Explore & Chill with a little bit of English – Personal letter to our Friends

Over the last thirty-five years we’ve faced many seasons of difficulty — raising children with undiagnosed mental-health challenges, navigating family stress, work pressure, illness, and the quiet weight of holding everything together when it felt like it might fall apart.

But it’s really been in the last five years that our eyes have been opened to the importance of self-care — through the support of a small, close-knit group of people with similar experiences who helped us see that looking after ourselves is not a luxury, but a necessity.

Through that learning we’ve discovered what it means to keep going, and how vital small moments of calm and self-care can be when life feels overwhelming.

That experience led us to create Explore & Chill — with a Little Bit of English —

a space for anyone who finds themselves always caring, always worrying, and rarely stopping long enough to breathe.

We’re not medical professionals — but we’ve lived it.

We understand what it’s like to carry responsibility quietly, and we want to share what helped us begin to steady our own lives.

Explore & Chill begins simply: short, ad-free videos and gentle soundscapes to help you pause and reset.

From there it widens — quiet creative sessions, slow-paced live walks, soothing soundtracks of white, pink, and brown noise, and opportunities to connect with others who understand.

As it grows, there’ll be small Wellness Boxes, community activities, and even retreat spaces under dark skies — places to rest, reflect, and rediscover calm.

Explore & Chill is for everyone who needs time to step away from being “the strong one,” and to remember what it feels like to breathe again.

We are ready to launch, and we need your help — to understand whether the message resonates, and whether the material we’ve created helps people understand what we’re trying to do.

So, if we could trouble you to take a few moments to watch the long-form narrative first, it explains exactly what we are all about — what has driven us to build Explore & Chill and why it matters. After that, please watch the shorter six-minute video, which gives a clear introduction to what new visitors and potential patrons will see when they first arrive on the site.

You can follow the QR codes shown in the video — simply pause and scan them with your phone — or, if you received this by WhatsApp, you can just click the links in your message.

Normally, new visitors will see the short version first and then go deeper into the long form. But for you, we’d really appreciate if you could watch it the other way around — long form first, short form second — to get a fuller understanding of our motivation and approach.

If you have time afterwards to explore the website, you’ll find a great deal more detail there.

It is intentionally designed for potential patrons — with clear tabs that explain the services, offerings, membership options, and the different ways people can take part. You are warmly welcome to browse and share any thoughts or feedback. But the most important thing, for now, is simply to watch the long-form narrative first, and then the short six-minute video — those two pieces will give the clearest understanding of what Explore & Chill — with a Little Bit of English is really about.

We’ve also put a limited selection of our video content on YouTube. Because YouTube is public, you’ll see adverts, but it’s the easiest way for us to share material during this preparation phase before going live. You don’t need to become a member of our Patreon site or sign up for anything at this stage — just follow the QR code to our Explore & Chill — with a Little Bit of English YouTube channel, or visit https://www.youtube.com/@ExploreandchillYT  There’s a playlist called “TTT Group” where you can see a selection of the content we’re proposing. It’s set as unlisted, so you should be able to watch it freely. If it resonates with you, we’d really value your honest feedback. Your thoughts and impressions will help us refine how we present the project and how we reach the people who might need it most.

Because, as we often say, if nothing changes, nothing changes. And sometimes one small act of self-care is enough to begin.

Thank you for taking the time to listen.

We truly appreciate it.

Don’t forget — you can use the QR codes or simply visit www.explorationandchill.com to see more details and resources.

This isn’t meant for tens of thousands of people — it’s meant for hundreds: a small, close-knit community where real experience and connection matter more than numbers. These seal nature walks are an example of our own self-care — quiet, grounding moments that remind us why we built Explore & Chill. The seals themselves are endlessly giving in their own gentle way — curious, calm, full of character, sometimes shy, sometimes bold. The pups are far more curious than the adults — playful, watchful, often edging a little closer before darting back into the surf. We filmed them in the spring on the Norfolk coast in England, where their presence feels like a deep breath from the natural world — a reminder that stillness and connection are always available, if we only pause long enough to see them.

With our thanks and love,

Robin and Haslina Bates