I hope you find your own rhythm – one that honours both the forward steps and the backward ones, the leaps and the pauses, the movement and the rest.

Looking forward to sharing more Letters with you in the weeks ahead! 💌

Lots of love,

Izzy xx

Hey there ❤️

Two quick things before diving in today! 😊

1. We’re opening up the VoicePal Partner Program! VoicePal is an AI ghostwriting app I’ve been building with my husband and team (you can find details about the app here). I use it to brainstorm content by simply speaking my thoughts, then developing them with AI prompts. In the VoicePal Partner Program you can earn recurring passive income by sharing your VoicePal link with others. More details here if you’re interested. ✨

Click here to join the VoicePal Partner Program 🚀

2. If you’re a creator or entrepreneur living in Hong Kong, my husband and I are starting a free local club to bring like-minded people together for events, dinners, workshops, etc. More details here.

So in today’s Letter, I’d like to share with you a powerful concept that’s genuinely transformed my approach to personal growth: the confidence-competence loop. Let’s start with the personal story that changed my perspective on this forever...

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I want to do acting parts. I’m just here for the singing troupe audition really.”

Those were the words I found myself saying for two years in a row, each time the directors of our medical school pantomime asked me to read for an acting role. I had this narrative firmly lodged in my head: “I’m just a singer, not an actress. I’d be awful at acting and I can’t act anyway so I’d just make a fool of myself. If I say no, I’m safe.”

For a bit of context, the Cambridge Clinical School Pantomime is an annual tradition where Cambridge medical students put on an (intentionally genuinely ridiculous) show to raise money for charity – almost invariably a medical parody of a Disney film. Past pantomimes I performed in include: “Shrektococcus: An Ogredose“, “The Little Murmurmaid“, and “Beauty and the Yeast (Infection)“... you get the idea 😂 And naturally, these all involved a healthy dose of singing parodies of Disney songs, over-the-top pantomime acting, and plenty of medical in-jokes. Taking part for 3 years was one of my absolute highlights of Cambridge medical school.

So, back to the story – I was comfortable in the singing troupe (a chorus group who come on stage for each song to just sing, no acting to be seen). After all, I’d been in the Emmanuel College Chapel Choir, had done my Grade 6 singing exam, and felt at least somewhat validated in my ability to sing. It was safe, familiar territory.

But deep down, at each audition I would wonder: What if I just said yes? What if I trusted the directors to decide if I was good enough? After all, they seemed really keen to see my acting audition. Why was I limiting myself before even trying? 🤔

Then the COVID lockdowns hit, med school paused, and I found myself with too much time to work on getting comfortable being uncomfortable. I started my YouTube channel, worked with a dermatology health-tech startup, did a yoga teacher training, and even attempted (badly) to learn guitar. When the pantomime auditions came around again after we returned to medical school, something had shifted in me.

I decided to feel the fear and do it anyway. (a topic I covered in depth in my last Letter to you 💌😉)

I prepared not just my singing piece but also (gasp) the acting audition for the female lead, and despite all the fears and lack of confidence, I put myself out there – completely and fully trusting the directors to make the right decision for the show.

…And guess what? They cast me as Belle, the female lead in “Beauty and the Yeast (Infection)”. 😮

Overnight, I went from comfortable singing chorus member to leading lady with several solo songs and countless lines. What!?! I was thrilled... but also intimidated – that feeling when you’re on the edge of a big leap that you know will transform you.

I spent months and months practicing my lines over and over in the mirror, singing the songs in the shower, pushing through the discomfort, battling with my self-doubt, challenging the internal voice saying “who do you think you are“. Each rehearsal, each performance, I stepped out of my comfort zone, developing the competence that in turn built confidence, making each next round feel easier... creating a powerful virtuous cycle.

And for five nights, I performed on stage as Belle in front of hundreds and hundreds of people. I can still vividly recall the jittery feeling in the wings by the stage curtain, seconds before stepping out in front of a full audience for the very first time. This opportunity became one of the most challenging, transformative, and rewarding experiences of my life… and it would’ve never happened if I hadn’t just said “yes” to the acting audition. ✨

🔄 The Confidence-Competence Loop Explained

This experience taught me something powerful about confidence that I’ve been reflecting on lately: true, lasting confidence isn’t something we’re magically born with in unlimited supply. It comes from competence – actually becoming good at something through practice, failure, and growth.

This creates what psychologists call the confidence-competence loop:

1. When we try something new (like me attempting acting, or even filming YouTube videos), we develop competence

2. As our competence grows, our confidence naturally follows

3. This increased confidence makes us more likely to try new things

4. Which leads to more competence in even more areas

5. Which further increases our overall confidence

It’s a beautiful virtuous cycle that can transform not just specific skills, but our entire approach to life.

But here’s the catch that trips so many of us up: to even enter this loop, we have to be willing to be really quite bad at something first. We have to embrace the uncomfortable reality that the path to mastery involves looking foolish, making mistakes, and sometimes failing spectacularly. 🌱

💪 The Success Secret: Failing More Than Average

This realisation helped me understand something crucial about success: the most successful people in the world have failed more than the average person – simply because they’ve tried more than the average person.

They’ve attempted and stumbled, again and again, trying and failing until eventually, they succeed. And here’s the magic – every single failure is, in many ways, actually a win in disguise. Each one teaches you something valuable, builds experience, and strengthens that muscle of stepping outside your comfort zone.

Over time, as you repeatedly develop competence in different areas, you gain something even more valuable – confidence in your ability to become competent. This meta-skill – knowing you can learn anything if you’re willing to be bad at it first – might be one of the most undervalued superpowers in today’s world.

⚡️ Expanding vs. Shrinking

When I’m facing something that triggers fear or imposter syndrome – whether it’s auditioning for a lead role, starting a newsletter, or building a new business – I ask myself this question:

Will saying yes to this encourage me to expand or shrink? What response aligns with my higher self, with the person I want to become? Will grasping this opportunity result in expansion or contraction?

Because the truth is, even when we’ve developed competence, we don’t always feel 100% confident. I’m somewhat competent at creating YouTube videos by now, but I still experience nagging fears that they’re not good enough or that I need to improve them. If I waited for complete confidence before hitting record or publish, I’d probably never be able to post a video, and would be holding myself back from fulfilling my potential here.

Indexing our life choices purely on what we feel confident doing is a fundamentally limiting way to live. We’ll always have moments of doubt, even in areas where we’re really pretty skilled, and it’s about embracing this, over and over again.

✍️ This week’s journalling prompts:

🌟 What’s something you’ve been hesitant to try because you don’t feel confident in your abilities? How might you take one small step toward building competence in this area?

🌟 Think about a time when you pushed through initial incompetence to develop a skill you’re now proud of. How did your confidence shift throughout that journey?

I’d love to hear about your own experiences with the confidence-competence loop! If you’d like to share some of your thoughts or journal responses, please feel free to leave a comment down below!

So, this Letter is actually an invitation – from me to you – to step out of your comfort zone, to find an area where you could develop either your competence or confidence, and to seek out an opportunity that will challenge you to kickstart that virtuous confidence-competence loop.

Because every step we take toward being comfortable with being uncomfortable is a step toward greater freedom, confidence, and ultimately, a more expansive life. ✨

Wishing you a magical week ahead!

With Love,

Izzy 🤗 xx

Hey there 🥰

At the start of the year a challenging opportunity came up, something firmly outside my comfort zone, and I’ve been doing some thinking about the narratives and thought-processes around it. In particular, I’ve been reflecting on fear; how it shows up unannounced in our lives, how much space it can take up in our minds, and how it can hold us back from fulfilling our full potential in this lifetime.

This was a feeling I experienced firsthand when my husband Ali asked me to run a live session at the Productivity Spark Summit a few weeks ago. The thought of speaking live in front of thousands of people? Seriously intimidating. Spooky scary stuff. 👻 My mind was filled with doubts—what if I messed up, what if people didn’t find it valuable, what if I just wasn’t good enough? And most of all, what if there was accidental spinach in my teeth?! 🥦

But, as you can probably tell from this Letter so far, I decided to feel the fear, and do it anyway.

So I ran a live workshop to an audience of 19,000 people (the biggest live audience I’ve ever spoken to!) about designing your dream life and creating a vision board.

And in the process, I noticed something interesting. As the live session started, the fear that once felt like a constant (pretty unwelcome) companion started to transmute into excitement and flow state. After the session finished, I noticed something new had taken up residence in the space that fear once occupied; a newfound sense of fulfilment and confidence. And then reading the incredibly positive feedback - thousands of messages of thanks, and people saying it was powerful and life-changing - was so emotional for me, especially as I realised that this workshop was almost something that I had said no to doing out of self-doubt. It was a powerful reinforcement that every time we push through fear, we expand our mental landscape and make room for growth and new possibilities for both ourselves and others.

Here’s a cute analogy I’ve been thinking about since the session. It’s almost like at the edges of our mental space we have piles of debris and junk and clutter. Some of it is relatively easy to clear, and can be unlocked by simple mindset shifts. But some of it is more “sticky” - maybe because it is actively frightening or intimidating or uncomfortable in some way - and so it easily becomes the kind of clutter that piles up until we feel paralysed.

I’ve decided to nickname this sticky kind of mental junk “fear-clutter”—and these doubts form mental and emotional barriers to us going forth and actually just doing things that we want to, ultimately limiting our freedom and flexibility.

But every time we feel the fear and do it anyway, we face some of this fear-clutter head on, and we start to painstakingly clear it out piece-by-piece… creating agile mental space where there was once impassable debris.

The result: we become more mentally “free”. Our comfort zone has expanded, and our capacity to do things without being held back by fear has expanded, too.

Susan Jeffers, in her book Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, presents five truths about fear that really resonated with me and helped me to develop my fear-facing mental muscle, so I wanted to share them with you here:

1. Fear will never go away as long as I continue to grow.

2. The only way to get rid of the fear of doing something is to go out and do it.

3. The only way to feel better about myself is to go out and do it.

4. Not only am I going to experience fear whenever I’m on unfamiliar territory, but so is everyone else.

5. Pushing through fear is less frightening than living with the underlying fear that comes from a feeling of helplessness.

At the heart of every fear, Jeffers explains, is the underlying belief that “I can’t handle it.” This is why we hesitate, procrastinate, or avoid stepping outside our comfort zones. But the good news is, once we recognise this narrative, we can actively choose to transform it into “I can handle it” and trust that we can handle the opportunity coming our way.

Here are some of my favourite strategies for this which I’ve been experimenting with and enjoying:

• Remember that the only difference between fear and excitement is a smile. Physiologically, fear and excitement are actually very similar, and I’ve found that transforming fear into excitement is easier that trying to wholesale neutralise the feeling. Maybe try finding the exciting angle of this opportunity, opening up your body language, taking a deep belly breath—and maybe even cracking a smile. 😁

• Reframing with a Growth Mindset. Instead of seeing challenges as threats, viewing them as opportunities for growth. Meaningful growth only happens outside our comfort zone, so every uncomfortable experience is a gift. Embrace this deliberate discomfort. 🌱

• Refer to your Bank of Evidence. When feeling fearful, referring to a mental bank of all the times you’ve faced fear in the past and handled it. 💪

• Affirmations. Reminding yourself that “I can handle it,” “I have dealt with challenges before,” or “I will figure this out.” ⚡️

• Requesting encouragement and emotional support from a friend, family member or partner. 🤗

When we avoid fear, it piles up, limiting our freedom and keeping us stuck in the same small space. But when we challenge it and take another small step towards clearing our fears, we gradually create a wider clearing—a space where we feel confident, capable, and free to pursue what we truly want.

✍️ This week’s journalling prompts:

🌟 What is something outside your comfort zone that you want to do but have been avoiding? What might be the doubt or ‘fear-clutter’ that has been holding you back? What is one small step you can take today towards breaking through it?

🌟 Think of three times in the past where you proved to yourself that you could handle a challenge that you were previously intimidated by. How can you use this ‘Bank of Evidence’ to rise to future opportunities?

I’d love to hear what fears you’re working on pushing through this week, or about times that you felt the fear but did it anyway! Please feel free to leave a comment down below.

So over the years I’ve learned that it’s not about eliminating fear entirely, but rather showing ourselves over and over again that we can, in fact, handle it.

And slowly but surely, each time we face our fears, we prove to ourselves that we are stronger, braver and more capable than we once might’ve thought. ✨

Next week I’ll write to you about the confidence-competence loop and how we can leverage it to develop unshakable self-belief... and with it, I’ll share a related personal story from a few years ago. 🤭 I’ll see you there! ⚡️

In the meantime, have a wonderful week! And wishing you a joyful Lunar New Year if you’re celebrating. 🧧

With Love,

Izzy 🤗 xx

Hey there ❤️

In last week’s Letter I wrote about the transformational power of vision boarding to change your life… well today I’m going to talk about how that can go off track – starting with a personal confession. 🙈

The first time I made a vision board, I struggled, big time. I just didn’t want to put my biggest dreams on it. I felt fear and anxiety even thinking about it. 😧

Why? Because there was a little voice in my head saying, “That’s not realistic. Who on Earth do you think you are? You need to get real”.

There was a point in time when I truly believed reaching 100k subscribers on YouTube would be a genuinely wild, unrealistic dream for me. This belief meant that I didn’t allow myself to embrace the identity of “being a YouTuber”, because that voice in my head said, “Who do you think you are to claim that you’re a YouTuber, you’ve barely got a few thousand subs”.

I clung to this self-sabotaging belief all the way until I’d actually passed 100k subscribers and had the 100k subscribers YouTube plaque coming in the post. I’d created this weird artificial ‘ceiling’ for myself and a whole limiting belief system around it. I was afraid to dream big – in case I failed. It was almost as though by avoiding owning a big dream, I couldn’t really actually fail.

But here’s the truth: avoiding owning our big dreams makes success less likely.

Looking back, I see how much this self-sabotaging voice held me back. By shying away from setting big goals, I made it less likely that I would actually succeed. Before hitting 100k subscribers and allowing myself to break free from this belief, I didn’t fully commit to creating videos, I didn’t allow my identity to align with my desired actions, and so my posting schedule was… let’s just say, sporadic. Chaotic, inconsistent, a hot mess. And on reflection I realised I’ve self-sabotaged other areas of my life too due to fear of failure.

If you’re a bit like me, you might be thinking: ‘Well, it’s just a cold, hard fact that not all of our wildest dreams will come true’. But over time I’ve realised that actually allowing ourselves to truly believe in the possibility of a version of the world where these dreams do come true, increases the chances of them happening – by opening up our minds, identities and actions. 🌸

So this brings us back to the topic of vision boards. Vision boards are effective and clarifying, but not just because of the power of seeing your dreams in visual form on a daily basis as an alignment prompt for your subconscious.

There is also power in the process of creating a vision board. I’ve never confronted my limiting beliefs with as much clarity and painful (but healing!) honesty as when I’m vision boarding. The very process challenges all these limiting beliefs that tell us to hold ourselves back. That hesitation to include something that you actually really want on your board? That’s a sign you’ve hit a mental roadblock, and maybe just discovered one of those hidden, self-sabotaging thoughts that try to limit us by telling us we’re not good enough, smart enough, or deserving enough. Maybe ask yourself, where is this resistance coming from?

One perspective that I’ve found very helpful is that your vision board doesn’t have to make sense to anyone but you – and it definitely doesn’t have to be “realistic” – there are no rules here! It’s simply a tool for expanding your mind and sense of possibility, not a strict checklist of “to-dos” or goals that you’re promising to achieve. And remember, it’s not about predicting or even planning out the future. It’s about keeping your dreams front and centre, so your mind can start noticing any potential opportunities to take action on them.

Speaking of taking action – over the last few weeks, my friends and I have been building an app called Superfocus to help us be less distracted, so we can take more focused action on things that matter. You can check out the walkthrough by my husband Ali here. If you like the idea, we’d love to have you on board as a Founding Member, where you get lifetime access at a big discount in return for signing up while the app is in its early stages and sharing any feedback you have. 🌱 Click here for more info. 😊

Click here for more info on our Superfocus app 🙇🏻‍♀️

✍️ This week’s journalling prompts:

🌟 What dreams or goals have you hesitated from writing down or admitting to yourself? What limiting beliefs might be holding you back, what is the self-sabotaging voice in your head saying? Where might those limiting beliefs come from?

🌟 What would you do differently if you didn’t worry about “realistic” expectations, or others’ opinions?

I’d love to hear what kind of big dreams you’d like to embrace, and any limiting beliefs you’ve discovered along the way. Please comment down below to share your thoughts!

So if you’ve ever hesitated to dream big, you’re not alone – I’ve been right there with you! But consider this your nudge to go all in. Make the board. Add the dream. Invite yourself to include those so-called “unrealistic” things on your vision board, because here’s the thing: identifying our limiting beliefs is the very first step toward overcoming them, embracing our big dreams, and taking one more big step towards making them actually come to life. 🪄

In next week’s Letter I’ll write more about stepping out of our comfort zone as a catalyst for personal growth, and my recent personal story around that. Feeling the fear, and doing it anyway. I’ll see you there! ⚡️

Have a wonderful week. 🤗

Lots of love,

Izzy xx

Hey there 🥰

As we get properly stuck into the New Year, I wanted to share a powerful approach to goal setting that I’ve been absolutely loving over the last few years. For a bit of context, over the weekend I ran a live workshop (with a mind-blowing 19,000 attendees – the biggest live session I’ve done in my life, more on this topic of facing fears in a future issue) – all about creating your very own vision board to design your dream life. In the process of prepping for the session, I’ve done a lot of deep thinking about vision boards, so wanted to share some of my top learnings here with you – so whether you attended the live workshop or not, I hope this gives you some interesting, actionable ideas or a good recap and journalling prompts to take you deeper.

So, you’ve probably heard about vision boards before—maybe from that friend who’s really big into manifestation. Maybe you even rolled your eyes (I did at first many years ago!). But here’s the bottom line: vision boards work, even if you’re (understandably) sceptical. And no, it’s not magic, and no, it’s nothing to do with “quantum physics” or anything like that – all of this is actually grounded in cognitive neuroscience. 🧠

Firstly, a bit of brain background. At every waking moment, our brains are bombarded with millions of inputs from all our senses – sights, sounds, smells, touch, taste. If we were to actually fully consciously process every single input, we would have an information overload, go insane, and not be able to function – the volume of “noise” would drown out the important stuff and any ability to focus.

Thankfully, our brain evolved a filtering function specifically for this, in the shape of a helpful part of the brainstem called the reticular activating system (RAS, for short). The RAS subconsciously sorts through the information coming in, and decides which few things are “important” and worth elevating to the level of conscious processing and response. It’s this very function of the RAS which allows us to focus and get anything done at all - and thank goodness for that! 🙇🏻‍♀️

However, on the flip side… life-changing opportunities pass by us every single day. (A slightly intimidating fact if I think about it too hard...) A chance to put yourself forward for an interesting new work project, a fleeting encounter with a potential future friend or partner, a casual conversation that reveals a job opening or partnership, creative ideas for a side hustle or business, a spark of motivation to try a new form of exercise or self-care, opportunities to mindfully connect to something beautiful unfolding in the present moment, perhaps a colourful sunset… 🌅 And most of them are filtered out by our RAS – so they pass by as a flash in our subconscious, never fully elevated to a conscious level where we can take action on them.

Here’s where the vision board piece links in. We as humans are very visual beings, with a whole lobe of the brain (the occipital lobe) purely dedicated to visual processing. That’s a lot of brain! So when we create a vision board that we view daily and attach strong emotions to, we are signalling to our RAS what is important to us – and are then more likely to be made conscious of things that might help us on our journey to creating our dream life. 💭

You’ll notice opportunities you might have missed before, relevant ideas will pop into your consciousness seemingly out of nowhere, and you’ll feel more motivated to then make a plan and take action on making your dreams a reality. ⚡️

Sooo… does this mean a vision board will magically make all our dreams come true? 🪄 Sadly not… if only! But it does make the path of action to our dreams clearer. Think of it as a tool for focus and awareness – the more you look at your vision board, the more you prime your subconscious brain to help highlight potential next steps on the journey towards it. 🏔️

In the process of making a vision board, it’s crucial to get clear on some of the things that you want to design into your dream life. I like to think of this as a “3 year vision”, and I like to do a meditation-visualisation-journalling exercise around this. Here are two journalling prompts to get you started on it - I hope you enjoy them. 🌟

✍️ This week’s journalling prompt(s):

1. What does your dream life look like three years from now? Create a vivid vision of it in your mind, and then imagine you are stepping into it right now, at the start of 2028. Describe it in detail, covering areas like health, relationships, work, lifestyle, and personal growth.

2. Reflect on a time when you missed an opportunity because it didn’t seem “important” at the time. What could you do differently to actively grasp opportunities now?

I’d love to hear what kind of things you’re designing into your dream life in the next 3 years, and whether you’ve made a vision board before - let me know in the comments below!

My next Letter to you is all about limiting beliefs and how they interact with designing our dream life. One thing I’ve struggled with is coming up against internal resistance to putting my really big dreams on my vision board - all stemming from pesky limiting beliefs. If you’re a bit like me, maybe you can relate! I’ll write more about this wrestle in the next issue, so keep an eye out for that.

Have a wonderful week ❤️

Lots of Love,
Izzy 🤗 xx

Hey there ❤️

As we come to the end of the year and New Year’s planning is upon us in force, I’ve been thinking a lot about the balance between making plans and staying open to life’s (sometimes very) unexpected twists and turns.

On a personal note here for context on all the twists and turns: I got married, we moved to Hong Kong, and I’m pregnant with a baby girl! Full update on my YouTube channel if you’re curious. 😊

And while it’s been a joyful whirlwind, it’s also honestly been a time of upheaval. Between wedding planning, moving halfway across the world, and navigating the rollercoaster of early pregnancy, I’ve often felt completely thrown off course. The pregnancy in particular has been a curveball—not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually, too. The identity shift of becoming a mum has been so much deeper than I anticipated, and it’s led to a lot of introspection and questions around the purpose and direction of my life. (Maybe more on that in a future issue!)

But honestly, I’m grateful for this rollercoaster, as through it all, I’ve learned a big lesson: overplanning can sometimes stifle the magic of life’s unexpected moments.

I’ve always been a planner. I used to think that mapping out every detail would keep me on track, and I’d feel a sense of security and control and comfort in that. But planning everything out would also sometimes leave me feeling stuck or guilty when life didn’t follow the script. And this year has demonstrated this in huge ways. I had planned to be on top of my YouTube consistency game after the wedding, but life had other (baby-shaped) ideas, and gave me a first trimester full of morning sickness which left me stuck in bed most days–not a chance of filming a thing! We had planned to travel the world continuing the “digital nomad” thing, and I was going to spend a month or two in an ashram in India to do my 300-hour Yoga Teacher Training course; but since finding out I was pregnant, we decided to settle in one spot and put down some roots to support this new chapter.

Earlier this year I read The Surrender Experiment by Michael Singer for the first time, and it’s safe to say I absolutely loved it. I was hooked. It’s a true life story about the spiritual harmony and power in “surrendering to the flow of life” and saying yes to embracing each challenge that the Universe presents (would highly recommend reading if you haven’t yet). And on reflection, I realise that allowing all of my prior plans to end up in shreds and tatters, and instead fully surrendering to the current flow of life has led to a profound joy of its own. The most meaningful moments—like spontaneous night-time deep meaningful chats with friends in Hong Kong, creating our cosy home together in a new country (including our couples’ desk setup which I’m completely obsessed with), building a healthy habits routine again, or seeing our tiny baby girl wriggle on ultrasound for the first time—weren’t part of any predetermined plan.

It’s counterintuitive, but letting go of rigid expectations has made space for something better. Spontaneity isn’t the enemy of progress; it’s the space that lets the magic unfold.

✍️ This week’s journalling prompt: What’s one area of your life where you could loosen your grip on the plan and surrender to the flow of life? How might that create space for something unexpected and wonderful?

As I approach the New Year, I’m holding my plans lightly. There’s still a clear vision guiding me (and I’ll go into my current framework for that in next week’s Letter), but I’m leaving lots of breathing room to embrace surprises, growth and big big detours along the way.

Thank you for being here with me on this journey. :) I’d love to hear from you—what’s one way you’re letting spontaneity take the lead in your life? Let me know by leaving a comment below!

Wishing you a wonderful New Year’s celebration, and keep an eye out for the next issue about goal setting and crafting a compelling vision for the year ahead.

With love,
Izzy 🤗 xx

Hey there 🥰

I hope you’re having a wonderful festive season, and I’m thrilled to be writing to you again! After a long hiatus (and an absolute *truckload* of life changes, more on that soon), I’m finally back to sending these weekly notes. And with this return comes a new chapter—and a new name for this email community: Letters to My Younger Self 💌.

Why the change? Over the past few months (and years, to be honest), I’ve realised that the content I truly love creating the most is anything that my younger self would have found helpful, inspiring, or resonant. Reflections and advice for life’s challenges, personal growth tips, and a good sprinkling of practical exercises and journalling prompts to provide support on the journey to create a life you truly love... these are the things that light me up. 🌟

So, I’m leaning into that! While these letters are written with my younger self in mind, my aim is that they’ll be for you too, whatever stage of life you’re at. Whether you’re navigating a big life change, dreaming about your next steps, or simply looking for a little inspiration to brighten your week, I want these Letters to offer something meaningful and actionable for wherever you are in your personal growth journey. And with each Letter I’ll include a relevant journalling prompt for you to try out.

✍️ This week’s journalling prompt: If your future self from 1 year ahead in the future could write you a letter that you receive today, what advice, suggestions or encouragement do you think they would offer?

I’ll be sending over the first full Letter tomorrow - it’s all about finding balance in the face of change, and staying open to life’s surprises in the New Year - so keep an eye out for that in your inbox! 💌 I’m also popping each new edition over on my website here as a community hub where you can easily comment on or share any posts that resonate.

Let me know what kind of things you’d like to see me write about by leaving a comment below. I can’t wait to share this next chapter with you, and I’m so grateful to have you along on the journey!

See you tomorrow! 🫶

With love and hugs,

Izzy 🤗 xx

Hey there - welcome to the very first edition of my newsletter! Grateful to have you here on this journey together :)

I decided to start this newsletter as a space to share thoughts, helpful tips, updates, bonus content, free resources, and more.

Writing a newsletter issue feels like a much more cosy way for me to share with you - no video editing on top, no algorithm in the way, nothing but purely the thoughts that I feel would be most interesting for you - delivered every week straight to your inbox. :) Feels kinda nice, right?

You probably know me primarily from YouTube, which is where this all began. Behind every single YouTube video I’ve ever created is an idea. Some kind of concept that I wanted to share, something I thought might be helpful or interesting to at least one other person, somewhere on the internet. So similarly in each newsletter issue, I’m hoping to do something similar. I’ll keep these short enough so you can read them in just a couple of minutes each week. :)

Documenting thoughts each week like an open journal also feels like a good way to record this part of my journey, in a written letter format - lately I’ve been thinking a lot about a psychological phenomenon related to this which I’ll tell you more about after firstly asking you these two questions:

1. How much have you changed in the past 5 years?

2. How much do you think you’ll change in the next 5?

There’s a psychological illusion called the End-of-History illusion, where we humans have a tendency to feel that we have experienced significant personal growth and change in the past up to the present moment, but that we will not significantly grow or change in the future. That we have somehow already “completed” our growth and development, and are steady-state. I’ve noticed in myself that this tendency to underestimate our potential for future change can create limiting beliefs and hold us back from dreaming big and staying open and attentive to opportunities as they arise.

This is where the journal comes in. I’ve kept a personal journal for over 5 years now. Looking back at the things that I’ve written, the feelings I’ve experienced, and the person that I was at the moment I wrote those words gives me a time capsule to see how far I’ve come. This in turn helps me to believe in how much further I can and will go - even if right now that future seems intangible and nebulous. For me, it’s been one of the best perspective-creating exercises.

This Week’s Personal Progress Prompts

(Each week I’ll ask a few questions for us both to think about and answer together!)

Where were you 5 years ago today?

I was in the summer holiday between my 3rd and 4th year at Cambridge University - I’d just finished my 3rd year studying Biological Anthropology, and was about to start my clinical, patient-facing years of medical school. I’d just gone on a choir tour with the Emmanuel College Chapel Choir, which I was part of during my 3rd year of uni and was one of the best things I did in my undergrad years.

How have you changed since then? How would your self from 5 years ago think of you today?

I’ve graduated from medical school and become a doctor. I’ve also grown and changed significantly as a person. I dove deep into yoga and meditation, and even went on a 10 day silent meditation course. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone, again and again. I self-studied Mandarin Chinese. I started my YouTube channel. I’ve grown in confidence, self-efficacy, and learned to love myself. I performed as the female lead in the annual clinical school pantomime, something I would never have even dreamed of before! I’ve become the kind of person to even start a newsletter. Izzy 5 years ago today would think, “Oh my goodness I can’t believe I’ve changed and grown so much. I wouldn’t have even been able to imagine all of these things if I tried. I can hardly even imagine what it would feel like.”

In what ways do you think you might change in the next 5 years? How would you like to change? (This is the hard part.)

With infinite choices, there are infinite ways we could craft our future stories - which also makes it infinitely harder to pin down. The good news is that we get a direct say in developing ourselves into the person that we want to be. I like to remind myself that, every day, I am slowly becoming the woman I want to be. Who is she? I hope that I grow even more in my confidence, compassion, kindness, equanimity, and ability to love myself and others. I hope that I will have learned skills such as running a successful business, become fully fluent in Mandarin and maybe another language like Spanish or Hindi, and kept pushing myself beyond my comfort zone every day. I hope that I have spent time travelling and learned more about the world. Maybe I’ll settle down and eventually start a family, with all the major changes that come along with that!

How are you documenting your life from now until 5 years time? What do you wish you’d documented more of in the past 5?

Moving forwards, I’m documenting my life in my journal, this newsletter (an open diary of sorts!), my YouTube channel, Instagram stories, and taking LOTS of photos and videos along the way :)

I wish I’d taken more videos in the past 5 years :) Video is such a beautiful format to look back on. You can really feel the energy of the moment, see the way people move and laugh, the sound of your voice. It’s one of the richest formats of communication - which is partly why I love YouTube so much!

That’s all for today’s newsletter! I’d absolutely love to hear your thoughts on this first newsletter, any of your responses to the questions above, or your suggestions for things to do in future editions! :) Hit reply on this email and let me know - I read every single one of your emails (though sadly don’t always get time to respond to every single one)!

Love,

Izzy xxx

Learning Tip of the Week

In what ways are you bringing in accountability into your work and study? How could you bring accountability more into your life?

Accountability buddies have been proven in psychological studies to increase our likelihood of reaching our goals. I’ve had accountability buddies for learning Mandarin, working on my a YouTube channel and business, studying, going to the gym, meditating, among other things. If you’re serious about committing to something, maybe try it out, and hit reply to this email to let me know how it went!

Quote of the week:

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished”. — Lao Tzu