Hello! I’m Verity Gaida, a life coach and writer based on the Suffolk coast, trying my hardest to live a slow life in a fast world.

8 years ago, I started listening to my curiosity, stopped thinking ‘what if?’ and started my first blog, Meet the Makers. It was exactly what it says on the tin: a chance to meet and share the stories of small creative makers in the UK. Shortly after starting the blog, I moved to Vietnam for a year where I continued my maker meeting mission (alongside teaching English) before returning to London’s bright lights. Here, I was honoured to take on the Design & Craft Editor title at the brilliant, but sadly now defunct, The Holborn magazine. Oh, the people I interviewed (cue some not at all apologetic name dropping…): Rob Ryan, David Hieatt, Jay Blades, Donna Wilson to name a few (plus many, many more smaller yet equally talented people). I cannot tell you how bloody much I loved hearing so many stories from creative after creative, discussing the risks they took to step out of the still-very-normal expectation of working an office job 9-5 and instead investing in their own talent and artistry.

My blog continued alongside freelance writing gigs for Designer Maker agencies, small businesses and a weekend role as Social Media & Events Manager for The London Artisan market. As my confidence grew I realised that I wanted to share more of me online and so my second online home was born: inspire & enjoy. This was a place to share maker interviews, as always, as well as shop small round ups and personal updates and thoughts. Without intention, I had started slowing down already and my need to feel less frantic (to keep on top of my predisposition to anxiety and depression), even while in a busy city, became my ‘thing’. Funny how your ‘thing’ usually appears completely unexpectedly, isn’t it?

And then I had a baby and left London for my home county of Suffolk - and it all sort of… stopped. Which is a totally normal thing to happen when your life changes! I still did (and do) the odd bit of freelance writing, but found that more & more of my my brain space was being taken up with all the classic ‘Who even am I?’ questions which seem to crop up in certain periods of life. Suddenly, all of the big Life questions and ‘self help’ books I’d once have mocked (we all did, it’s okay) were a big part of my life. I was following some incredibly inspiring life coaches on Instagram, attending workshops, reading the books, doing all the things you typically do when the world of self-development opens up to you. One life-changing retreat in Marbella in 2018 helped me nail down this ‘slow living’ thing before I finally put two and two together: I want to be a life coach! (in much the same way that Cher realises she loves Josh). I want to be a life coach for busy creatives looking to slow down.

And so now that’s what I do.

I use my years of experience and inspiration working with and around small creative business owners alongside my passion for living slow to help you find peace in your life and your work. I’m officially qualified as a coach through the Beautiful You Coaching Academy) with over 50 hours of 121 coaching experience to back me up.

I believe that choosing a more intentional way of life will create more space to trust yourself and your choices. Existing in our noisy world, trying to tick all the boxes of ‘success’ and trying to keep up with this rush ‘back to normal’ leaves very little time to question who you are and what you do (it’s almost like our world has been designed this way, hmmmm…). When you make conscious decisions from a place of calm, your life starts to align with your biggest dreams far quicker than you can imagine. But in saying that, my absolute favourite outcome of working with anyone is realising that where you are in life and business now is actually, pretty damn good. Being content is underrated, but feeling happy with where you are now, without a desperation to rush through life, is, I’d say, the nicest, least stressful place to be.