#106: Rose Lyddon

“Nothing is so bad that it can’t be survived and eventually turned into an asset.”

Rose Lyddon is a writer and researcher with a focus on theology, medieval history, and contemporary culture. She writes the newsletter, Keep Your Mind in Hell and Despair Not, and has had work published in Unherd, The Mars Review of Books, and The Spectator.

#106: Rose Lyddon
London, UK

What does health, or being healthy, mean to you?

I’ve had pretty serious mental health symptoms since I was a child, so my priority has always been to figure out and manage whatever’s going on with my mind. Over time, I’ve come to see that my psychological and emotional health is always connected to the physical, spiritual, social, and environmental domains. A big focus is keeping my hormones balanced and minimizing stress, but I also need a lot of stimulation and like living in a big city where there’s always something going on. I find that what I need to stay well changes frequently, so the most important thing is to be attentive and respond flexibly.

How would you describe your current lifestyle?

I’m not a lover of routines. I like having the freedom to do whatever I want day to day. My worst nightmare would be having a mortgage and working a nine-to-five, batch-cooking all my meals on Sunday, probably something like lentil stew that’s full of phytoestrogens and promotes endotoxin in the gut.