On the mornings when Los Angeles traffic threatens her peace of mind, British singer-songwriter Arlo Parks has learned to reach for the antidote: a podcast, a double espresso, and the hard-won knowledge that some things simply fall outside her control. It's a lesson that took time to master, but one that has fundamentally shaped how she navigates both the high demands of her creative life and the quieter struggles that come with burnout and mental exhaustion.
Parks recently opened up about the life philosophy that sustains her—a deceptively simple principle she calls "controlling the controllables." After a period of severe exhaustion in 2022, when the relentless pace of touring and touring led her to take a mental health break, Parks made a deliberate choice to strip her life back to its essentials. The experience taught her that recognising which challenges lie within her power and which do not has become her most valuable habit, a framework that helps her navigate what she describes as "the ebbs and flows of everything."
The 24-year-old artist grounds herself through ritualistic daily practices. Her mornings follow a precise order: double espresso, a run or gym session, listening to NTS radio, then eggs and journaling. She finds joy in late-night studio sessions sparking fresh creative ideas, in cooking for groups of close friends, in sunsets and time in nature. When the weight of the world becomes too much—and for Parks, whose mind races with ideas even at night, leading to lifelong struggles with insomnia—she turns to the people closest to her. Her partner, her best friends, and her family form the bedrock of her wellbeing, a grounding force that pulls her back to what matters most.
Parks has also tackled habit change with remarkable candour. She describes how she successfully weaned herself off what she calls an "apple juice fixation," consuming litres of the drink daily until she slowly managed to break the dependency. It's a small detail that speaks to a larger truth she has discovered: transformation happens gradually, through consistent focus on what we can actually change.
Beyond her personal practices, Parks is shaped by the examples set by those around her. Her father is a teacher, a profession she once considered pursuing herself—inspired partly by an English teacher who served as a formative figure during her adolescence. That thread of connection to education and mentorship runs through her own values. Her parents taught her to show up for people consistently and to perform small acts of kindness wherever possible.
Even her sense of humour reflects her grounded philosophy. She has a theory that dogs understand exactly what you want them to do and simply choose not to comply—a observation born from recent dog-sitting duties that speaks to her ability to find lightness even in minor frustrations. When asked what motivates her most, Parks is clear: doing good and being a positive force in the world, whether through the music and art she creates or through the smaller, daily gestures of being a dependable friend, a good partner, someone others can lean on.
As she continues touring to support her new album Ambiguous Desire, Parks carries with her a message for anyone struggling through their own difficult moments: keep going, and keep being yourself. Everything you're going through, she believes, is part of the process.