Let's Get Deep Down and Personal for a Minute
Simple + Straightforward is a weekly letter filled with essays, tips, and ideas to live life more simply and intentionally. If you find value in it, feel free to share with friends and family you think would enjoy a dose of simplicity every Friday.
Thanks to the excellent Joshua Becker of Becoming Minimalist recommending another one of my stories last weekend, Simple + Straightforward has had another big influx of new subscribers this week.
Welcome to all!
I realized this week that I’ve never properly introduced myself here on Substack. Sure I have a welcome post, but that’s more about what Simple + Straightforward is about, less about the person behind it (aka me). And with so many new subscribers, now seems like an opportune moment to make my introduction.
Granted, it’s a bit of a deviation from the normal subject matter of Simple + Straightforward - normal service will resume next week.
Yes my name is Charlie Brown, no it’s not my “original name”
That is, I married a Brown.
In fact, the first night I met my future husband I asked him what is surname was. “Bloody hell,” I thought, “I hope this doesn’t go anywhere otherwise I’m screwed.”
I could of course have kept my maiden name - and the feminist in me wanted to. I didn’t because a) I have a fracturous relationship with my father’s family thus was keen to distance myself from them and b) my maiden name was worse than Brown. Even Charlie Brown.
So I became a Peanuts character instead.
I’m a wine professional
Between 2013 and 2020, I owned a wine store and bar in Essex, just to the east of London. Even though I no longer wanted to own the place and thus sold it to a friend / customer who has done amazing things with it since, it is still the crown jewel in my very diverse working life.
I got to study in Champagne. I worked two harvests in France, learning how to make the stuff. For nearly a decade, wine was pretty much the only thing I thought about.
If wine is your bag, I write about it on Medium (and for clients), but also feel free to hit the reply button and ask me anything about fermented grape juice. I’m only too happy to shoot the breeze when it comes to vino.
At 35, I sold everything I own
And I mean everything. The house went, as did the wine business. The car. The furniture, the books.
I call it my ultimate experiment in minimalism. When everyone else around me was settling down, buying houses, and having kids, my husband and I were taking a suitcase each and living out of Airbnbs across Europe.
I like to push the boundaries of what is normal, test myself, and see where my own boundaries lie. I like to treat life as an experiment, to see what sticks and what doesn’t.
We’re 19 months into our adventure with 100 items. Sometimes it’s hard, sometimes I desperately miss weird shit like my recipe books.
But most of the time, it’s awesome.
I’ve moved home 17 times
OK granted, the number is higher because I now travel full time and move about every few months, but the first 4 times was before I turned 13 years old.
I used to hate that my parents moved our family around so much, but now I’m grateful for it. It means I’m not afraid of changing where I live if my circumstances no longer work for me. It means I’ve experienced a lot and seen a lot.
It also spurred a lifelong passion for travel and exploring. For that, it was worth moving school 4 times.
Mental health is super important to me (because sometimes my mind isn’t very healthy)
I live with depression and anxiety and my therapist suspects I have ADHD (although it’s never been officially diagnosed). I’ve also experienced burnout and addiction.
Sometimes I’m scared to talk about my mental health because, like many people, I worry about how I might come across.
But I also worked in mental health for 4 years and I know how important it is to talk about what goes on in our heads. The official stat is that 1 in 4 people suffer from mental health issues at some point in their life. But that’s only what is diagnosed. There are millions more.
Maybe you’re one of them. The odds say you probably are.
If that’s you, feel you, I really do.
I’m a Eurovision superfan
Very pertinent because tomorrow - Saturday 14th May - is the final. The second week in May is more important to me than Christmas.
Eurovision for me was always a connection to Europe, that place I was so desperate to live in. It wasn’t just a silly singing competition, it was a peek into different countries’ cultures, music, and even way of life.
Since I was a child it’s graced my TV screen and in 2014, I got super serious about it. Nowadays, I’m basically a walking Eurovision encyclopedia.
Simple living is a way for me to make sense of the world
I don’t like how complicated everything has become in our messy world. It certainly doesn’t help the old mental health.
When I delved deep into minimalism and simple living, it was a way of taking control of a world that felt like it was eating me alive.
I was living paycheck to paycheck. Stressed about everything from if I would ever be able to afford a house, to whether my business would ever get off the ground, to whether I was being sociable enough with people I didn’t even like that much. It was overwhelming.
You might recognize these feelings.
Simple living is like a big F**k You to the whole shebang. But it can be hard because it’s countercultural. It’s not What You Do.
Writing about it - and finding others in the world who are doing the same - helps to keep me on the path. Especially when that path doesn’t always align with what I’m “supposed” to do.
Something to read this weekend
2 articles from my collection (paywall-free)
3 of the best articles I’ve read this week
Lucky-Go-Happy - David Sedaris in the New Yorker
Women Can Be Minimalists Too - Courtney Carver
You Took My Breath Away (And Now I'm Dead) - Benjamin Davis
I’m back in the impossibly beautiful Croatia for the next 7 weeks, so it’s hvala - thank you - from me for reading! As always, you guys rock.