Around the time I discovered Little Lies, I was qualifying as a business and personal coach. This was because I wanted to give the writers and speakers I work with (professionals, beginners, anybody who wants to develop their career or personal life) the most secure, inspiring space I could to discover their authentic voice. Coaching is a space to think and feel out loud. It holds a mirror up to who we are and who we choose to become, letting us see what the life we want looks like and, most of all, our power to make it our reality. It’s about showing up as our full selves – in life, in work and in art.

So, for me, was Little Lies.

If you’re reading this, maybe you’ve felt something similar? Perhaps you discovered (or rediscovered) an incredible song through the name of one of the pieces? Or saw through the social media imagery something you’d thought wasn’t for you until you realised it could be? (In my head I call these items ‘gateway pieces’: where I’d not let myself want something because I believed the item somehow represented a person I wasn’t, a party I wasn’t invited to, then realised that ‘rule’ only ever existed in my head; that any comfort zone, when you’re truly curious about what’s on the other side, is the most exhilarating place in the world.)

And then there’s Stevie. There was already Bowie, and the Beatles, and loads of other rock influences that resonated in the names of the pieces, but Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks’ solo career I rediscovered by discovering Little Lies. It wasn’t just music (not that music is ever ‘just music’!): I also discovered how powerful it was to have an icon on my emotional stage who – like me – doesn’t look like what society was telling me being over 40 is meant to look like, is also is child-free, is also not married to their partner and whose work is all about becoming who you are and leaving behind being a reflection of someone else. The reminder it’s not about playing small or trying to make yourself how you think the world wants to see you. That how you speak, write, dress and live can be extensions of who you truly are, and your job is to let them be.

That’s what coaching is there for, and it’s what I see reflected in Little Lies. A celebration of identity and individuality.

I’m so happy to be here guest-blogging for Jade in celebration of Little Lies’ tenth birthday, and will be bringing some of my creative confidence workouts to build clarity and confidence for life, work and art. They’ll be full of what Little lies stands for: creativity, individuality, self-expression, great times and great music, and each one will be inspired by one of the rock and roll muses I share with Little Lies (Naturally we’ll be starting with Stevie!). Wishing you fabulous discoveries.

ALL the love,

Rachel x

Dr Rachel Knightley, Author, Writing and Confidence Coach
Insta: @drrachelknightley
Substack: drrachelknightley.substack.com
www.rachelknightley.com