Hi, I’m Nicole – founder of Explore Your Brilliance, author, and creator of reflective resources grounded in lived experience and gentle healing.
My journey is one shaped by lived experience - through trauma, healing, growth, and the quiet courage it takes to begin again. I’ve walked through family violence, loss, burnout, and generational wounds - and through it all, I discovered something powerful:
We are not broken. We are becoming.
Explore Your Brilliance was born from a deep desire to share what I’ve learned - not as an expert, but as a fellow traveler. My work is grounded in emotional truth, spiritual insight, and practical tools that help people reconnect with themselves, one gentle step at a time.
Through books, journals, reflective tools, and trauma-informed offerings, I hope to create space for you to feel seen, supported, and empowered - no matter where you are on your path.
Alongside lived experience, my work is supported by formal study and leadership development. Through qualifications in life coaching and leadership, and years within corporate leadership roles, I’ve deepened my understanding of people, systems, and change — informing the thoughtful, ethical, and grounded way I create resources
Meet Nicole
A Few Things About Me
I’m a mum to three incredible adults - they are my universe and the reason behind so much of what I do.
I share life with my husband Louie and two cheeky mini dachshunds, Daisy and Devon (a sweet little mother-daughter duo) who light up my world with joy and mischief.
I’ve spent over two decades in a corporate career - but my passion lives in helping people reconnect with their brilliance.
I believe healing is possible, even in the hardest chapters - and that writing has the power to guide us home to ourselves.
My guiding truth is: Everything is temporary - and that’s where hope lives.
I’ve spent much of my life navigating and researching generational trauma - and my soul’s purpose is to help others feel less alone in their darkest moments.
I’m building a legacy of words, tools, and reflections to help people reclaim their light - gently, bravely, and in their own time.
I created Explore Your Brilliance to remind you that no matter what you've been through, you still carry beauty, strength, and possibility within you.
Why I Wrote You Are Not Alone
I wrote You Are Not Alone because I remember what it felt like to carry pain quietly - to feel lost, overwhelmed, or unsure where to turn.
This mini series began as a gentle offering to my younger self… and to anyone who has ever needed a safe space to feel, reflect, and breathe. It’s for the quiet strugglers. The strong ones who are tired. The ones who feel too much and say too little. The ones just beginning to find their way back to themselves.
Whether you’re a teen learning how to name your feelings, or an adult carrying decades of invisible weight, I wanted this series to be something simple and soft to land on - something that says:
You’re not broken. You’re not alone. And you don’t have to have it all figured out to begin healing.
These guides and journals aren’t about fixing yourself - they’re about finding yourself, gently, one page at a time.
Why I Wrote The Temporary Theory
I I wrote The Temporary Theory because I needed a reminder that pain doesn’t last forever — and I know I’m not the only one.
This work was born from lived experience — not a clinical lens, but the quiet, raw truths gathered through trauma, survival, grief, and the slow rebuilding of a life. I’ve walked through darkness that made me forget my own light. And yet… I kept going. I kept learning. And I found something that changed everything:
Nothing lasts forever — not the pain, not the fear, not the moment you're in.
The Temporary Theory is my way of offering hope. It’s for anyone who feels stuck, broken, or overwhelmed. Through six simple but powerful principles, this work invites you to see your struggle differently — not as the end, but as a moment in motion. A part of a bigger, brighter whole.
You are not broken. You are becoming. And everything — even this — is temporary.
This body of work continues to evolve and will be explored more deeply through future books and resources.
Gentle Principles for Healing & Growth
Shaped by lived experience, reflection, and the understanding that healing is deeply human — not linear, not perfect, and never meant to be done alone.
These principles are not rules or steps to follow.
They are gentle truths that often reveal themselves during life’s harder seasons.
They reflect lived experience, emotional insight, and ongoing work exploring healing, impermanence, and resilience. You don’t need to understand them all — or apply them all — to begin.
Sometimes, simply recognising yourself in one idea is enough.
THE PRINCIPLES
1. Temporary Doesn’t Mean Trivial
Some experiences are brief. Others last longer than we expect.
Even when something passes, its impact can still be real.
This principle honours pain without letting it define a lifetime — reminding us that meaning and growth can exist even in moments that don’t stay.
2. Presence Over Perfection
Healing doesn’t require doing everything “right.”
It asks only that we meet ourselves where we are.
This principle invites gentleness, encouraging us to show up imperfectly rather than waiting to feel ready, fixed, or whole.
3. Emotion Has Intelligence
Our emotions aren’t flaws to overcome — they’re signals asking to be understood.
This principle recognises that feelings often carry information about our needs, boundaries, and experiences, even when they feel uncomfortable or confusing.
4. You Are Not Alone
Pain has a way of convincing us that we are isolated in our struggles.
This principle reminds us that while our experiences are personal, they are rarely unique — and connection, in many forms, is part of healing.
5. Healing Is Not Linear
Progress doesn’t move in straight lines.
This principle normalises setbacks, pauses, and returns to old feelings — not as failures, but as part of the process of becoming more whole.
6. Impermanence as Hope
Nothing stays the same forever — including how we feel right now.
This principle offers hope, not by minimising pain, but by reminding us that change is always possible, even when it feels far away.
“When science meets soul, healing becomes whole.”
This is where professional support and personal understanding walk side by side.
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
— Søren Kierkegaard
Let's Stay Connected
This isn’t just a platform. It’s a community.
Whether you're here for a journal, a course, or a quiet reminder that you're not alone - I’m so glad you found your way here.
From my story to yours - may you always return to your brilliance.
With love,
X Nicole