Benjamin McEvoy

Essays on writing, reading, and life

I Went Three Years Without Alcohol & This Is What I Learned

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I’m sipping a Wolf Blass Shiraz (from 2016) as I write this. Not the best wine I’ve had, but it’ll do. Just last year, I would have written this with a cup of green tea as my drink of choice. And five years ago, I wouldn’t have written this at all. Not just because it would’ve […]

10 Things To Do When You Have Insomnia

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So you’ve tried everything to cure your insomnia. And nothing seems to work. It sucks.  Even though I wrote one of the most popular ‘How To Cure Insomnia‘ posts on the face of Google… I still struggle with not sleeping from time to time. Sometimes you just have to face facts: You ain’t getting any […]

Alice Waters Teaches Home Cooking MasterClass Review (Part 1)

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I’m enrolled in the Alice Waters Teaches Home Cooking MasterClass at the moment. I get early access to the course as part of my All Access Pass (check out the catalogue). And I’m absolutely blown away. People who love natural cooking, love being around calm caring energy, and people whose philosophy of cooking is making delicious meals […]

10 Ways To Beat An Eating Disorder

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You’re always the last one to know you have an eating disorder. It wasn’t until years after I’d beaten my own eating disorder that I realised I had one. At the time, friends and family always told me my eating was unhealthy. “I think you could be anorexic.”  “How are you getting enough calories on that […]

How I Quit Smoking Overnight Without Cravings (Allen Carr Review)

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I don’t remember my last cigarette six years ago. I guess that’s a testament to how easy it was to quit smoking. But I do remember the failures. Dozens of attempts to quit smoking that resulted only in tears. “I’m quitting smoking today!” I liked to tell people that. “Yeah, yeah,” they said. “Whatever, Ben. Heard […]

Posture Exercises For Writers

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I’ve done heavy manual work, and I’ve done heavy writing work. I’ve worked in a warehouse loading containers onto the back of a lorry, and I’ve worked behind a desk tapping keys on a computer. Without a doubt, I got more physical problems from being a writer. Back pain, sciatica, wrist strain, stiffness, headaches, eye […]

Drillers Are Killers (And Mountain Builders)

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It came when I was in the squat rack. Gasping for air, slicked with sweat, muscles tense and burning. A revelation: every major step forward in my life has come about from a return to basics. Every plateau came from attempting to advance before I was ready. In the gym I got out of the […]

Annie Leibovitz Teaches Photography MasterClass Review

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The Annie Leibovitz Teaches Photography MasterClass was a bit of a mixed bag. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed this masterclass and I love Annie Leibovitz’s body of work but I cannot say with any certainty whether I think you will enjoy it or not. Each video module on the MasterClass platform has a comment section for students […]

Gordon Ramsay Teaches Cooking MasterClass Review (Part 1)

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The Gordon Ramsay Teaches Cooking MasterClass might just be my favourite MasterClass so far (and I’ve taken a lot of them). The Gordon Ramsay MasterClass is certainly one of the most enjoyable (going head-to-head with Werner Herzog and James Patterson for enjoyability). It’s also definitely a masterclass stuffed with practical advice beautifully suited to both complete beginner […]