A kinder Christmas with the Sustainable Squad podcast

When I sent out my last post from ‘How to eat alone’ 11 months ago, I was certain that I would follow it up with a couple of final episodes of the podcast. For the bijillionth time, I was ready to draw the project to a close after having worked on it since 2021. Over the last 4 years, it seems like I’ve been stuck in an aggressive and perpetual washing machine cycle (a hot wash with a pre rinse and an extra spin at the end), continuously failing at almost everything and unable to move on from the destruction that Covid caused in my life. I think I may have conflated the podcast with these four years of epic fails. But actually, now that things finally feel OK and that it’s safe for me to come out of hiding, I realise that I have a lot to thank ‘How to eat alone’ for!

I was pretty down in the dumps when I began recording the podcast and found that having discussions about loneliness, solitude, isolation and just generally doing things alone has given me an immense amount of confidence. So, though I might be done with the difficult times, I certainly don’t have to be done with making content about eating alone! Quite the opposite actually, just as the podcast’s head rested on the guillotine, something in the air seemed to shift — a few years ago, I wrote a short piece about how loneliness was becoming increasingly cool and though I was sceptical about whether the taboo of being alone could ever truly be broken, recently I have noticed an uptick in discussions about loneliness in press and on social media.

For example, a couple of months ago a freelance producer called and wondered whether I might be a guest on a new pilot episode of a podcast about travelling alone. I won’t say which podcast it was yet because it may not end up on air (although it should because the hosts are marvellous and it was really good fun). A week after recording the pilot, I received another message, this time from Katie at Sustainable Squad asking whether we could record an episode for her podcast. Again, I said yes. It really does look like Lonely-Core is here to stay and I’d like to keep being involved in these conversations.

So as we say goodbye and good riddance to 2025, I’d like to let you know that I will be recording new episodes of ‘How to eat alone’ next year. The previous eighteen episodes recorded between 2021 and 2024 will be part of season one and I will be following these up with a second season. I may also run some events but let’s see about that one.

I’d like to kick things off by sending you over to the Sustainable Squad podcast episode recorded at the end of November, where I talk about my projects ‘How to eat your Christmas tree’ and ‘How to eat alone’ and how they both relate to having a gentler Christmas, especially if you’re spending it by yourself. Katie’s podcast is a real gem — she tackles a huge range of topics related to sustainability in a way that won’t cause a minor climate-anxiety induced heart attack, so make sure you listen to other episodes as well, not just the one I’m yamming away on.

I’m really looking forward to podding for you in 2026 and hope you see in the new year in whichever way you see fit, surrounded or alone, loudly or quietly and without pressure.