MY HAPPY PLACE: CHARLIE CRAGGS
A new creative generation is emerging from the devastation of lockdown. Inside Issue 17 of 10 Magazine Australia, we teamed up with Chanel to spotlight a series of actors, musicians, activists, writers and artists who are fueled by talent, self-belief and are ready to shape the cultural landscape. Their time is now.
Today, we spotlight author and trans activist Charlie Craggs. This January, the BBC documentary DIY Trans Teens followed Craggs as she met teenagers across the UK starting their own transitions without medical intervention.
Where is your happy place?
“I basically check myself into a swanky hotel if I’m having a bad day, or a bad week or a bad month or a bad year… It’s been a bad year. That’s my little bit of self-care. I’ll get myself room service and have, like, seven baths and just treat myself like the queen I am.”
How do you feel when you’re in your happy place?
“When I have my little retreats, my body and soul just say, ‘Yes, this is right. It feels right.’ And while I’m having my seven baths I think of how I can deal with some of the problems I’m going through.”
Why do you need a happy place?
“I need things like my happy place or happy places to distract me from the sad places, and to give myself some respite. I had a sadness that wasn’t moving and I thought, ‘If this isn’t gonna move, then I’m gonna have to move.’ So I got myself out of bed and got a cab to my nice hotel – it’s not even far from where I live. I needed to get out of my sad place and that hotel became my happy place. I’ve been going there since.”
Describe your happy place in three words.
“What. I. Deserve.”
Last year was tough. What’s your coping strategy for 2021?
“It’s really important to build up your emotional resilience so that, when hard times do hit, it’s easier to cope. Something as silly and simple as just taking yourself out of your situation for a day or a night to remind yourself that you deserve to be happy is enough – for now.”
Charlie Craggs wears Chanel, as photographed by Adama Jalloh. Taken from Issue 66 of 10 Magazine – MY, HAPPY, PLACE – is out NOW. Order your copy here.
