27 Comments
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Rebecca Riggs's avatar

Thanks. It is a useful reminder that this part of my leisure is your job. I need to be more mindful that the free content I access isn’t really free. I have subscribed and I’m not sure that I would have without your helpful nudge.

Elizabeth Oldfield's avatar

Thank you Rebecca, I really appreciate that (both the financial support and the encouragement that these things need saying and are ok to)

Julie Dunstan's avatar

Dear lovely Elizabeth. Thank you for your commitment to authenticity - and for being so thoughtful, alive, cheeky, vulnerable and prayerful. Thank you for doing the real work instead of the AI slop. I’m asking God for 500 paid subscribers for you - at least! x

Anaria Sharpe's avatar

Me too.

Elizabeth Oldfield's avatar

Ah thank you lovely Julie

Anne Goodall's avatar

I’m very happy to already be a paid subscriber, but your request inspired me to finally purchase your book. Thanks so much for everything you share Elizabeth - your words wend their way to me here in Western Australia and are a very helpful support and salve in these complex times. Much gratitude to you!

Katy Leopard's avatar

Should have subscribed months ago. Thank you for your work!

Adam Wilson's avatar

I missed this one while I was away. Modeling vulnerability in public, Elizabeth--bravo and big cheers from the other side of the pond. I am so honored to have stumbled into conversation with your work.

Grant Morgan's avatar

This challenge got my wife and I to finally subscribe! We have loved your writing for the last several years and both read Fully Alive (the book) when it came out. Yours has been an encouraging voice in our heads, our marriage, and now in how we’re trying to raise our toddler to be fully alive. Plus I was beyond encouraged when you included some stuff I emailed you about OCD in a post, so we owed you a subscription on that count alone!

Elizabeth Oldfield's avatar

Well, thank you both

very much.

Sam Rankin's avatar

1) Your substack is a great source of delicion and nutrition to me and my wife, thank you! Your approach in building and relating to your audience reflects the substance of your writing in a way that feels like goodness and fun, so keep doing your thing.

2) A good challenge for me in this piece - attention, gratitude and a joyful discerning palate are *my* sacred values, and yet I eat like a greedy wolf.

3) I was thinking of Ross Gay while you mentioned your many prayerful thanks. What a nice surprise at the end!

Elizabeth Oldfield's avatar

Thank you Sam. "feels like goodness and fun" is hashtag goals so thank you

Rob Powys-Smith's avatar

Your extra layer of vulnerability and quite gripping descriptions of different types of foodstuffs being digested (oddly sensuous, …not in a creepy way), that immediacy of gratitude you’re nursing into life, has prompted me to upgrade to paid.

Really enjoyed this piece.

Anaria Sharpe's avatar

Thank you for the beauty of this post. ❤️

suansita خوري's avatar

Thanks for sharing this. I started trying (mostly) phone-free Sundays and one of the results is I eat my meals without multitasking. When did single-tasking eating become a strange thing to do? At home I usually read Substack essays while I eat because otherwise when does one find the time! I haven’t quite gotten to the next step of intentional gratefulness for food (I should) but it’s been good even just to eat and be and enjoy.

Appreciate your openness about your financial needs too, I will consider it🙂

Elizabeth Oldfield's avatar

Isn't it? It is also crazy how hard I find it to eat and not read or watch something, even though i now know how much better it is

Also, thank you for considering, and no pressure!

Helen Creed's avatar

Very happy to pay more Elizabeth - please tell me how

Elizabeth Oldfield's avatar

Helen, thank you SO much. Apparently this is how:

subscribers can upgrade to a Founding Member tier by navigating to their Substack account settings, selecting the specific publication, clicking "Change" next to the plan, and selecting the Founding option. The system will prorate the price based on the remaining time in their current subscription

A.M. Jones's avatar

It's good to ask for what we need and yet hard to do -- and I'm so often surprised by the frequency in which I'm given it. I've been a paid subscriber for a while now -- thanks for all the 'chewy' work you do, Elizabeth.

Gita's avatar

Thankyou Elizabeth. I’ve just quit Audible and will happily direct those funds to you instead.

Jennifer's avatar

So many riches here, Elizabeth—thank you.

Jonathan RIchards's avatar

Happy to upgrade. Do I go for Founding?

Elizabeth Oldfield's avatar

You’re lovely, only if you can afford it