As humans, we naturally internalise that and turn it on ourselves, hoping that if we improve and get better, the problem will go away.  

But this is an abuse, and like any toxic, abusive relationship, the demand for us (the innocent) to change is insatiable, and the responsibility taken by the other party is nil. 

What happens is that we become horrid, toxic and mean to ourselves.  

But let's stop. 

Let's use our skin as the barrier. 

All that toxic messaging can stay on the external. 

Let's make our internal worlds places of safety, love and compassion.

I have created "From Insecurity to Body Confidence, A Self-compassionate" to guide you.  

Check it out here https://nicole-mathieson.thinkific.com/courses/Insecurity-to-body-confidence

About Nicole

Nicole Mathieson has impacted the lives of thousands of women through her writing,

speaking, podcasts and work as a counsellor.

In the therapy room, Nicole sees the Beauty Load doing its self-esteem-stealing damage in

real time as she helps her clients grapple with not feeling good enough to love. 

By sharing her own awkward stories and negative self-talk, Nicole inspires a deep exhale

of recognition from her clients and readers alike, who, for possibly the first time, realise they

are not alone, not crazy and absolutely not inadequate. 

The Beauty Load is Nicole’s first book.

About the Book

Do you find yourself constantly comparing yourself to others, and feeling like

you don’t measure up?

This is the Beauty Load in action, and here’s the thing: it’s not personal, in fact

it is inevitable in this world obsessed with beauty.

Our personal perception of our beauty, or the lack of it, can make us feel anything

from numb to anxious, stressed and ashamed, and at worst like we don’t belong and

that we are not worthy of being loved. 

In the Beauty Load, counsellor Nicole Mathieson exposes the damaging and

unrealistic beauty pressures society places on women, and shares how to lighten the

load for good through awareness, self-compassion and a realignment with your

deepest values.

Reclaim your freedom, confidence and self-love.

Website nicolemathieson.com/

Instagram @nicole.mathieson @the.beautyload

Buy the book nicolemathieson.com/thebeautyload

Get the course nicole-mathieson.thinkific.com/courses/Insecurity-to-body-confidence

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join Sarah and I in this episode, as we unpack the gifts of this transition from Maiden to Mother, which is the title of Sarah's recently published book with Sounds True.

This is actually Sarah's 2nd appearance on my podcast. She was first a guest back in 2016 with the episode named "you can't keep a good witch down", back when my podcast was named Unbreakable. You can listen to it here.

About Sarah Durham Wilson 

Sarah Durham Wilson midwives women from the wounded, patriarchalized feminine across the bridge to the archetypal Mother, or mature feminine. Before her service to the Goddess, she was a rock journalist in New York City, beginning with an internship at Rolling Stone and culminating as an editor at Interview magazine. She now lives on Martha’s Vineyard.

Where to find Sarah

Instagram @sarahofmagdalene

Website themotherspirit.com/sarahofmagdalene

Books soundstrue.com/products/maiden-to-mother

About Nicole

Nicole Mathieson has impacted the lives of thousands of women through her writing,

speaking, podcasts and work as a counsellor.

In the therapy room, Nicole sees the Beauty Load doing its self-esteem-stealing damage in

real time as she helps her clients grapple with not feeling good enough to love. 

By sharing her own awkward stories and negative self-talk, Nicole inspires a deep exhale

of recognition from her clients and readers alike, who, for possibly the first time, realise they

are not alone, not crazy and absolutely not inadequate. 

The Beauty Load is Nicole’s first book.

About the Book

Do you find yourself constantly comparing yourself to others, and feeling like

you don’t measure up?

This is the Beauty Load in action, and here’s the thing: it’s not personal, in fact

it is inevitable in this world obsessed with beauty.

Our personal perception of our beauty, or the lack of it, can make us feel anything

from numb to anxious, stressed and ashamed, and at worst like we don’t belong and

that we are not worthy of being loved. 

In the Beauty Load, counsellor Nicole Mathieson exposes the damaging and

unrealistic beauty pressures society places on women, and shares how to lighten the

load for good through awareness, self-compassion and a realignment with your

deepest values.

Reclaim your freedom, confidence and self-love.

Website nicolemathieson.com/

Instagram @nicole.mathieson @the.beautyload

Buy the book nicolemathieson.com/thebeautyload

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 ​

Anita has written 2 books A Zero Waste Life and A Zero Waste Family. Highly recommend.

But As you will hear, Anita wasn’t always a minimalist – in fact she says in her early twenties she was a stiletto shoe wearing, designer bag chasing maximalist! She lived a life of excess, thinking that material goods would lead to happiness, but surprise surprise, it didn't! 

I only mentioned the environmental impacts of beauty related consumerism and fast fashion a tiny bit in my book despite it being something I am personally passionate about. So, I am so grateful to be able to explore the topic and share this conversation with Anita. I hope you find a spark of inspiration in this chat to edge a little closer to zero waste for you.

There is trigger warning on this episode. Anita tragically lost her husband earlier in 2022, the year we recorded the episode. We talk about this loss in our conversation.

Where to find Anita

Instagram @rocket_science

Website www.anitavandyke.com/

Books www.anitavandyke.com/books

About Nicole

Nicole Mathieson has impacted the lives of thousands of women through her writing,

speaking, podcasts and work as a counsellor.

In the therapy room, Nicole sees the Beauty Load doing its self-esteem-stealing damage in

real time as she helps her clients grapple with not feeling good enough to love. 

By sharing her own awkward stories and negative self-talk, Nicole inspires a deep exhale

of recognition from her clients and readers alike, who, for possibly the first time, realise they

are not alone, not crazy and absolutely not inadequate. 

The Beauty Load is Nicole’s first book.

About the Book

Do you find yourself constantly comparing yourself to others, and feeling like

you don’t measure up?

This is the Beauty Load in action, and here’s the thing: it’s not personal, in fact

it is inevitable in this world obsessed with beauty.

Our personal perception of our beauty, or the lack of it, can make us feel anything

from numb to anxious, stressed and ashamed, and at worst like we don’t belong and

that we are not worthy of being loved. 

In the Beauty Load, counsellor Nicole Mathieson exposes the damaging and

unrealistic beauty pressures society places on women, and shares how to lighten the

load for good through awareness, self-compassion and a realignment with your

deepest values.

Reclaim your freedom, confidence and self-love.

Website nicolemathieson.com/

Instagram @nicole.mathieson @the.beautyload

Buy the book nicolemathieson.com/thebeautyload

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kris is a spiritual teacher who has a background in psychology as well as in the magazine publishing world and is the author of 2 books and creator of multiple oracle card sets. One of the reasons that I really wanted to share her with you and get her wisdom into the Beauty Load is that Kris is having a deep love affair with mother earth – her take on beauty comes from a place of being deeply deeply connected in the experience of living in her body as a spiritual being in amongst nature and the miracle of life.

In this episode, Kris shares her take on the Beauty Load and how the whole concept of beauty that we are exposed to in the mainstream is an illusion that we can choose not to partake in. She shares a beautiful practice with us and guides us how to come back to ourselves, our wild and free in just being who we are

Where to find Kris

Check Kris out on Instagram @kris_franken

Kris has her second book Wild hearted purpose coming out really soon and if you pre-order before Feb 8th, which is publication day, you will receive a bundle of goodness just for being awesome. All details are at: https://www.krisfranken.com/wildheartedpurpose/ 

And here is her website: krisfranken.com

About Nicole

Nicole Mathieson has impacted the lives of thousands of women through her writing,

speaking, podcasts and work as a counsellor.

In the therapy room, Nicole sees the Beauty Load doing its self-esteem-stealing damage in

real time as she helps her clients grapple with not feeling good enough to love. 

By sharing her own awkward stories and negative self-talk, Nicole inspires a deep exhale

of recognition from her clients and readers alike, who, for possibly the first time, realise they

are not alone, not crazy and absolutely not inadequate. 

The Beauty Load is Nicole’s first book.

About the Book

Do you find yourself constantly comparing yourself to others, and feeling like

you don’t measure up?

This is the Beauty Load in action, and here’s the thing: it’s not personal, in fact

it is inevitable in this world obsessed with beauty.

Our personal perception of our beauty, or the lack of it, can make us feel anything

from numb to anxious, stressed and ashamed, and at worst like we don’t belong and

that we are not worthy of being loved. 

In the Beauty Load, counsellor Nicole Mathieson exposes the damaging and

unrealistic beauty pressures society places on women, and shares how to lighten the

load for good through awareness, self-compassion and a realignment with your

deepest values.

Reclaim your freedom, confidence and self-love.

Website nicolemathieson.com/

Instagram @nicole.mathieson @the.beautyload

Buy the book nicolemathieson.com/thebeautyload

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As a little girl Caitlin always wanted to be a model, she loved dancing and posing and was always trying to be photographed, but she was a bigger bodied girl, so she thought her dream could not possibly come true. But now, thanks to a shift in diversity and the trail blazer models who went before her, Caitlin finds herself joyfully doing the job of her dreams.

I couldn’t wait to interview Catilin, because I wanted to hear how you can become confident and comfortable enough in this world obsessed with a certain ideal of beauty, aka a thin one and be different to that. Caitlin and I talk about the importance of representation, diet culture, fitting sizes (or not) and the behind the scenes reality of modelling.

Enjoy. 

More about Caitlin

Caitlin Robertson is a model with Bella Management Australia

You can find her on Instagram @caitlin_robertson__

About Nicole

Nicole Mathieson has impacted the lives of thousands of women through her writing,

speaking, podcasts and work as a counsellor.

In the therapy room, Nicole sees the Beauty Load doing its self-esteem-stealing damage in

real time as she helps her clients grapple with not feeling good enough to love. 

By sharing her own awkward stories and negative self-talk, Nicole inspires a deep exhale

of recognition from her clients and readers alike, who, for possibly the first time, realise they

are not alone, not crazy and absolutely not inadequate. 

The Beauty Load is Nicole’s first book.

About the Book

Do you find yourself constantly comparing yourself to others, and feeling like

you don’t measure up?

This is the Beauty Load in action, and here’s the thing: it’s not personal, in fact

it is inevitable in this world obsessed with beauty.

Our personal perception of our beauty, or the lack of it, can make us feel anything

from numb to anxious, stressed and ashamed, and at worst like we don’t belong and

that we are not worthy of being loved. 

In the Beauty Load, counsellor Nicole Mathieson exposes the damaging and

unrealistic beauty pressures society places on women, and shares how to lighten the

load for good through awareness, self-compassion and a realignment with your

deepest values.

Reclaim your freedom, confidence and self-love.

Website nicolemathieson.com/

Instagram @nicole.mathieson @the.beautyload

Buy the book nicolemathieson.com/thebeautyload

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I know for myself that the Beauty Load has kicked my butt. It has been and still is a "journey" let's say, to come to accept my body and beauty. And I also know that this is in the context of my privilege. Today's guest is helping me and all of us get our heads around our privilege, whiteness and this scale, the heirarchy that kicks all of our butts and serves none of us.

In this episode we talk about;

• Louise's work as an inclusivity and diversity coach and what her inspired this work.
• The politics of appearance and beauty
• Why we fear the dismantling of oppression
• How we can be good/better allies
• How more acceptance and less judgement towards ourselves is creating a better world for marginalised people
• AWhat a vision of the world looks like without discrimination

More about Louise O'Reilly

Louise offers inclusion, diversity and anti-racism coaching and mentoring for entrepreneurs and business owners who are comfortable being coached through the power of the feminine energy.

The oppressive status quo is something Louise refuses to swallow. This mumma-bear won’t stop until she’s changed the world for her babies. With her unique self-expression, heart-centred rebelliousness, and clarity of her vision of the inclusive world we could be enjoying. It’s no wonder Louise is an inclusion, diversity, equity & allyship coach, mentor and course creator for heart-centered & socially-conscious entrepreneurs.  

Louise is a Warrwa-Noongar Aboriginal woman who focuses on cultural inclusion, diversity and anti-racism work for entrepreneurs. Offering the Inclusion Creators Collective membership. It’s filled with courses, live trainings, group coaching and more. 

Website louiseoreilly.com.au/

Instagram @louise.oreilly.shieldandconch/

Courses louise-oreilly.thinkific.com/

About Nicole

Nicole Mathieson has impacted the lives of thousands of women through her writing,

speaking, podcasts and work as a counsellor.

In the therapy room, Nicole sees the Beauty Load doing its self-esteem-stealing damage in

real time as she helps her clients grapple with not feeling good enough to love. 

By sharing her own awkward stories and negative self-talk, Nicole inspires a deep exhale

of recognition from her clients and readers alike, who, for possibly the first time, realise they

are not alone, not crazy and absolutely not inadequate. 

The Beauty Load is Nicole’s first book.

About the Book

Do you find yourself constantly comparing yourself to others, and feeling like

you don’t measure up?

This is the Beauty Load in action, and here’s the thing: it’s not personal, in fact

it is inevitable in this world obsessed with beauty.

Our personal perception of our beauty, or the lack of it, can make us feel anything

from numb to anxious, stressed and ashamed, and at worst like we don’t belong and

that we are not worthy of being loved. 

In the Beauty Load, counsellor Nicole Mathieson exposes the damaging and

unrealistic beauty pressures society places on women, and shares how to lighten the

load for good through awareness, self-compassion and a realignment with your

deepest values.

Reclaim your freedom, confidence and self-love.

Website nicolemathieson.com/

Instagram @nicole.mathieson @the.beautyload

Buy the book nicolemathieson.com/thebeautyload

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

About Lisa

Lisa Cox is a fierce, passionate disability advocate who wants to disrupt the way disability is represented in popular culture by fusing her professional background in writing, advertising, media, branding and communications with her acquired disabilities.

Lisa is a vocal advocate for change with a solutions-focused approach. She has collaborated with peak bodies, national and international groups plus individuals who share her vision for real results.

Changing social attitudes, stopping stereotypes and altering the narrative around disability is what fuels Lisa’s mission to muse, educate, challenge convention and create tangible change in the way disability is represented in mainstream popular culture.

Where to find Lisa

website www.lisacox.co/about

Instagram @lisacox.co

About Nicole

Nicole Mathieson has impacted the lives of thousands of women through her writing,

speaking, podcasts and work as a counsellor.

In the therapy room, Nicole sees the Beauty Load doing its self-esteem-stealing damage in

real time as she helps her clients grapple with not feeling good enough to love. 

By sharing her own awkward stories and negative self-talk, Nicole inspires a deep exhale

of recognition from her clients and readers alike, who, for possibly the first time, realise they

are not alone, not crazy and absolutely not inadequate. 

The Beauty Load is Nicole’s first book.

About the Book

Do you find yourself constantly comparing yourself to others, and feeling like

you don’t measure up?

This is the Beauty Load in action, and here’s the thing: it’s not personal, in fact

it is inevitable in this world obsessed with beauty.

Our personal perception of our beauty, or the lack of it, can make us feel anything

from numb to anxious, stressed and ashamed, and at worst like we don’t belong and

that we are not worthy of being loved. 

In the Beauty Load, counsellor Nicole Mathieson exposes the damaging and

unrealistic beauty pressures society places on women, and shares how to lighten the

load for good through awareness, self-compassion and a realignment with your

deepest values.

Reclaim your freedom, confidence and self-love.

Website nicolemathieson.com/

Instagram @nicole.mathieson @the.beautyload

Buy the book nicolemathieson.com/thebeautyload

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

About Mair

Mair Underwood is an anthropologist of the body and lecturer in the School of Social Science at the University of Queensland. She is passionate about understanding body practices and the relationships people have with their bodies. Her research has focussed on body-self relations at different ages, tattooing, and bodybuilding. In recent years she has been focussed on bodybuilding and image and performance enhancing drug use, which led to interests in performances of masculinity, and muscle dysmorphia.

Where to find Mair

Contact

Email: thinkingaboutbodies@gmail.com

YouTube: Body of thoughts

About Nicole

Nicole Mathieson has impacted the lives of thousands of women through her writing,

speaking, podcasts and work as a counsellor.

In the therapy room, Nicole sees the Beauty Load doing its self-esteem-stealing damage in

real time as she helps her clients grapple with not feeling good enough to love. 

By sharing her own awkward stories and negative self-talk, Nicole inspires a deep exhale

of recognition from her clients and readers alike, who, for possibly the first time, realise they

are not alone, not crazy and absolutely not inadequate. 

The Beauty Load is Nicole’s first book.

About the Book

Do you find yourself constantly comparing yourself to others, and feeling like

you don’t measure up?

This is the Beauty Load in action, and here’s the thing: it’s not personal, in fact

it is inevitable in this world obsessed with beauty.

Our personal perception of our beauty, or the lack of it, can make us feel anything

from numb to anxious, stressed and ashamed, and at worst like we don’t belong and

that we are not worthy of being loved. 

In the Beauty Load, counsellor Nicole Mathieson exposes the damaging and

unrealistic beauty pressures society places on women, and shares how to lighten the

load for good through awareness, self-compassion and a realignment with your

deepest values.

Reclaim your freedom, confidence and self-love.

Website nicolemathieson.com/

Instagram @nicole.mathieson @the.beautyload

Buy the book nicolemathieson.com/thebeautyload

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

About Amy

 Amy Taylor-Kabbaz is a Best-Selling Author, Speaker, Journalist, Matrescence Activist and  Mama of three. After more than a decade covering breaking news and current affairs for the ABC around the country, her 'traditional' career took an unexpected turn when she found herself lost, overwhelmed and diagnosed with a thyroid condition after the birth of her first daughter. 

14 years - and two more babies - later, she is now the best-selling Hay House author of Mama Rising, the host of the ‘The Happy Mama Movement’ podcast (with more than 400,000 downloads), an internationally awarded Life Coach and runs numerous online programs for mothers all over the world, expert contributor to media outlets around the globe.

Where to find Amy

website - amytaylorkabbaz.com

Happy Mama podcast with Nicole as guest- amytaylorkabbaz.com/captivate-podcast/211

Instagram - instagram.com/amytaylorkabbaz

About Nicole

Nicole Mathieson has impacted the lives of thousands of women through her writing,

speaking, podcasts and work as a counsellor.

In the therapy room, Nicole sees the Beauty Load doing its self-esteem-stealing damage in

real time as she helps her clients grapple with not feeling good enough to love. 

By sharing her own awkward stories and negative self-talk, Nicole inspires a deep exhale

of recognition from her clients and readers alike, who, for possibly the first time, realise they

are not alone, not crazy and absolutely not inadequate. 

The Beauty Load is Nicole’s first book.

About the Book

Do you find yourself constantly comparing yourself to others, and feeling like

you don’t measure up?

This is the Beauty Load in action, and here’s the thing: it’s not personal, in fact

it is inevitable in this world obsessed with beauty.

Our personal perception of our beauty, or the lack of it, can make us feel anything

from numb to anxious, stressed and ashamed, and at worst like we don’t belong and

that we are not worthy of being loved. 

In the Beauty Load, counsellor Nicole Mathieson exposes the damaging and

unrealistic beauty pressures society places on women, and shares how to lighten the

load for good through awareness, self-compassion and a realignment with your

deepest values.

Reclaim your freedom, confidence and self-love.

Website nicolemathieson.com/

Instagram @nicole.mathieson @the.beautyload

Buy the book nicolemathieson.com/thebeautyload

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode I chat to Amanda about her work as a teen and youth mentor, her journey with the life and body image changing experience of cancer and her time as an international model. I found Amanda to be so calm and centred, that by the end of this chat, even though we discussed big and hard things, the world felt less scary and daunting especially for our teens.

About Amanda

Amanda Rootsey is the author of Shine from Within; a teen girl’s guide to life (Hay House), a youth mentor and a certified life and business coach. Through her holistic training school in Australia, Shine From Within, Amanda has helped thousands of teens and tweens to develop their confidence and now trains adult around the world to be inspiring youth mentors through the award-winning online Youth Mentor Training.

Amanda has appeared on The Today Show (Channel 9), been interviewed on morning radio and many podcasts and has been mentioned as a ‘game-changer’ in The Collective magazine, an ‘all round advocate for Mother Earth’ by Peppermint Magazine and has appeared in countless other publications including CLEO, Vogue Australia, Nature & Health and Wellbeing Magazine.

It was a 2-year battle with cancer in her mid-twenties that changed Amanda’s perspective on life and inspired her to go vegan, simplify (living off-the-grid in a shipping container for over a year), start meditating, enjoy each moment and encourage youth to shine from within.

You can find her at:

www.shinefromwithin.com.au

INSTAGRAM:

@shinefromwithinhq

@amandarootsey

About Nicole

Nicole Mathieson has impacted the lives of thousands of women through her writing,

speaking, podcasts and work as a counsellor.

In the therapy room, Nicole sees the Beauty Load doing its self-esteem-stealing damage in

real time as she helps her clients grapple with not feeling good enough to love. 

By sharing her own awkward stories and negative self-talk, Nicole inspires a deep exhale

of recognition from her clients and readers alike, who, for possibly the first time, realise they

are not alone, not crazy and absolutely not inadequate. 

The Beauty Load is Nicole’s first book.

About the Book

Do you find yourself constantly comparing yourself to others, and feeling like

you don’t measure up?

This is the Beauty Load in action, and here’s the thing: it’s not personal, in fact

it is inevitable in this world obsessed with beauty.

Our personal perception of our beauty, or the lack of it, can make us feel anything

from numb to anxious, stressed and ashamed, and at worst like we don’t belong and

that we are not worthy of being loved. 

In the Beauty Load, counsellor Nicole Mathieson exposes the damaging and

unrealistic beauty pressures society places on women, and shares how to lighten the

load for good through awareness, self-compassion and a realignment with your

deepest values.

Reclaim your freedom, confidence and self-love.

Website nicolemathieson.com/

Instagram @nicole.mathieson @the.beautyload

Buy the book nicolemathieson.com/thebeautyload

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode I chat with body image coach and behaviour scientist, Dr Kirsty Seward. I have to say that our work is so deeply aligned, that talking to Kirsty was just such a thrill. Kirsty's work is all about getting her clients back to a deep, loving acceptance of who they are. Kirsty talks about beauty being the goodness that radiates from us when we accept who we are, which is exactly what I am saying in my book!

In this episode we talk about Kirsty's breast implant and then explant surgery, about the shred, 10 week challenge world and about the problems Kirsty sees her clients struggle with.

About Kirsty

Dr Kirsty Seward is a behavior scientist (PhD), dietitian and body image coach with over a decade of coaching experience in the health and wellness industry. Kirsty has supported over 10,000 clients to break free from diet culture, discover their purpose, values and identity – outside of ‘superficial beauty ideals’, overcome body shame, shift out the ‘all or nothing’ mentality and honour their body from a place of acceptance and radical self-love. Kirsty combines her decade of coaching experience with her own lived experience of body image concerns and explant surgery, to offer impactful 1:1 & group coaching programs, plus her signature 'RADIANCE' online course and community. 

Website: drkirstyseward.com.au

Instagram: @drkirstyseward

About Nicole

Nicole Mathieson has impacted the lives of thousands of women through her writing,

speaking, podcasts and work as a counsellor.

In the therapy room, Nicole sees the Beauty Load doing its self-esteem-stealing damage in

real time as she helps her clients grapple with not feeling good enough to love. 

By sharing her own awkward stories and negative self-talk, Nicole inspires a deep exhale

of recognition from her clients and readers alike, who, for possibly the first time, realise they

are not alone, not crazy and absolutely not inadequate. 

The Beauty Load is Nicole’s first book.

About the Book

Do you find yourself constantly comparing yourself to others, and feeling like

you don’t measure up?

This is the Beauty Load in action, and here’s the thing: it’s not personal, in fact

it is inevitable in this world obsessed with beauty.

Our personal perception of our beauty, or the lack of it, can make us feel anything

from numb to anxious, stressed and ashamed, and at worst like we don’t belong and

that we are not worthy of being loved. 

In the Beauty Load, counsellor Nicole Mathieson exposes the damaging and

unrealistic beauty pressures society places on women, and shares how to lighten the

load for good through awareness, self-compassion and a realignment with your

deepest values.

Reclaim your freedom, confidence and self-love.

Website nicolemathieson.com/

Instagram @nicole.mathieson @the.beautyload

Buy the book nicolemathieson.com/thebeautyload

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is how the chapter starts;

The story of ‘I am not attractive’ was so deeply entrenched in my psyche that it became the filter through which I saw myself in the world. I seemed to always find more evidence that my story was true. Even the slightest negative reaction would be notched up as evidence for my story. If a man turned away from me, made a comment about my hair colour (“Ginger- nut!”), or just did not notice me at all, I saw it and added the experience to my list of evidence that I was not attractive. When I look at photos of my younger self now, it seems ridiculous. Now, I see a beautiful young woman in her physical prime and it feels like such a shame that I couldn’t enjoy it. 

About Nicole

Nicole Mathieson has impacted the lives of thousands of women through her writing,

speaking, podcasts and work as a counsellor.

In the therapy room, Nicole sees the Beauty Load doing its self-esteem-stealing damage in

real time as she helps her clients grapple with not feeling good enough to love. 

By sharing her own awkward stories and negative self-talk, Nicole inspires a deep exhale

of recognition from her clients and readers alike, who, for possibly the first time, realise they

are not alone, not crazy and absolutely not inadequate. 

The Beauty Load is Nicole’s first book.

About the Book

Do you find yourself constantly comparing yourself to others, and feeling like

you don’t measure up?

This is the Beauty Load in action, and here’s the thing: it’s not personal, in fact

it is inevitable in this world obsessed with beauty.

Our personal perception of our beauty, or the lack of it, can make us feel anything

from numb to anxious, stressed and ashamed, and at worst like we don’t belong and

that we are not worthy of being loved. 

In the Beauty Load, counsellor Nicole Mathieson exposes the damaging and

unrealistic beauty pressures society places on women, and shares how to lighten the

load for good through awareness, self-compassion and a realignment with your

deepest values.

Reclaim your freedom, confidence and self-love.

Website nicolemathieson.com/

Instagram @nicole.mathieson @the.beautyload

Buy the book nicolemathieson.com/thebeautyload

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I thought we would kick off the very first episode of the Beauty Load podcast by turning the tables and getting my dear friend Sam Lindsay-German to interview me. This way I can explore and share with you the ideas of the book and share with you my aims for this podcast.

In this episode we talk about;

• Why I wrote this book and what the Beauty Load is
• The difference between beauty and attraction
• The importance of representation in the media and in public realms for validation
• How we can unpack and dismantle the pressure of the Beauty Load yet still maintain a love of preening, dressing, adorning and beautifying ourselves
• How the Beauty Load just takes up so much headspace!! and that the liberation is in accepting that the culture is the problem and not you
• And so much more

More about Sam

Sam Lindsay-German is a yoga teacher, wife, mother, witch and therapist.

Sam runs workshops, trainings and courses through @13moonswomenstemple as well as weekly yoga classes.

You can find her on Instagram @sam_lindsaygerman

About Nicole

Nicole Mathieson has impacted the lives of thousands of women through her writing,

speaking, podcasts and work as a counsellor.

In the therapy room, Nicole sees the Beauty Load doing its self-esteem-stealing damage in

real time as she helps her clients grapple with not feeling good enough to love. 

By sharing her own awkward stories and negative self-talk, Nicole inspires a deep exhale

of recognition from her clients and readers alike, who, for possibly the first time, realise they

are not alone, not crazy and absolutely not inadequate. 

The Beauty Load is Nicole’s first book.

About the Book

Do you find yourself constantly comparing yourself to others, and feeling like

you don’t measure up?

This is the Beauty Load in action, and here’s the thing: it’s not personal, in fact

it is inevitable in this world obsessed with beauty.

Our personal perception of our beauty, or the lack of it, can make us feel anything

from numb to anxious, stressed and ashamed, and at worst like we don’t belong and

that we are not worthy of being loved. 

In the Beauty Load, counsellor Nicole Mathieson exposes the damaging and

unrealistic beauty pressures society places on women, and shares how to lighten the

load for good through awareness, self-compassion and a realignment with your

deepest values.

Reclaim your freedom, confidence and self-love.

Website nicolemathieson.com/

Instagram @nicole.mathieson @the.beautyload

Buy the book nicolemathieson.com/thebeautyload

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast is inspired by my book also called the Beauty Load in which I explore this exhausting pressure, anxiety and insecurity that many if not all women feel in regards to the way they look.

In this podcast, I aim to explore how the Beauty Load is felt by different people, in different countries, different cultures and sub-cultures and with different experts.

I aim to normalise the struggle of the Beauty Load.

I aim to question the culture, the expectations and the high standards we hold ourselves to.

I aim to raise awareness of how much of a privilege it is to even worry about this. But also to raise awareness of how much we are trapped and limited by this constant insecurity and anxiety the way that we look creates in us.

Most of all, I hope that in all this exploring we feel a little bit less alone and we can minimise the load that we carry, so that we can just get on with living our lives and being our beautiful, radiant selves.

About Nicole

Nicole Mathieson has impacted the lives of thousands of women through her writing,

speaking, podcasts and work as a counsellor.

In the therapy room, Nicole sees the Beauty Load doing its self-esteem-stealing damage in

real time as she helps her clients grapple with not feeling good enough to love. 

By sharing her own awkward stories and negative self-talk, Nicole inspires a deep exhale

of recognition from her clients and readers alike, who, for possibly the first time, realise they

are not alone, not crazy and absolutely not inadequate. 

The Beauty Load is Nicole’s first book.

About the Book

Do you find yourself constantly comparing yourself to others, and feeling like

you don’t measure up?

This is the Beauty Load in action, and here’s the thing: it’s not personal, in fact

it is inevitable in this world obsessed with beauty.

Our personal perception of our beauty, or the lack of it, can make us feel anything

from numb to anxious, stressed and ashamed, and at worst like we don’t belong and

that we are not worthy of being loved. 

In the Beauty Load, counsellor Nicole Mathieson exposes the damaging and

unrealistic beauty pressures society places on women, and shares how to lighten the

load for good through awareness, self-compassion and a realignment with your

deepest values.

Reclaim your freedom, confidence and self-love.

Website nicolemathieson.com/

Instagram @nicole.mathieson @the.beautyload

Buy the book nicolemathieson.com/thebeautyload

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.