A brilliant companion of a book. So many takeaways and golden nuggets of advice ' - Giovanna Fletcher Happiness is letting go of the pressure to be perfect and trying again when we drop the ball or make a mistake. Holly is a popular guest expert on podcasts, radio and TV, with a regular 'Monday motivation' slot on BBC radio.

The Happy Me Project boasts 2 sell out workshop tours across the UK and has seen thousands of men and women go through it’s virtual doors. The Happy Me Project has a focus on simplifying self development and takes the ‘fancy’ out of positive thinking.

Try this self love, self esteem boosting guided meditation to help you build your confidence and live a life that feels great. As an award winning self development coach, hypnotherapist, former TV actress and widowed Mum of Two, Holly Matthews has spent over twenty years studying the mind and finding ways for herself (and then her clients) to feel good more than they don't.

We also discuss comparison of your life to other peoples and help you to feel happy about where you are. In the run-up to her show, I sat down and spoke with Holly about her work surrounding mental health, the challenges people of all ages are facing, and the steps we can take towards living a positive and more fulfilling life. When you join The membershipyou will become part of the team and be supported not just by me on our our regular group coaching calls or lives sessions, but by the rest of those within the membership in our community Facebook group. Self-development used to be something confined to a very particular sect of society and it all seemed a little outlandish for a huge chunk of the population, but now it's time for self-development to stop trying to be fancy and start becoming the norm.

3. Kindness

In this episode we talk about clapping for ourselves, celebrating who we are, owning our weirdness and quirks and be our authentic self. Hustle culture is leading to burnout, stress and anxiety and in this episode we give ourselves permission to pause and rest. Make sure to never listen whilst driving, operating heavy machinery (or any machinery as it goes!). Essentially, chill out, take this moment to sit, lie down and prioritise you. The Happy Me Project Membership opened it’s doors in 2021 and has supported people from across the world in it’s inclusive community.

Since the birth of the internet we have found ourselves spinning plates more than ever before. We are expected to be thriving at work, running a side hustle business, spending every waking moment at the gym, be great parents and look amazing whilst doing it. Whether you’re an old hand at this ‘self development’ stuff or brand spanking new, the key to keeping up with what you have learnt is accountability and community.The perfect go-to if we ever catch ourselves at a low moment or in need of inspiration' - Jeff Brazier Holly said she found it concerning that we “don’t have enough access to mental health stuff”. She spoke of the vastness of mental health challenges in this country and mentioned how it “cannot be a one-person job.’’ Holly said: “The worry for me is that people won’t get the support that they need, or they will wait a long, long time.” Holly has amassed over 60,000 followers across her social media platforms and her award winning YouTube Channel 'Happy Me TV' also offers regular advice on navigating life and all it's challenges. Holly used this space to vlog about the death of her husband to brain cancer, which generated huge press interest in her story and enabled her to help more people. Holly’s work has been seen on the BBC, sat on the sofa with Lorraine, in magazines such as Psychologies, Prima and Closer Magazine and she won Health and Wellbeing Magazines best wellbeing book of 2022.

I was doing things like meditation, and then I was going and drinking cheap wine on the streets with my mates in Longbenton or Heaton. I was a closet meditator!” Holly laughs. This year’s theme for World Mental Health Awareness Day was “mental health is a human right.’’ I wrapped up the interview by asking Holly for her thoughts on this and how the theme resonates with her work. Life is challenging, right? I imagine you’re here because you’re wanting to feel good and navigate all the sh*t life has and will throw your way. Holly said: “Mental health is first and foremost a human right. It’s not a case of being happy all the time, but I think we have the right to be happy more than we’re not.” Holly is a qualified Life Coach, NLP practitioner, hypnotherapist and also coaches women in business as a mentor, where her focus is primarily on confidence and ‘getting your business seen in a noisy world’.

Geordies will get how I deliver it,” Holly promises. “I grew up around normal working-class people who say it like it is. I grew up in a family who were straight-talking, and debated, and looked the tiger in the eye - and I think that’s a real Geordie thing.” This was also part of a wider conversation around social anxiety in The Happy Me project membership and you can still get hold of that online workshop right now by joining the membership. Learn how to support yourself through difficult times and remind yourself that you are allowed to feel happy, you have permission to live a life that feels great and you don't have to stay where you are. I shall be hosting a business and mindset masterclass with the CEO of Mums In Business international on the 29th November and you are invited to get involved. If you run your own business and want to learn some marketing and business strategy you can implement right now to end your year on a high and learn the mindset tools specific to being a business owner (side hustle or full time), then you'll love this. Speaking at a time when hundreds of thousands of students across the UK have made the move to university, I asked Holly: “What would your advice be to someone struggling to adapt to the changes of making the move to uni?”