Finding HopeIntroducing Eden J Howells
Posted on June 28, 2026
Earlier this week, Eden J Howells – songwriter, artist, and founder of Queer Creatives London – put on a fantastic gig at Colours Hoxton in London. Unfortunately I was not there; the heatwave was triggering my POTS, making me anxious to travel by train, and it was too hot to take Daisy with me, which only made me more anxious (there was a warning on travel but I only reluctantly admitted defeated at the last possible moment). But I’ve been scrolling though the videos and photos on social media and oh my god, it looks like an incredible night. Eden is a fantastic indie-folk singersongwriter and if you haven’t listened to their music, I highly recommend doing so (my favourite is ‘aphrodite‘ but it’s a tough choice). Between Eden, their band, and multiple very cool special guests, the videos are a musical feast and I’m experiencing major FOMO but I’m very grateful to be able to at least get a peak at all of the stunning performances. The night was in aid of Eden’s fundraiser for top surgery and just watching these videos, I can feel the supportive atmosphere through my phone screen. It’s really moving to see people showing up for each other and the event raised over £4,000! This has been a huge leap forward for the fundraiser and the goal is definitely in sight – if you’d like to know more about it and read Eden’s story, then you can find it here…
“Hello dear friend/kind stranger. My name’s Eden (they/them), I’m a 25 year old transmasc musician and community organiser from London. And I’m fundraising to get top surgery! I came out as non-binary in 2021 and started taking T in 2023. Top surgery is something I’ve wanted since I figured out I was trans, but I’ll be honest, it’s taken me a while to muster up the courage to share that with the world. But yay me for being brave! Here we go…” (x)
I’m very aware that many of us don’t have a lot of much money right now so if you can’t donate, that’s totally okay but if you can share the fundraiser, I would appreciate it and I know that Eden really would too. I don’t know them well – we’ve met a couple of times at gigs – but they are a wonderful person and a fantastic singersongwriter. And on a personal note, I think that it’s so, so important to see queer, trans, and/or neurodivergent people writing about their lives because their music gives people – so many people who have rarely heard their feelings and experiences reflected back to them in the music they listen to – validation, representation, and a safe space. This is something that has been such a central theme throughout my life, as both a listener and a songwriter – it’s something I strive for in my own music – and so it’s very inspiring to see people like Eden creating such beautiful work, especially as an independent artist. This whole topic could be a blog post of its own but I’ll stop there before I get too far down that particular rabbit hole… As I’ve already said, if you haven’t listened to Eden’s music, I highly recommend it and if you are able to, you can support them and their music here, where you can find their show dates and merch. They also have a Patreon if that’s more your kind of thing. Check out their song ‘people watching‘ here…
Thank you for reading (and hopefully listening!) and stay safe in this heatwave!
Team Daisy – One Year In
Posted on June 20, 2026
TW: mention of pet loss and grief, mentions of meltdowns and harmful stimming. No descriptions. Some discussion of people responding disrespectfully to Daisy while working but nothing upsetting, just ignorant.
As of the end of April, my Autism Assistance Dog, Daisy, has been fully qualified for a whole year and in that time, she’s been a huge help to me both inside and outside the house. I’d hoped to have this post written and up by the actual anniversary but then my youngest cat, Sooty, had to be rushed to the vet and put to sleep very suddenly, which left me in a complete spiral. I ended up in the worst depression pit I’ve experienced in years and it took me a while to climb out of it and even longer to get my life sorted out enough to sit down and write this. So here we finally are…
Daisy moved into our home at the beginning of March 2025 and was fully qualified two months later at the end of April. But of course, the learning – for both of us – didn’t stop there and I wanted to use the first anniversary of her qualifying as an assistance dog to write about what this first year has been like, how much we’ve learned, and how much we’ve grown as a partnership. I did post a video on the year anniversary of her moving in that I will share here too, at the end of this point, if for no other reason than because she’s really, really cute.
An Object At Rest (Video)
Posted on June 13, 2026
During a recent Poetry Orchard writing workshop, my gorgeous friend, Blossom – one of the three lovely facilitators – shared this video as one of the discussion pieces, which I thought was very fitting for the theme of ‘rest is rebellion.’ I was so taken by it and I’ve sent it to so many people that I thought I should share it here as well. I love the animation style and the score is beautiful; it’s such a lovely, meaningful piece…
It’s funny how emotionally invested you can become in a fictional piece of rock in such a short space of time, isn’t it?
I think this short film says so much about how hard it is to find rest – real, active rest – when the world around you is in constant motion; even when you try to stand still, there are always external factors trying to force you into motion. And that’s why it’s so easy to not rest properly, to not rest in a way that actually recharges you. I’m finding more and more that I have to build rest time into my days – whether or not I actually take that time is still up in the air but I am working on it. Our bodies, our brains, our nervous systems… rest is so vital and I think that that’s (somewhat weirdly) really easy to forget. But we live in a really busy and emotionally taxing world and if we don’t choose to rest, our bodies will choose for us and that can be really hard to recover from.
What do you think? Did you like the short film? Have you sat with your body recently and checked in with how tired you feel? Thought about how you might build in more time for rest? What’s keeping you from resting? How could you change that and how might you benefit?
Finding Hope 