MediaDiet: Bella Thomas
Bella Thomas is in her morning era
Bella Thomas lives the kind of way that makes you want to slow down a bit when you read about it. Not because it’s exactly quiet – she’s been modelling for a decade and building a creative career online since before Instagram even realised it needed creators – but because she approaches everything with a kind of tender intentionality that feels increasingly rare these days.
Her Substack Nice Nothings (that you should go and read, as a personal favour to us) calls itself “a newsletter for simple living” which darn well might as be her personal operating system.
Before modelling ever paid her bills, she was a teenager making things on the internet: styling outfits, designing graphics, uploading work to a blog she now refuses to resurrect from the digital graveyard. This curiosity and the compulsion to create and share never left. It simply grew with her.
This could be the most un-performative wellness lifestyle you read about today. It’s ritualistic, overly thoughtful and grants strength to the little, simple things in life.
How lovely is that?
Wake up
These days I wake up to a (not so gentle) slap in the face from my sweet pup Raphy, always at 5:40am on the dot. He’s our very cute one-year-old Blue Heeler mix and he does not believe in the snooze. If I dare reach for my phone, it’s quickly nudged out of my hands by a forceful nudge of his nose. He stares into my soul, begging to go outside for his morning pee and play at the park. We got him almost six months ago and, honestly, it’s true love.
Before Raphy came along and took over my life, I’d wake up at 6am, check the weather, have a quick scroll and then force myself out of bed before I got too cosy. I’m definitely a morning person and I get weirdly anxious if I’m not up and about before 6:30!
Morning
Mornings are genuinely my best hours. It’s when my brain works, my mood is high, and the day still feels like it belongs entirely to me. Well… mostly mine. Raphy has definitely claimed a decent chunk, but we’ll allow it because he’s perfect. My partner and I take turns giving him a big run-around at the park since we both like to exercise in the mornings. I’ll usually go for a run or do a home workout; we’ve carved out a little nook for exactly this. If I’m running, it’s almost always to Skepta Radio. Low-key (or actually high-key) a huge fan.
After that, I make myself a pour-over coffee and a breakfast plate, usually eggs plus whatever happens to be thriving in the fridge at that moment: asparagus, spinach, avocado, tomatoes, sauerkraut, peaches, etc. etc. etc.
Then I sit on my tatami mat in the sunroom, soak up the morning light and listen to a podcast. My usual rotation includes Feel Better, Live More, the goop podcast, The Imperfects, Call Her Daddy, or How to Fail with Elizabeth Day.
Afternoon
If I’m not on set for a modelling job, I’m working from home, which basically means drifting between the sunroom, my desk, the bathroom, the kitchen or, occasionally, a friend’s house purely because they have superior natural light. It all depends on what I’m creating that day. My brain usually taps out around 3–4pm, so I try to crank out anything important before that window shuts for the day.
As for tabs I have open… Gmail, Facebook Marketplace, Etsy, Substack, Vestiaire, Google Drive and probably YouTube doing something chaotic in the background.
I start thinking about dinner embarrassingly early, but I’ve stopped fighting it and now fully embrace it as part of my personality. I usually plan meals on Sundays, so everything is ready to go. Nine times out of 10, I’m making a curry, a stir fry, something slow-cooked or an overly thought-out salad. Cooking is my meditation, so I love letting it take as long as it wants.
Evening
We eat on the early side, usually around 6pm. My body seems to thrive when I give it a longer overnight fast. After dinner we’ll watch an episode or two of something… usually a true-crime doc or whatever everyone’s yelling about online. We finished Industry a few months ago, quite possibly one of my favourite shows! Naturally we moved onto Billions, as I hadn’t seen it yet. Hooked. It’s long though, so we’re now in that “committed, even though it feels like a part-time job” phase.
I’m in bed by 9pm, and I love falling asleep after a chapter or two of a good book. Right now I’m reading Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner. It’s beautiful!!
Bella’s Picks & Recs
SCREEN TIME: 5 hours, 20 minutes. I’m kindaaaa okay with this? Only because I do a lot of my work on my phone. BUT there is always room for improvement.
SUBSCRIBED TO: Audible, Spotify (about to swap back to Apple Music), Netflix, Are.na, Flo, UNUM, iCloud+, All Trails, and a couple of Substacks.
SOMETHING I WANT YOU TO READ: Caste by Isabel Wilkerson.
SOMETHING I WANT YOU TO LISTEN TO: Nothing Much Happens to help you fall asleep. I’m out within 15 minutes of pressing play.
AN UNEXPECTED GOOGLE SEARCH: “How do I get my dog to let me cut his nails”
INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT I’M LOVING RIGHT NOW: I love following @KerrilynnPamer. She’s also a great follow on Substack.
A LINK WORTH FORWARDING: Not really a link, but a great follow: https://www.instagram.com/villagecookings/
I love this format!!! Really cool way of learning about someone :)
I did have a little giggle at your random google search :-) We have a 7 yo red heeler and we are still optimistic wit will happen lol They are a very stubborn breed but super loving!