We spent five years together at Belvedere school but were never in the same form or any of the same classes, so we barely exchanged more than seven words.
In our twenties, there were a couple of Facebook likes and even a few real-life conversations containing more than seven words, and although I could tell that we’d really get on, we kept our online distance.
We were living out our different existences – her being a Smithdown Road Socialite and me being a European Nomad, both taking completely different paths that would serendipitously somehow lead us to the same destination.
MINDLESS MAG
When I started this blog back in April, Eva was one of the first people to ever read it and after a few posts had gone up, she messaged me some nice words of praise and encouragement.
She had no idea at the time how much those words meant to me and how much they kept me going. And we both had no idea where those words would lead.
She liked the fact that I am constantly having to remind myself I’m vegetarian and then berate myself for accidentally eating a sausage roll, that as soon as I’m free from five weeks at a meditation centre I’ve got a rioja in my hand.
She related to trying to balance a conscious reduction in shopping with an absolute adoration for thread and despite thoroughly knowing the benefits, I haven’t quite reached yogi perfection yet, not even close.
She did a masters degree in journalism but had since swapped a passion for writing for a passion for pinot and I had lost both my conscience and my soul to a mindless life down in the capital.
We were brought together by our mutual love for writing, our curiosity and unattainable aspirations, our pledge for goodness and our self-deprecating, satirical humour.
Our brains ticking, and a few thousand WhatsApp messages later, Mindless Mag was born.
START WITH WHY
We had a name and we knew it was going to be an online magazine, but that was about it. So as I packed my backpack to head East and Eva got her dream job back home, we threw ideas back and forth around cyber space trying to work things through.
One of my many mottoes for life is that ambition is knowledge-seeking and success is happiness-driven, monetary gains are only ever a by-product. So, Mindless Mag, like all the best things in life, is not about making money.
And, following the wise words of Simon Sinek, if you want to inspire, if you want to lead and you want to influence, you have to start with why. So why Mindless?
It’s simple really. Mindless Mag is about our love for writing and reading and it’s about sharing that passion with others, but most of all it’s about inspiring mindful change in a mindless world.
WRITERS WITH A CONSCIENCE
So then we had a name, a purpose and a vision. What we needed next was content and we knew two things:
First, we didn’t want to be one of those online magazines pelting people with daily, if not hourly information – it’s just too much. We wanted to take it back to the old school with a little bit of slow reading, and agreed that a monthly edit would be enough.
Second, we knew that the two of us, her with a real life full time job and me travelling the planet with about nineteen different Side Hustles, couldn’t possibly churn out enough content on our own.
So we decided to turn it into an online community, pulling in written genuineness from anybody who wants to write for us.
We know how liberating and cathartic writing can be and we want to get people picking up their digital pens to share their thoughts while testing out their creativity. We want opinions and unedited truths.
Looking back, that decision was made purely out of necessity but it has come to be one of the founding principles of our magazine.
MINDFUL
So finally, we had the name, the purpose, the vision and the contributors but we still needed to work out how we’d play the content.
We decided to go with generic themes that are relateable to the masses – fashion, lifestyle, love, mind, body, soul. We also agreed that our niche would be using the concept of mindfulness to zoom in on hot topics with microscopic detail.
We couldn’t just have a free for all on the content with writers submitting whatever they wanted, so we decided that every month, we’ll release a statement or a question for each theme and our writers will be asked to scribble up their thoughts.
This means that we have control over the topics discussed and can zoom in on things that align with our ethos, we give our writers clear parameters to work within as well as writing guidelines and we provide our readers with a variety of responses relating to consistent themes.
It’s all shaping together nicely.
SEND US YOUR SCRIBBLES
And now we’re live. Mindless Mag is live.
It’s a total work in progress and the website is under construction. It’ll grow organically, we’ll fail fast and we’ll learn as we go.
It could fizzle out in a few months and we’ll look back and laugh or I could be the next Anna Wintour.
But whatever happens, our topics are out there and the response so far has been exciting. We’ve had friends and strangers writing in to us with their submissions and plenty of support from those who are eager to read.
So if you want to put digital pen to paper and be part of a community that inspires mindful change in a mindless world we would more than LOVE you to get involved.
Check out www.mindlessmag.com and click on ‘send us your scribbles’ for the topics and writing guidelines, our deadline for the January issue is 31st December.
https://www.instagram.com/mindlessmag/