The tiny word that shifted my career

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Hello my loves!

Maybe you know, or maybe you don't, that I haven't always had the food and nourishment and deliciousness-filled career that I'm so lucky to enjoy now. A mere three years ago I was a mild-mannered financial services professional who had always loved cooking, but couldn't have possibly fathomed turning my passion into a real-life job. I've been asked quite a bit recently about how I managed to create the gorgeous world of nourishment that I now live and breath every day, and so this week I wanted to talk about the single most important change I made, the one that got me where I am now, the one without which I could have achieved nothing further. 

So, here it is. Here's what I did. I remember the day very clearly: I was lying on my couch on a sultry summer afternoon, trying to catch a cooling breeze, and I was thinking (again) about how wonderful it would be to have a career in food and what a shame it was that I couldn't have that. And it just hit me like a tonne of bricks, in a moment of extreme clarity: the only thing that was really standing in between and everything I dreamed of was ME. I was the one who kept telling myself that I couldn't have what I wanted, I was the one who kept parroting limiting beliefs to myself all the damn day long. And I thought, what if I just changed up my inner voice? What if, instead of telling myself that I couldn't, I started telling myself that I could, in a really loving, supportive, encouraging, beautiful way (a.k.a not like an angry swim coach screaming from the side lines, and more like a beautiful guardian angel carrying myself along on gilded wings). And so I did. Every time that nasty old negative thinking popped into my head, I just wrote right on over it with loving thoughts of self belief. Instead of thinking I can't, I began to think I can.

And do you know what happens my love, when you tell yourself you can? When you sub one naughty little word out of your self talk and replace it with another tiny, glittering, glowing, powerful word? You dang well get up off that couch and go off and do the thing you've never, ever dared to do. And you LOVE it!!! And of course it takes work and courage and effort and all of those things, and of course it's not a cake-walk all of the time, but believe me when I tell you that there's nothing like the feeling of realising that you've brought your dream to life, that you've done what you never thought was possible, and that you have yourself to thank for it. It's so goddamn empowering I hardly know how to put it into words. 

And don't forget, you don't start at the end, you start at the start. I started by doing something that felt achievable to me with the resources I had at the time, which was one pop-up warehouse dinner, which ended up being the best feeling in the entire world to execute, and which led to so much more joy and love and deliciousness that these days I can hardly count the nourishment-eggs in my basket there's so many of them. 

So why my darlings have I gone all motivational-coach on you today? It's because I know that so many of you have incredibly beautiful offerings within you, waiting right there to be birthed into the world, just like I did (and still do). I want you to know that it's eminently possible, it's entirely within your grasp, to manifest these things into being. It won't be easy all of the time, but you can be damn sure it will be worth it. 

And before you start to tell me about how it's easy for me to say all this what with my love of cooking and all, but you don't have a passion like I do, I will tell you this: everyone on earth right now is here because they have something that the world needs, something that is only theirs to give and something that will make the world a more beautiful place. Whether it's simply choosing kindness, community and connection over the modern-world obsession with shutting yourself off from everyone else around you, or whether there's something within you that you know will light up both you and the world, I want you to be brave. Take a deep breath. Feel the fear, and damn well do it anyway. I believe in you - if you can believe in yourself too then there is no limit to what you can do. 

Love, Rachel xxx

PS To quickly address some common limiting beliefs that will start tapping you on the shoulder as soon as you start feeling into whatever it is you want to create:

  • You're not too old to start a new career or do the thing you love (I was 39 when I created my first-ever professional cooking offering), and you're not too young either (Greta Thunberg, anyone?). 

  • The world definitely does need another cook/writer/belly dancer/pig groomer/Christmas tree farm/whatever it is that you have within you (what if Nigella Lawson or Jamie Oliver had told themselves that the world didn't need more delicious food?). Furthermore, your dream job doesn't need to exist yet - you can absolutely create it for yourself (Seek was hardly littered with job ads for Spiritual Cook in a Flower Crown when I finally started taking myself seriously).

  • No, you do not need a piece of paper to prove your qualifications to the world, or to yourself. You are certified by the universe to do what it is you are here to do. That is enough. You are enough. You do not need others to tell you how to do this. You know how to do this, so focus instead on the steps you could take to start actually doing this. 

PPS Don't forget to set aside some time this weekend to puddle about doing whatever it is that makes your heart truly happy. Doing the thing that speaks to your soul is something you'll never regret.