A Walk Through The Pages Thorn & Bloom Magazines
Take an exploration into the journey of self-care
On my daily walk the other day, my thoughts were moving faster than my paces, and suddenly, anxiety filled my chest as I caught a feeling of fear rush over me. My breathing quickened… calm down, slow down, just breathe one, two, three... The rest of the walk, I spent talking myself off the ledge and began to process what was happening in my mind.
Self-care is not merely going for walks in nature or eating a tub of ice cream on a hard day. Though this is part of self-care, the core foundation of what it is is a process of learning and unlearning all the aspects about ourselves, so that we can live more authentically and adopt behaviours and habits that empower us, align with our values, and support our growth. There will be days when we crumble into the abyss, and eating that ice cream is all we can muster to soothe our internal wounds. That’s okay. And nature does bring us closer to our shared humanity, as well as offers wisdom for life itself. But a lot of our practice is finding ways to make the mundane a healthy routine to improve our mental, physical, and spiritual selves. While also having conversations with the imposters that find their way into our stream of consciousness, to reason with the madness we battle both inside and outside our lives.
It isn’t always pretty, and although working on our inner demons and socialisations is hard and messy, it can also be fun. When I go on my walks, there are often interesting finds along the way. Bumblebees painted on a wall, houses painted bright pink with bright blue doors, and a tree littered with ornaments, such as baby shoes and a frog sitting on a swing. These discoveries are more than amusements for the viewer. They offer glimpses into the human soul who created these self-expressions for the passersby to see. And in the moment of flared anxiety, I am grateful to be distracted by the mural on the wall, or the flowers blooming over fences, fueling my body with their perfumed scents.
I didn’t always have a habit of going on daily walks. As I have recently upheaved my life by pursuing this business adventure full-time, I wanted to create new habits that would assist my continued determination for personal growth. Rain or shine, I am committed to dragging myself outside to get my steps in and inhale the fresh air. But this isn’t the only habit I have found myself changing, and admittedly, it is one of the easy ones to incorporate into my life. While on that anxiety-inducing walk, I recognised part of the discomfort that was arising was the feeling of the death of one way of being to make room for a different version of myself to emerge. This is the not-so-fun part of self-care: to nurse shattered nerves while an old self endures an excruciating death. And I think we often make the mistake of wanting to dismiss or bury this discomfort instead of allowing it to pass through us.
The pain, the frustration, the anger, the grief, and all the difficult things in life, none of us wants to experience. As much as we want to avoid this, and oftentimes we do with our tub of ice cream as an excuse for ‘self-care’, it is these struggles that give clues, awareness, and deep insight into the areas of our selves and our lives that need attention so that we are forced to change the habit, or break the thought pattern, or even to eliminate that which harms us. That fear I felt on my walk was a reminder of how important this work is for me, and how much I have sacrificed to get to where I am today. But also an opportunity to reflect on what thought processes need to be changed, and not just incorporating regular exercise into my daily practice.
This is what I want Thorn & Bloom to illuminate: the beauty and the horror in our lives. The personal and the political. The struggles and the triumphs. Life is complex, nuanced and rarely one-sided; rather often not a mere duality but a mixture of both and all the inbetween. It is this that makes life hard, but also spectacular, and worth living and fighting for.
Each edition of our quarterly publication focuses on all the aspects that are part of self-care, in an effort to bring more awareness and education around not only what it is but also how we can apply these practices in our lives. I do this through literature because I believe it harnesses more connection and resonance within ourselves. Stories are so powerful as they have the ability to showcase something without it feeling rammed down your throat. Reading gives one the authority to either take it or leave it, and when something does resonate with us, the story has the power to unite us to the author, the words, and others who feel and think the same. Narratives have shaped society, not individuals, and each piece we read, every story we embrace, feeds into the lives and into a world we yearn to exist in. Through our experiences, we can find ways to better ourselves and heal as a whole being and a unified society. Self-care is liberating as it challenges the narratives handed to us by finding our own voice under the muck we are told to stand in.
The first and the foundational edition of the magazines - Thorn & Bloom Issue 01 - illuminated just that. It focused on how self-care is a radical act of liberation, both for the personal and political. To find how to free ourselves from the shackles, Thorn & Bloom Issue 02: Breaking the Cycle, expresses empowering stories of individuals finding their worth and freeing themselves from the burdens that weigh them down, while also acknowledging the things that keep them chained. We need to look into what is harming us; the pain we feel is guiding us to self-reflect and pinpoint the thorns in our sides. Thorn & Bloom Issue 03: The Splinters We Carry hits home with just that, and calls out the heavy issues that keep us oppressed, suppressed, and repressed. But it is necessary to experience if we are to better our lives. I would not have been as strong or as confident to pursue this path had it not been for all the hard times I went through or the depression I’ve had to overcome.
On a lighter note, Thorn & Bloom Issue 04: Radical Joy We Cultivate (coming out in December 2025), reminds us of why life is so spectacular and worth all the inner turmoil and outer conflicts, so that we can embrace life to the fullest while enjoying the beauty she has to offer. Just like the treasures I found on my walks, they offer an illumination, a charm, and a recognition that we are not alone in our turmoil. They also encourage me to look around and see what I can find. Each edition of these publications is like a guide on your walk to take you on a journey. Every story pulls you into the lives of others, mirroring the human tale of identity, struggles, liberation, and the play we so richly deserve. My daily walks remind me of this. Most days, it is a pleasant stroll, giggling at the treasures discovered. Other times, I fight back tears while my mind goes on overdrive, and sometimes I find that there are parts of myself that want to be rediscovered or even born into a fuller, more holistic being.
This is the core of self-care: a daily practice where we sit with all aspects of our being, listen to the messages finding themselves float into our minds, and feel the old parts of ourselves dying so we may be reborn into a better version. And sometimes, a tub of ice cream is all we need to give ourselves some love and kindness in this miracle called life. Whatever it is for you, my hope is that these magazines, and the stories within them, give you some solace and guidance on your journey.
You can get your copy, in PDF or print format, and hear what others have to say about their own experiences with self-care, the good, the bad, and the extraordinary. And tell me, what treasure did you find in your journey of self-discovery?
