A Letter From The Editor On Learning To Go With The Flow | Harper’s Bazaar Arabia June 2025

A celebration of the lost art of slowing down, in our June 2025 issue Olivia Phillips reflects on how to truly relax

“Growing up, I never knew a relaxed woman. Successful women? Yes. Productive women? Plenty. Anxious and afraid and apologetic women? Heaps of them. But relaxed women? At ease women? Women who aren’t afraid to take up space in the world? Women who prioritise rest and pleasure and play? Women who give themselves unconditional permission to relax – without guilt, without apology, without feeling like they need to earn it? I’m not sure I’ve ever met a woman like that, But I would like to become one. I would like us all to become one.”

No matter how many times I read these words, they still hit me hard. The irony, of course, is that I’m so busy rushing these days that most of my extracurricular ‘reading’ is done on Instagram – which is where I first stumbled across this excellent take. Written by author and psychologist, Nicola Jane Hobbs, it struck me as tragically universal among almost all of the women I know. Brilliant, bright, Powerful women, who were raised to believe the fallacy of ‘having it all’ without realising that, actually, that just means doing it all. So, yes – there is a conspicuous lack of chilled-out women knocking about. Were all too busy hacking at glass ceilings, smiling politely, and researching the top 10 non-toxic playmats in our lunch break.

By way of rebellion, then, we’re dedicating this issue to the lost art of slowing down. From next-gen sound healing to quiet travel; nixing toxic productivity to-like Haya Yasmeen- even quitting your dream job, we’ve explored myriad ways to reclaim rest and redefine success. Because despite claims that were all quiet quitting, micro-retiring and whatever else, hustle culture is sill the overlord we can’t quite shake.

The good news? There is an antidote. Dissent. Slow down. Insist that rest is not a radical act, and become a relaxed woman. I would like us all to become one.

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From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s June 2025 Issue