In a collective push for a more intentional life, nine prominent writers, chefs, comedians, and athletes have shared the habits, pressures, and distractions they are consciously leaving behind. Their revelations offer a powerful insight into modern struggles with technology, social expectations, and personal health.
Breaking Free from Digital Addiction
Rutger Bregman, the acclaimed author, has declared life too short for smartphone slavery. After years of failed attempts to manage his usage through willpower alone—turning off notifications, deleting apps—he realised the system was designed to hijack attention. His radical solution? He asked his wife to set parental controls on his device, including blocking the browser. "The feeling of liberation was … shocking," Bregman admits. While he occasionally relapses, he advocates this "personal version of structural change" until big tech is properly regulated. His book, Moral Ambition: How to Find Your Purpose, is out in paperback on 15 January.
Playwright Lucy Prebble has given up on X, formerly known as Twitter. What began as a creative outlet devolved into a source of misinformation and distress. A pivotal moment came after a London stabbing incident, where she witnessed the platform actively suppressing a key fact—that the heroic security guard was Muslim—while amplifying false narratives. Creating a blank account only exposed her to a default stream of violent and disturbing content. "I’ve given myself the illusion of control by rejecting the site designed to give me an illusion of control," she reflects, urging a collective effort to "open the window."
Reclaiming Physical and Mental Wellbeing
For Patrick Grant, the fashion entrepreneur and Great British Sewing Bee judge, the tipping point was a hangover that lasted from Saturday to Wednesday. After a boozy divorce party in his mid-forties, he decided to take a break from alcohol. The positive effects were so profound—feeling as if his brain had been "rinsed"—that the break became permanent. Eight years on, he has navigated the social challenges of a drink-centric culture and found he can still enjoy himself. "I have forgotten what hangovers feel like," he says.
Comedian Josie Long has rejected diet culture and low-fat foods for good. A survivor of disordered eating, her perspective shifted dramatically after a near-fatal car crash in 2010. "I am here to live, and I am here to live well," she decided. She now champions butter, full-fat yoghurt, and the joy of eating, rebelling against the "prolonged state of yearning and compromise." She credits the body positivity movement with helping her foster a healthier relationship with food for herself and her daughters.
Former Olympian and personal trainer Louise Hazel has quit intermittent fasting, after trying it for two months in 2019. She found it made her "skinny fat," reducing her muscle mass as her body used it for fuel during intense morning training sessions. She now educates clients to focus on body composition and strength over the number on the scales, arguing that metabolic health is far more important than weight alone.
Author Michael Rosen gave up caffeine entirely after a severe bout of Covid-19 in 2020 disrupted his sleep patterns. Though not a heavy user, he cut out tea and coffee to help regulate his rest. Now in his seventies, he opts for hot water with lemon and the occasional nap, finding it a simple way to eliminate a potential aggravator for sleep issues common in later life.
Liberation from Social Pressures
Chef and presenter Andi Oliver has quit caring what people think. Despite a seemingly free-spirited youth in the band Rip Rig + Panic, external pressures about her body, race, and volume culminated in a nervous breakdown at 30. She has since worked to dismantle those deeply embedded messages. "Now, I live my life pretty free from caring about how other people have decided I am meant to look," she says, describing the process as "wonderfully liberating."
Cookbook author Meera Sodha is quitting being a people pleaser. She realised the tendency to put others first, rooted in a childhood culture that prioritised the collective, was harming her. Therapy helped her learn to articulate her own needs and wants. While it remains a daily endeavour, stepping back from certain relationships has been painful but necessary. "Quitting people pleasing has been liberating. I feel like there is a before and an after for me," she states.
Finally, beauty writer Anita Bhagwandas has given up missing out. She now actively chooses to go to gigs and travel alone rather than forgo experiences waiting for company. Inspired by regret over missing a Scott Weiland concert, she reframes solo adventures as brave and dynamic. "Life is too short to wait around for company," she concludes. "If the choice is going alone or not going at all? I’m choosing me."
