From burnout to BRILLIANT

These inspiring women climbed back from rock bottomto find joy and fulfilment in their lives

- LOUISE BATY

'ALMOST DYING GAVE ME A WAKE-UP CALL'

Nicci Roscoe, 63, is an author and holistic health and wellbeing practitioner from London.

Like many women caught in the ‘sandwich generation’, my life can feel like a juggling act. Along with working, I divide my time between caring for my elderly mum and helping look after my four young grandsons. It would be easy to feel overwhelmed but I won’t allow myself to reach burnout stage again because, after cheating death, I’ve learnt to prioritise my wellbeing.

In my late 30s, as a busy mum of two, working as an aerobics instructor and TV presenter, I’d noticed myself mixing up words. I blamed it on stress. Then, a thunderbolt of excruciating pain in my head, during a shopping trip in December 2001, left me temporarily unable to see or speak. An MRI scan revealed I had a meningioma, a slow growing non-cancerous brain tumour. A neurologist warned it would kill me within five years unless I had risky surgery.

It was terrifying but, on 26 February 2002, I kissed my children Adam, then 16, and Gemma, 13, goodbye before the operation. Thankfully, letters I’d written to my family in the event of my death remained unopened. Back home, during my long, tough recovery, I had to accept help from others for the first time in my life – with my parents, sister, partner and children taking it in turns to help me dress and wash.

My constant companion, my shih tzu Lucky, encouraged me to walk a little further each day, taking time to notice birds tweeting and tree blossom fluttering in the breeze. I felt inspired to find a new way of living, changing the fast pace I’d been existing at before. I’d been on the verge of burnout, and couldn’t go back to that.

Helping others