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howtobe247.bsky.social
How To Be Books
@howtobe247.bsky.social
190 followers 110 following 480 posts
Podcast and site from journalist Suswati Basu, reading incredible books and interviewing authors to explore life skills and social change.

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How To Be Books @howtobe247.bsky.social · Jul 25
How To Be Books takes a much-needed health-focused break

Explore our content on our website and YouTube in the meantime. We will be posting less frequently during this time.
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How To Be Books takes a break for health and wellbeing - How To Be Books
How To Be Books takes a much-needed health-focused break. Explore our content on our website and YouTube in the meantime.
howtobe247.com
howtobe247.bsky.social
Following on from my previous post, this is one of the side effects...

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#Poetry #MentalHealth
Baseline
Off-measure
open.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:46 AM
howtobe247.bsky.social
“To be sick is to suffer in the hands of the living.”
— Emily Dickinson

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#poetry #MentalHealth #Trauma
Incubus
Requiem for a Lost Dream
open.substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:33 PM
howtobe247.bsky.social
This is for all marginalised communities that have been hurt by hate.

CW: emotional manipulation, extremist communities, trauma.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#HopeNotHate #essay #writing #trauma
Beware of the Trojan Horse
How trust can become a trap
open.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:08 PM
howtobe247.bsky.social
This is probably relevant for every platform, but I can’t be the only one dying a death trying to keep up with social media...

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#socialmedia #essay #writing
Substack burns you out while pretending to be your mate
Welcome to the rat race
open.substack.com
November 6, 2025 at 2:21 PM
howtobe247.bsky.social
Inspired by Van Gogh’s Irises, painted during his time at Saint-Rémy. The poem reflects on the body as another kind of study.

CW: self-harm, mental health.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#poetry #mentalhealth #VanGogh
Self-Portrait
A Study of Irises
open.substack.com
November 4, 2025 at 12:24 PM
howtobe247.bsky.social
Well, it wouldn’t be Halloween if we didn’t have something related to the season. But I’ve been thinking about the idea of witches for a while and what women have endured for centuries when accused.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#poetry #Halloween #Witches
An homage to witches
A survival spell
open.substack.com
November 1, 2025 at 12:30 AM
howtobe247.bsky.social
Inspired by the strength of Virginia Giuffre’s memoir, Nobody’s Girl. There's a content warning with this as a result.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#poetry #trauma #mentalhealth #virginiagiuffre
The Morning After
The echo left behind
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October 24, 2025 at 10:39 AM
howtobe247.bsky.social
I came across my old journals from more than ten years ago, and they read like some kind of Shakespearean tragedy. But it got me thinking about alternate realities.

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#poetry #mentalhealth #trauma
Someone I used to know
Fragments from another life
open.substack.com
October 21, 2025 at 2:29 PM
howtobe247.bsky.social
Another short poem to untangle something in my head. Apologies, as always, for the lack of filter.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#poetry #MentalHealth
Hit-and-run
Collision with no recovery
open.substack.com
October 17, 2025 at 2:39 PM
howtobe247.bsky.social
A short poem in response to our current climate, with a subtle nod to a classic dystopian novel. This has a content warning related to war and state violence.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#poetry #Gaza #peace
Whose peace?
Verses from the Ministry
open.substack.com
October 15, 2025 at 8:13 AM
howtobe247.bsky.social
Following on from a previous essay on the meaning of life, this is another dark aspect of living with a strange condition. There's another trigger warning with this.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#mentalhealth #writing #trauma #essay
The devil makes work for idle thumbs
Finding pleasure in the pain
open.substack.com
October 8, 2025 at 2:30 PM
howtobe247.bsky.social
As a former long-term smoker, I find that the cravings never really go away...

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#poetry #poem #addiction
An ode to nicotine
A love affair with tar
open.substack.com
October 5, 2025 at 10:50 AM
howtobe247.bsky.social
Sometimes, not having vices is its own kind of special hell.

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#poetry #MentalHealth #Addiction
I have no more vices
Notes from the underground
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September 19, 2025 at 9:47 PM
howtobe247.bsky.social
After questioning whether online friends are real friends, I found myself wondering: can we also get trapped in the rabbit hole of obsessive groupthink?

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#essay #writing #culture #cults #society
What's a few 'cults' between friends
Avoiding the Kool-Aid
open.substack.com
September 17, 2025 at 1:16 PM
howtobe247.bsky.social
This is a much darker, far more personal essay than my recent ones about what it’s like to leave your body in order to survive and never be able to return to it. 

Trigger warnings with this one.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#essay #mentalhealth #writing #trauma
I’ve never understood the meaning of life
On the other side of the glass
open.substack.com
September 14, 2025 at 1:53 PM
howtobe247.bsky.social
As a journalist, I faced the dreadful task of reporting on the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012, which still leaves me shaken. After seeing the words ‘thoughts and prayers’ once more, it set off an avalanche of emotions.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#poetry #ThoughtsAndPrayers #GunViolence
Thoughts and prayers
Your silence is the killer
open.substack.com
September 11, 2025 at 11:46 AM
howtobe247.bsky.social
As I’ve been writing a lot about friendships, the internet, and AI, this seemed like the next logical thinking point.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#writing #essay #ai #technology #friendship
Are we really (online) friends?
Or is it just in our heads?
open.substack.com
September 9, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Reposted by How To Be Books
lexicoleman.bsky.social
Looking forward to using dictionaries next week as I apparently further corrupt my students.
September 8, 2025 at 9:08 AM
howtobe247.bsky.social
This prompt was suggested by a fellow Substacker this week, hence I wanted to take a different approach to this and write something up quickly! This is inspired by having recurrent dreams with this theme.

#poetry #climate #nature
open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...
Black Mountain
A living landscape
open.substack.com
September 7, 2025 at 12:55 PM
howtobe247.bsky.social
I feel this poem may resonate with many who have chased an illusion, only to realise it was not what they wanted. It was a reaction to societal expectations.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#poetry #MentalHealth
Normal?
Out of the frame
open.substack.com
September 4, 2025 at 6:33 PM
howtobe247.bsky.social
Warning: there’s a bit of swearing in this. It’s hard to avoid given the subject. I wrote it in response to being confronted by someone impersonating another author on Substack.

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...

#essay #writing #misinformation #socialmedia #fakenews
Who the hell trusts the internet anymore
Drowning in digital bullshit
open.substack.com
September 2, 2025 at 2:10 PM
howtobe247.bsky.social
Many people feel ashamed to admit that they’re lonely - I’m one of them. Perhaps it’s alright to find adulting a bit of a challenge.

#essay #MentalHealth #Loneliness #friendship

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...
I had dinner with five strangers
In search of a tribe
open.substack.com
August 28, 2025 at 4:04 PM
howtobe247.bsky.social
This story is inspired by two horror-based writing prompts, which are explained at the end of the text.

Trigger warning: Grief, parental loss, supernatural themes, disordered eating, and graphic descriptions of physical deterioration.
#horror #trauma #writing
open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...
Aftertaste
The body keeps the score
open.substack.com
August 26, 2025 at 3:03 PM
howtobe247.bsky.social
I tried my hand at writing a personal essay here for the first time. It seems I can’t do abstract, philosophical meanderings. I’ve held off writing this for a while.

Trigger warning: Eating disorders, #weightloss, and body image.
#disability #mentalhealth

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...
Train wreck
Living inside a body that feels unsolvable
open.substack.com
August 21, 2025 at 4:22 PM
howtobe247.bsky.social
The words of a particular article stood out to me today. The italicised words in this poem are drawn from both actual dialogue and paraphrased communications used in the article. Another piece with trigger warnings.

#poetry #Trump #deportations

open.substack.com/pub/suswatib...
Mega-purgatory
Mass in-carnation
open.substack.com
August 18, 2025 at 1:19 PM