Hi there,
You’ve just stumbled on a space where I hope wellbeing feels less like another thing to achieve and more like an invitation to explore with curiosity — so you can create more good days, right where you are.
I’m Claire.
It took me a while to get here too.
I arrived after more than a decade in the London art world, and equally as long a time in San Francisco, though my story started in Manchester. That’s why my spelling and punctuation (plus accent) get wonky sometimes.
I left my day job in museums when my mum began to struggle with a mental health condition and I couldn’t square what I did with what was happening with her mind. That’s when everything changed for me.
This publication picks up there.
Together, we’ll be exploring life and all that it now needs to contain, asking how we can just feeling better in our days, and finding ways to hear our own answers.
So if you love thinking about wellbeing in all the ways, are curious about what’s going on with your mental and emotional life, and are wondering how to navigate overwhelm, burnout, disconnection (or really insert any one of a bunch of modern ailments right now), you’re in the right place.
While you are here, I’ll bring you my recent discoveries, my braver learnings and some favourite strategies and approaches. There won’t be morning routines or optimization hacks, but there will be some everyday trying things on and seeing what works when you have an email box that will never be at zero and a calendar that has no hope of being paused.
If you’re into exploring, meandering, and just getting really curious about your life, come join me.
x Claire
A handful of posts to get you started:
The Wellery
I’ve come to believe that self-care gets lonely when it’s treated like another task on a list. What’s missing from so many wellbeing conversations is connection.
In The Wellery, we experiment, share, and try things side by side. Join for the company and to discover what really helps you find your way in everyday life.
When you join you’ll get access to:
The Everyday Retreat: a four-week wellbeing reset you can start anytime you join. It’s there for any moment of the year and has daily helpful ideas about how to connect better with yourself, others and the world around you.
Invitations to occasional meet-ups and co-wells.
Bonus content for my podcast A Thought I Kept, where each week a guest (many on Substack) share the one idea that stayed when all the others didn’t.
The bio bits about me:
I’m the host of the podcast A Thought I Kept, weekly conversations about the ideas that stay with us when we’ve long forgotten the rest.
I’ve contributed pieces on mental health and emotional wellbeing to Liz Earle Magazine, Long Reads, The New York Times, The Independent, Anxy Magazine, Mother, UpperCase Magazine, and Good Therapy, amongst others.
My work has also been featured in Breathe, The Simple Things, Stylist, Muddy Stilettos, The Irish Times, and The Slow Living Guide.
About If Lost Start Here
This is where I still spend most of my time: creating a platform for better mental health and emotional well-being that was inspired by my mum’s decades-long struggle with her own mind. Our mission is to help people get to a better place, sometimes literally.
About My Coaching Practice
Yes, I’m a coach too, but not the kind of coach you probably imagine. I didn’t think this was for me for a long time, but then I experienced amazing coaching and realised that it was more than strict goals and shiny lives.
For me, it’s about helping people who feel lost, overwhelmed, or stuck — not with quick fixes, but with the space to reflect, experiment, and discover what feels right for them. So often the things we most need are really simple: the time to think, someone to listen and permission to feel what we feel.
I’m an ICF-accredited ACC coach and an emotions coach practitioner, which basically means I work according to an ethical practice and I’m comfortable talking about emotions. In my sessions (both online and in-person in Bath) I help women mostly with one of three things:
navigating midlife in ways that don’t feel like they’re losing their mind/way,
or/and creating a wellbeing practice that might involve things like friendship, nature walks and disco dancing (so not a nutritionalist or PT, more on the side of social prescribing and bibliotherapy combined).
or/and exploring what they are feeling (and why).
It’s a big step finding someone to work with; you can book a free coaching consult here so we can see if we’re a good fit.
This is nice too: I was a Regional Finalist for Best Wellbeing Specialist in Dorset, Somerset & Bristol for The Muddy Stilettos Awards 2025.
You can find my website here and my instagram here.
Please note that this Substack is not considered to be a replacement for medical advice, and is not suitable for anyone experiencing severe trauma or serious mental health challenges.
It’s a lot actually
You might also be interested in my second (!) Substack about all the emotions of our midlife. Find out more here and maybe see you over there.
