The Future of this Newsletter

Welcome to version “2.0." Let's do this!

Let’s make this a two-way street.

Dear Newsletter Subscriber, 

What began as a COVID newsletter (and an outlet to preserve my own sanity) in the panicked spring of 2020 has grown into a community of 20,000+ newsletter readers, podcast listeners, thinkers, and new friends!

You are the cornerstone of this community.

And now here we are. We made it through the pandemic! So, as COVID hangs around in perpetuity, lately I’ve been writing more about the things my patients ask me about every day: weight loss, aging, sex, psychotherapy, the COVID booster shot, hormone replacement therapy, medications for anxiety and depression, managing holiday stress and family dynamics around food — basically how to be a little more okay tomorrow than we are today.

Hundreds of you have shared notes of gratitude, many with intimate personal stories and painful life experiences that remind me why I do this work — and why I want to nurture this growing community even more.

It’s time to hear more from you! It’s also time to invite you further into the growing community we’ve built over the last three years.

Producing this content for nearly three years has been extremely rewarding. It has also required significant time and resources from me, and tons of support from my editorial assistant, Page Lester, my tech whiz, Colleen Fisher, and my incredible podcast team at Podville Media.

If you’d like, you can now show your support for this work by becoming a paid subscriber. Even without using any of the new features, becoming a paid subscriber means that you’re committing to helping me grow this platform and share more nuanced information about health and well-being.

Asking for money — or any help for that matter — is not something that comes naturally to me, especially when I have a paying job and people naturally might assume that I can keep up the pace. So instead of burning myself out, I’m practicing what I preach and asking for the support I need to keep going. Everything I do is in joyful service of the same goal: to help people make sense of their bodies and minds.

In order to justify the time it takes to write and produce this newsletter, I’m asking for your support. Your subscription for $6/month or $60/year makes it all possible!

You might ask me: why am I doing any of this in the first place? Why don’t I go back to solely caring for patients (which is, after all, my enduring passion and top priority)? 

Here’s the thing: The pandemic uncovered just how wired and tired we were — well before COVID. Now, more than ever, we are keyed up and burned out. We scroll endlessly online for wellness advice and health hacks. We grab quick hits of dopamine through sugar, shopping, booze, or whatever gizmo social media is offering up. We are sleepless and irritable and don’t know what’s wrong. Worse, we don’t even know what questions to ask or who to trust. 

We are not okay. 

We are more than the sum total of our cholesterol and our weight.

Health is more than simply not dying; it is the painful, marvelous process of living.

It’s time for straight talk about mental and physical health — and about evidence-based medical information and guidance to live longer and better.

This is what I’m here for. This is what I cannot stop talking about. This is why I’m inspired to share more and grow further with you.

So!

To nurture this community and engage with you more directly, I’m offering some new features!

What does this mean for you? 

If you’re receiving this email, you are already a free subscriber. Voila!

You will continue to get my weekly newsletter and my podcast delivered — for free — in your inbox every week.

If you’d like to upgrade for $6/month or $60/year:

You get everything above, plus I’ve added a new layer of interactive features! These include:

• Private discussions threads with me 

• Full access to my regular subscriber Q&As. Starting this Friday, I will be answering a handful of reader questions about mental and physical health! You can start submitting questions to me right here — and you might find your question — plus my answer — in one of my regular reader Q&A posts! 

• Exclusive access to my new Medical Conundrums column. As I love to say, every problem has an answer. So, this is where you can send me your peskiest problem — right here! While I cannot be everyone's personal physician, I can help frame the problem and hopefully steer you in the right direction. Your query might just turn into one of my Medical Mysteries columns!

• Participation in my new Health Huddle community bulletin board where we can share our favorite health tips and learn from one another! Over time, this will blossom into a gold mine of collective wisdom, with suggestions and feedback from me along the way. You can submit your pearl of wisdom here — from mental health hacks to favorite exercise apps — and it might be featured in one of my Health Huddle posts!

• Bonus audio/podcast content

• Early “sneak-peek” access to every Beyond the Prescription podcast episode

• The ability to pitch suggestions for my newsletter content 

• Access to my full archive of content (free for everyone for now)

• Other fun extras like live chat sessions and more!

Founding Member - $250/year

For this, you get my eternal love and gratitude for supporting this work. Founding members will get all the perks of the paid subscription plus, once every few months, I’ll host a private live Zoom session to talk about issues like menopause, weight loss, aging — and more! 

Some final thoughts

I’m excited to bring you into this next chapter, to nurture this community, and to help even more people make sense of their bodies and minds.

Thank you for supporting me and my work. It means everything to me.

Love,

Lucy

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