Hello!
Firstly, thank you for stopping by The Best of Intentions. I hope that you enjoy what you find here.
A little about me
My name is Sarah Best and I’m a writer, an educator, and a psychologist (MSc).
I was born and raised in the UK but have lived in Hong Kong for seven years.
After working as a teacher for 16 years, in 2023, I decided to take a career break and to complete a postgrad degree. It seems that I couldn’t escape academia. Since then, I have been working as a freelance writer/editor where I have written for education publications, as well as publishing work here on Substack.
Why the Best of Intentions?
I was raised to believe in the best in people (I think it also comes with the name) and that everyone (usually) has the best of intentions for when it comes to being a person in the world.
Some of my own best intentions include:
Eat better, and do more exercise
Be a better friend, daughter, wife, colleague, citizen!
Listen, and then listen some more
Have more patience with others (see above)
Use my phone less, go on the internet less, go outside more
Write more, and write better!
And I could keep going…
However, it’s when life gets messy, and challenging, especially when it’s messy and challenging that we might feel as though our best intentions fall short - mine certainly do. We also may realise that we need to change some of our best intentions as we grow and change.
If you can relate to any of the above, then perhaps this newsletter might be for you.
What to expect from TBOI?
TBOI is a space to explore some of these intentions and more using the field of psychology as a launchpad. Psychology has a lot to offer (and, some might argue, to answer for) when it comes to understanding our behaviour, thinking, and emotions, and so I hope to cover as much as I can.
One of my areas of interest within psychology is health and fitness and this led me to complete some research into the role of strength training and body image. It turns out that the way we think about our body is complicated. Who knew!
Besides writing about strength training and fitness, some of the other posts that I have written about are: work burnout, the power of play, and how weak tie connections can be beneficial to our wellbeing.
An additional aim for this newsletter is to debunk some of the common misconceptions about the field and shine a light on contemporary research.
What else can I find here?
Well, I am glad you asked!
This newsletter is not just for those interested in the field of psychology, and although I love the subject (if you hadn’t guessed), there will also be posts about photography, life in Hong Kong, as well as ones about writing and other stuff in the Notebook. Why not, I say!
If you’re still with me at this point and it sounds like something you might like, then please subscribe, and if you think someone else might be interested, then please share it around!
Still interested?
All new posts are free to read, but if you would like to support my work, you are welcome to upgrade to a paid subscription. And I may offer additional benefits for paying subscribers in the future (if you have any suggestions about this, please let me know. I am all ears).
You will receive one post a week, and generally these will land on a Wednesday. Why then? Not sure, really. I just picked a day.
And if you are on Instagram, you can find me @slouisebest
Best,
Sarah
