From city life to rural France, living the dream (or is it?)
Lucy Werner shares her journey of relocating from London to rural France, exploring the challenges and triumphs of midlife change. She shares the moment the real door closed on her city life and the new door that opened in rural France, the importance of community, and the evolution of her identity. Lucy also reflects on her experiences with motherhood, the concept of home, and her journey in building a successful newsletter as a means of connecting with her audience and growing her now successful PR platform, helping entrepreneurs grow their visibility.
Takeaways
Embrace change as a gradual process rather than an overnight transformation.
It's important to show vulnerability and ask for help when needed.
Finding a new identity can be challenging but also liberating.
Self-discovery comes from stepping outside your comfort zone.
The concept of home evolves with experiences and relationships.
Creating a balance between past and present identities is essential.
Timeline
02:38 The Door Closing: From city to rural France
11:12 Navigating a change of identity
28:10 Reflections on life in France, the unexpected things that crop up
33:17 Exploring the concept of home
40:00 Building community and finding belonging
49:31 The journey of creating a newsletter
54:59 Embracing vulnerability and sharing your story
Change Toolkit
Song Stardust Music sounds better with you
Book Michael Rossen Book of Play
Three questions to ponder (inspired by our chat)
If you could only take a few belongings with you through your next door opening, what would they be?
Where do you call home? When you are away from ‘home’ what do you miss the most?
Are you a book scribbler?
One piece of advice
“Show a bit of ankle. You don't have to share everything, you can hold lots back for yourself, but I have found, when I've shared my fails, as well as the journey to getting to my wins, the people who are there with me at the finish line are more involved in that story because they've come with me on their journey.” Lucy Werner
About Lucy
“Hey, I'm Lucy, and I help self-employed, small business owners and freelancers get seen and get paid.
I became a Substack Global Top 50 business newsletter before hosting my own independent newsletter on hypeyourself.com with a paid community of 450+ and over 13,000 free readers.
I've taught hundreds of entrepreneurs through workshops, resources and courses for creative spaces like The Futur, Bayes Business School, Courier magazine and the University of Arts London.
I've got over 20 years of communications experience and have written three bestselling books, Hype Yourself, Brand Yourself and No-Nonsense PR.
To peek inside my trophy cabinet, I'm the Enterprise Nation PR advisor of the year for 2025, listed in Alt Marketing Power 100, The Dots Risings Stars and Start-Up Magazine Female Founders to Watch.
I'm a global Adobe Express ambassador and Domestika instructor.
I'm also co-founder to three children, studying French and if I'm not responding to you I'm probably walking my dog in a forest in Provence, France.”