7 Questions With….

Welcome to our 7 Questions blog, each post will feature a woman and her 7 honest answers to our 7 (fairly intimate) questions

It’s a chance for us all to be reminded that ALL women have challenges and insecurities, even the ones who look like they’re killing it

Nicola is a Creative Mentor – at A Life More Inspired – a mum and former people pleaser. After starting her own self-development journey: 
she has gone from a woman lacking in confidence, believing she had no control over her life, and that dreams were strictly reserved for the land of nod… to someone who is making shit happen, showing up whole-heartedly and unapologetically herself. 

Name: Nicola Rae-Wickham

Age: 39

Lives: London

1 – How do you deal with overwhelm?

I deal with overwhelm by stopping the pattern, I interrupt myself, so taking myself out of my surroundings is the ideal but if not then I just stop what I am doing. I then look at what is causing me to feel overwhelmed and choose to take action to do something about it. Usually its overwhelm at the number of things I have on my list and not enough time to do them, so I then look at what are the must-do things and then go from there. Getting focussed and taking action definitely helps me. And sometimes that action is asking for help, delegating or letting go of things completely.

2 – Do you do what makes YOU happy or others?

Oooh now this is a question.  I say a bit of both. As a mother, there’s a lot of making other people (namely my children) happy and I am a people pleaser in recovery so inevitably some of the things I do are to make others happy, however, I have got so much better and there are lots of aspects of my life that are intentionally designed because I know they are going to bring me maxium joy.

3 – What gives you confidence when you need it most

What gives me confidence when I need it most is a combination of getting quiet and tuning out the noise and tuning into myself and reaching out to my support network and my biz besties.

4 – When someone tells you that you look nice or an outfit looks good, how do you reply

Thank-you! Yep a big fat thank-you. At the moment, I’m always a tad surprised as I am so damn sleep deprived but I still receive the compliment.

5 – What is your favourite failure

My favourite failure is my attempt to become a beauty therapist and nail technician. When I was in my mid 20’s I was working in fashion marketing but I always knew I wanted to have my own business at some point so I started exploring my options. Beauty seemed like a good idea at the time, it meant I could start it as a side hustle around my full time job, I was learning a skill which having come from an academic background was really attractive to me and it meant that I would be able to start my own thing in the future. I had visions of starting as a therapist and then eventually having my own product range and I invested on a course to great expense and spent my weekends being trained. BUT what transpired was that I was rubbish at manicures and nail extensions and I hated doing pedicures because I don’t like touching other people’s feet, I was bad at it all. Its my favourite failure because it is an example of me being willing to try, willing to be a beginner and willing to be shit. It showed me that the desire to do enter the world of entrepreneurship was strong and I was committed to experimenting until I found the thing for me.

6 – What 1 eco switch have you recently made

No longer using foil for the kiddo’s sandwiches in her school packed lunch is the one that comes to mind.

7 – One piece of advice you want to pass on to another woman

Aim for imperfection and you’ll be winning, watch where the desire and/or pursuit of perfection is hindering your progress, wellness and joy. The world needs you to show-up as your beautifully messy imperfect self.

Thanks so much for reading, please do let us know your thoughts in the comments below, or recommend anyone who you’d love to see answer these questions

P.S While you’re here, come have a nose at the pads.