Nathalie Cutler-Welsh known as New Zealand’s “Go to Girl”, which perfectly sums up this incredible vibrant mother of 3. Nathalie is pragmatic about balancing work commitments while ensuring she gives quality time to her family. She believes that there isn’t really a real way of balancing everything and that it’s all about looking inward as to whether you are doing what you think is right for you and your family.
I was lucky enough to get a glimpse inside her world and find out more about her “balance”…
Your daily rituals to keep you “zen”…
I play ‘what went well’ either with my 6 year old as I’m putting him to bed or in my own mind as I lay down to sleep. This brings to my attention the positive things about the day and helps stay in the zone of love and gratitude.
I’m also working more and more on my ‘self care’ so I always put the diffuser on first thing each morning with some yummy essential oils like ‘citrus bliss’ or lemon.
Your best ever relationship tips…
Know your love language. Hang out with people who you can be YOU around. People who inspire you but also people who you feel you can truly express your creative or cheeky side.
How do you consciously parent your children?
I’m a big fan of ‘love languages’ and personality types so I consciously understand my children and make an effort to treat ‘equal but not the same’. What motivates and supports one child does not necessary do the same for another.
How do you balance family and work life balance?
I don’t really believe in work-life ‘balance’ as such. I think there are times of ‘hustle and flow’ where some times you just need to roll with the busy-ness and other times you need to make space and allow things to happen. I do believe in whole hearted happiness and living in ‘the zone of love’ so if you’re saying you ‘need’ to do something or you ‘should’ or said you ‘would’ then that’s not align with what you truly WANT and desire. Stay in the zone of love and do more of what you genuinely WANT to do and as a result you will feel happier and more ‘balanced’. I tend to zero in on what I love in my business (speaking & helping others to get the gig and rock the gig for example) and then to ditch or delegate things that don’t bring me joy or aren’t in my area of genius.
What was the turning point in your life in becoming more conscious of your own needs and your family needs?
I like to have a ’theme’ for each year and in late 2016 I decided that 2017 for me was going to be about ‘do less & be more’. Less rushed and busy and more abundance and relaxed. Then in early 2017 my 8 year old boy lost all of his hair to alopecia (unexplained baldness) and this just strengthened my committment to Do Less & Be More.
Your philosophy around letting go of being the “perfect parent” and letting our children make mistakes in order to grow.
I don’t believe in ‘perfection’ so I’ve never strived to be the perfect parent. I do feel like when we take on too much and say YES to too many things (usually because we feel like we should or said we would and we don’t actually WANT to do them) that’s when we get overly stressed and don’t feel like we’re doing anything well. I’m a bit of a rescuer (more for safety than anything else) but I’m getting better at letting go and letting my kids make mistakes and learn from them. I’m big on ‘empowering’ them for example I give them each a “skip one” pass to make a conscious decision to skip one session of their after school activity (dance class for example) if they have a pool party play date or if they’re just not feeling up to it. I like to empower them to make decisions and then live with the consequences.
Your secrets to busting through fear…
Fear is interesting as their is “perceived” and “real fear”. Part of the work that I do as the Go to Girl is working with entrepreneurs and speakers to inspire them to let go of fear (around putting themselves out their, raising their profile so that they can get their message out to more people) so I have a bit of a ‘make things happen’ attitude. I think re-visiting your goal or your “why” can help you to put the fear into perspective and then embrace it if it draws you towards your goal and walk away if it doesn’t. I don’t do peer pressure.
What advice would you give women out there to become “financially free” and pursue a dream they might have.
For women who want to become ‘financially free’ I would say add some leverage to your business/life. This comes back to my focus to ‘do less and be more’. Creating some leverage and residual income in your business can allow you to ‘make money while you walk on the beach’. Who wouldn’t want that? So it could be anything from an e-book or online course right through to having a team of people – like I do with my Go to Girl oils tribe. I can be out for dinner with my family while one of my ‘oil ladies’ is educating people at an oils class making money for both of us.
Tell us more about your latest love with essential oils and how they have changed your life from a physical and emotional point?
I discovered essential oils through a client just over 2 years ago and I immediately loved them! It definitely made me wonder how I could have gone 42 years without knowing how powerful and helpful they could be – for kids/parents health as well as for emotions. Now many of my yoga teacher and health coaches or wellness focussed business friends have added doTerra essential oils to be one of the ways that they look after themselves and help people. (While also adding leverage to their business). I use the oils personally 6-8 times a day for focus, stress, uplifting and calming me down to sleep. I also love how my kids have taken to them and they’ve become another method for them to self-care and to look after themselves as well as each other.