Meet the Founder and Editor
Hi, I’m Ally!
I started this magazine for all the fellow strugglers who feel the same way that I do; like everyone else has it all figured out and you just don’t know what you’re doing in life.
The struggle is real… when you’re trying to figure life out.
My modern struggles
I have just turned 29, the last pivotal year of my 20s, which I am holding onto with a white-knuckled grip of abject fear and teenage-reminiscent spots that only years of oily skin can provide.
I spend most mornings struggling between getting out of bed at all and waking up in the heights of a lung-tightening, chest-splitting panic attack.
The number one reason for this - anxiety and depression.
The next, equally valid reason - 2023 marks the 10-year anniversary of when my dad unexpectedly passed away when I was 19, and it just makes the modern struggles seem heightened every day.
My own modern struggles relate to mental health, body image, career, the choice not to have children, the difficulty in affording a house, dealing with grief, and going through my 20s and approaching my 30s, including what I’ve learnt along the way.
And many more - if you stick with this magazine long enough, you will get to know them all, and hopefully share some of your own!
Together, through our community of strugglers, we will figure it out.
Some fun stuff about me!
Age - 29
Star sign - Taurus (born on 20 May, last day of Taurus season!)
Favourite colour - green (could you not tell by this website design?)
Favourite animal - cat (especially my newly adopted cat, Gizmo)
Favourite food - pizza.
Career - Account Executive at a PR and Marketing agency, freelance copywriter on the side.
Aspirations - to be a published author.
Hobbies - reading, writing, watching films, going on mentally ill hot girl walks, having long baths, loudly singing to Taylor Swift.
Manifesting - that TMSM takes off!
Worst habits - overthinking absolutely everything, paying to get my nails done nicely just to bite the skin around my fingers until it bleeds and looks horrible, buying clothes I can’t afford and putting them on Klarna, spending hours watching TikToks, an obsession with ordering Dominos pizza.
Best habits - impulsively getting tattoos and piercings, cutting my own fringe, ordering tons of 70s style clothes that I never wear, owning too many pairs of random earrings and showing people photos of my cat like he’s my child.
Grateful for - my huns, my beautiful friends, my family, my cat, my boyfriend, my cute flat, my red hair, and all of you reading this.
Written by Ally McLaren
Editor
Hi, I’m Ally, Editor of This Modern Struggle Magazine.
You may have seen my writing in Mouthy Magazine or Darling Magazine. I currently work in Marketing and PR and do freelance copywriting on the side. I also have experience in journalism and feature writing for women’s magazines and national press.
When I’m not writing you can find me eating pizza, stroking my cat and watching true crime documentaries.
I started this magazine for all the fellow strugglers who feel the same way that I do; like everyone else has it all figured out and you just don’t know what you’re doing in life.