65: How to be Chic with Fiona Ferris

Are you content with the way things have turned out in your life? Some people spend too much time and energy living with regret or wistfulness for what they WISHED would have happened. Today’s show is about embracing what life gives you and running with it to follow your personal path to gratitude, satisfaction, and peace.

Fiona Ferris lives in beautiful Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. She writes about living a simple, beautiful, and successful life and believes you don’t have to spend a lot of money to do it. Through her books on Amazon and her popular blog, How to be Chic, Fiona provides thousands of women from all around the world with the tools and inspiration to elevate the everyday from mundane to magical. She lives with her husband, Paul, two rescue cats, and two rescue dogs. 

"We can’t imagine our life any other way than it is. We are grateful for that and for the way things have worked out perfectly for us. We feel like the luckiest people in the world."  - Fiona Ferris

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• For Fiona, it was both circumstances and choice that have led to her not having a child.
• She married her husband in her mid-30’s and they tried to conceive for a couple of years. When it didn’t happen, they decided not to pursue it further and steer their life in a different direction.
• Does Fiona have regrets? No--she is grateful and happy with how things have worked out and feels lucky to have permission to live in an exciting and non-traditional way.
• How she feels a small amount of grief in feeling like they will miss out on certain life experiences as parents, but she says that’s only about 1% grief compared to 99% happiness!
• The assumption that people make that EVERYONE wants to have children and that you can’t be happy and complete without them.
• The myths that people say about not having a child, having an only child, and not having someone to care for you when you’re elderly.
• A dream came true for Fiona when she published her first Kindle book that was a collection of her blog posts, Thirty Chic Days, in 2016.
• How publishing her first book gave her the confidence in her writing and her ability to teach others how to do it.
• Her home in the country on four acres with her pets, cows, and sheep.
• Her five books that are available online and a couple are being translated and published in other countries.
• Taking control with self-publishing: 75% of Fiona’s sales are Kindle books and 25% are print copies.
• How she helps others with their writing through her 6-week e-course, Create Your Dream Life, and her Writer’s Encouragement email newsletters.
• Why we should view writing as sharing personal experience and inspiration ---it’s a shame to keep it to yourself!
• How writers share their tone and voice and actually become a friend to their readers through their books.
• Using nurturing qualities in her writing and work instead of raising children--if her life had taken a different turn.
• How we each express creativity in many ways that show we value our strengths.
• All the “shoulds” that burden our days if we don’t “let them go”.
• Why it's better to attempt to not to be overly influenced by other people’s opinions, but stick with what aligns with our personal life path.

Resources:

Find Fiona’s books on Amazon

Check out her blog at www.howtobechic.com

Visit her website: www.fionaferris.com

If you enjoyed this episode and would like to help more women access these stories, then please subscribe and leave us a review or rating on Itunes. For information about more episodes go to: michellemariemcgrath.com

I would love to hear in the comments below what you found most helpful about this interview? Thank you.