Live In Daily Gratitude
Your Whole Life is a Qualification
I didn't believe that for a long time.
I do now.
I was twelve years old when I lied about my age to get a paper round.
I wanted my own money. I come from a family where you worked for what you wanted.
I walked into my first hair salon in Troon when I was seventeen. Even then, I knew it wasn't going to be hairdressing forever. I had this quiet plan to go to university and study psychology.
I also loved Art and Writing; those were the quiet places I felt like I could show my true self, which I hid from the world for most of my life. Well, until now.
What I learned in my hairdressing years wasn't just how to cut and colour. It was how to read a room. How to hear what someone isn't saying. How to see who a person actually is underneath the version they're presenting to the world. That skill, that specific, hard-won ability to see people, is the foundation of everything I do now.
"Hair is never just hair. People sit in your chair and tell you everything."
I got my qualifications early.
I had a plan!
I left my home for good by the time I was 21.
Harrogate, Weymouth, Tenerife. I worked in bars, restaurants, PR’d for nightclubs.
I came home to sort myself out.
Then headed off to Guernsey.
Came home again and spent every Friday afternoon with the Hairdressers Journal in a local coffee place, putting my CV together, and then I ended up in Dubai when I thought I was going to the Cayman Islands.
Life was never boring!
The Untold Story
I was young and living a life that so many dreamt of.
Don't get me wrong. The memories are golden.
I wouldn't change one thing.
The people I met, the life lessons, none of it.
On paper, my life looked so exciting. Like I was living the dream.
And in many ways I was. But I was never truly comfy in myself.
I was always searching and longing for more.
Deep down, I just wanted to be a mummy and find the love of my life. I daftly thought that was possible whilst travelling.
It was not, and the problem was never where I lived.
The problem was ME! Because no matter where I ran, I was still me, and I had this deep seated self esteem problem.
The thing about searching is that sometimes, you get a sign that you're on the wrong path.
Mine was a lightning bolt.
Coming home to Scotland wasn't a defeat. It was a reset.
I threw myself back into education. English. Art and design. I was searching again, but this time for a different kind of purpose. I thought I'd found it in art, but the art world had other ideas.
One lecturer who didn't believe in me was louder than the other 4 that did and it was enough to shut that door again for twenty years.
So I pivoted. Again.
I studied complementary therapies. I got a degree from Edinburgh Napier BA Complementary Healthcare.
I thought, “Yay, finally I did it. I am clever enough to be taken seriously”.
I discovered soon after that the 4 years of studying seemed not to be worth the paper they were written on.
My degree and all that hard work were like a voiceless void in an ocean of a loud mainstream narrative that did not want to use those of us who were trained in alternative and holistic healing and health.
It was a devastating blow and really did make me lose a lot of faith in life and the world.
I managed a stress centre for a while after graduating. But it was a charity and funding was being pulled from these types of organisations, left, right and centre during these years.
I did what I knew best and went back to Salon Management. A large city centre salon......
.......... AND hated every second of it!
What came Next
I escaped the big city salon for a tiny one near my mum's. It was a relief, for a wee while. I had been online dating for a few years. Jeezo. There were many frogs.
At 39, and living back with my mum. I finally got my driving license, all while planning my escape back to Tenerife for my 40th. I had no intention of staying in Scotland.
But the universe had other plans. Just after I passed my test, in September 2012, I started spending more time with Stuart...
My now husband!
My 'Whydom'. The reason for Everything.
We found out we couldn't have children together. After everything, it felt like another closed door. Another dream that wasn't going to happen the way I'd imagined.
But we refused to let that be the end of the story.
In 2013, we started the adoption process. It was long, it was hard, it was a journey all on its own.
And then, in August 2016, our daughter Lucy came home.
She is my 'whydom'. The reason for everything.
The searching wasn't for a place after all.
IT WAS FOR HER.
The Moment I Said No!
For a few years, life was settled. We were a family. It felt like I could finally breathe.
Then, in 2019, my body fell apart.
It started with my eyes and skin. Fast-progressing cataracts meant I was going blind. I was covered in psoriasis, both plaque psoriasis and inverse psoriasis.
Then came the constant, unexplained pain. I could hardly walk; it was so bad. And I had the brain of a goldfish. I couldn't even hold one sentence in my head as I was talking.
An ambulance trip to the hospital in May. By September, my GP was sitting opposite me, telling me I had an autoimmune condition and wanted to discuss putting me on methotrexate.
I looked at her. I thought about the life I'd just built. I thought about my daughter.
And I said no.
Saying 'no' was the easy part. The hard part was figuring out what to say 'yes' to.
And not one part of my journey was, or is perfect. I still have my own shit to deal with and weight to lose.
So What Changed?
Six Years I got Stuck, and yo-yo'd up and down around the Same Bloody Weight
Changing my food changed my health. My psoriasis cleared, the joint pain went away, my brain started working again, and I lost six stone.
But then my weight went up and down around the same point for six years. Keto, carnivore, fasting. I was doing all of it and still couldn’t get past that bloody number.
This summer (2026), I changed the balance. I made carbohydrates even lower, upped my protein and adjusted my dietary fat instead of assuming more was better. I tracked my food, symptoms and every single thing that was happening in my body.
And my weight finally started moving again. My waist changed, my energy improved, and I started recognising the body I hadn’t seen for years.
8 Stone (112lbs) down. 3 (42lbs) to go!
That experience matters in my work. The approach that helped me recover my health needed adjusting for what I wanted to achieve next.
Understanding when and why to make those changes is a huge part of what I do now.
I Never Stopped Asking WHY
AND THAT BRINGS ME TO NOW...
I qualified as a Nutritional Therapist, went deeper into Therapeutic Carbohydrate Restriction and now teach nutrition as well as working with clients.
And somewhere along the way, ketogenic nutrition became the bit I just couldn't stop digging into.
Metabolic health. Insulin resistance. Hormones. Therapeutic weight loss. Why something works brilliantly for one person and not another.
I want to know WHY.
Curiosity takes you places; FEAR never will!
THINK I MIGHT BE YOUR KIND OF PERSON?
Did any of that sound familiar?
Feeling like crap does not have to be something you just accept because you’re getting older.
I’m almost 54 and feel better than I have in nearly twenty years.
You can make changes at any age.
If any of my story sounds familiar, let’s talk about yours.