A niggling feeling prompted Naomi to be brave and follow her calling to start RESTFEST, a wellness festival for women – A gathering for women of kind hearts, fierce minds & brave spirits.
Meet Naomi
I’m Naomi Newland – Women’s Wellness Festival organiser and Hypnotherapist / EFT practitioner – and mum to three little people
One of ‘Those’ Ideas
I’d love to introduce you to RESTFEST over at www.restfest.co.uk. My role as a festvial organiser has evolved over the past 12 months. And I can’t believe how far we’ve come in one year. I’m currently organising the third event for 6th October 2019.
When I think of the what’s gone on to get me to this point I have to pinch myself to check that I’ve managed to pull this off! Organising a Women’s Wellness Festival has been a one of “those†ideas that wouldn’t leave me alone. One that kept nudging into my thoughts and my daydreams for many years before I took the leap into the unknown.
Career Journey
I left the stressful safety of my corporate life as a sales manager after the (unplanned) arrival of my third baby in three years and dived into building up my Hypnobirthing business from a hobby to a thriving little practise in 2011. My passion for this life changing way of preparing for a momentous birthing experience grew and I needed a platform to share the benefits with as many pregnant ladies I could convince to listen to me! Having always loved gathering people together, this led into organising 12 Pregnancy exhibitions in the next few years. However, with three tiny children and my Hypnobirthing business also demanding my energy and attention it didn’t take long to hit overwhelm which eventually led to incredible stress levels and as I wasn’t taking care of myself – I was no longer enjoying the strain.
My inner critic kicked in making me believe I wasn’t up to running a big events business.
I was constantly snappy with my family, working ALL the hours with no financial gain and my love for my work was quickly diminishing. The warning signs were all there – I was close to burnt out and running on empty so my idea of diversifying to attract a wider audience to my events was quickly diminished and the dream of a women’s wellness festival was to remain as one of those “maybe one day†ideas. (For the time being)
I spent the next year consciously living life at slower, simpler pace and learning to put my own oxygen mask on first. I spent quality time with my family and invested in a quest to rediscover me. Parts that had become hidden during the years of full-on parenting. Who was I, without the identity that my career and lifestyle had previously provided?
The Moment Things Changed
Clarity/Intuition/A Spiritual Download, whatever you wanna call it struck me on a memorable day back in November 2016. Unfulfilled, bored and so so broke. I was fed up with the drudgery of every-day-living and I decided life had to change. “Stop dreaming, start doing†was the simple message and in that moment, I gave myself permission to really live the life I’d been fantasising about for years.
Pursing Dreams
The journey hasn’t been plain sailing, far from it. But it’s been so worth it. From drowning in debt, struggling in marriage and stressed out to the max. To downsizing, renting out our house and completely retraining as a Hypnotherapist / Solution Focussed Therapist allowed us to pursue our dream of taking our family on a travel adventure.
During this self-discovery experience I met and was inspired by so many wise and wonderful women. RESTFEST is a celebration of these beauties. Coaches, guides, mentors, wellbeing business owners. My testament to ordinary women doing extraordinary things. If I can make this 3-year plan towards my fantasy life happen, then I can assure you, that any woman can.
I deeply feel my calling is to share RESTFEST with as many women as possible. When I am in organisation mode I am in pure flow. The right people seem to be magnetised to me at the right time.
The “Why?”
For me its all about freedom and flexibility. Being able to do every school run, attend to every school demand – being present on my own terms. I have a strong desire to share the life lessons I’ve only recently discovered with my children and my network – to make sure our next generation is better prepared emotionally and mentally for the roller coaster of life ahead of them.
We are taking our three children travelling for 3-4 months at the end of April and its hugely unlikely I’d have been brave enough to embark on such an adventure if I’d stayed within the limited environment of employment. Being self-employed and growing my business has encouraged me to be bold and to look at life at its endless opportunities very differently.
I hope this first trip will be the start of many more family explorations of our varied and glorious planet.
Ethics & Values
Learning. Being flexible. Being able to see all point of view. Non-judgmental and equality – treating everyone the same and how I want to be treated.
When it comes to emotional wellbeing – I want to encourage women to prioritise their own needs to be able to function well. You can’t pour from an empty cup and we have so much responsibility in these modern times.
I’d love more open-ness talking about creating the environment that women REALLY need to thrive – and my intention is that RESTFEST creates that opportunity and conversation. Providing information and inspiration in a super fun and nourishing way that sticks in our guest’s memories forever.
Business Learning Curve
Realising I suck at the financials – nothing worse than calculating you’ve worked a whole year for free!
I’m now very conscious to keep close my numbers – I’ve enlisted the support of my retired dad and his accounting skills to keep me on track with my forecasting. It’s so easy to get caught up in the love of this business that I can lose track of the value that my time and years of experience has.
What If It Didn’t Work Out…
The journey of a business owner is always a yo-yo – there have been times when I’ve found myself swiping through job adverts and getting my CV brushed up as its SO much easier having an employer!
Those moment are short lived though and my motivation is so compelling, I really believe I have a life-changing experience for women that I want as many to benefit from as possible.
Best Business Moment
It has to be my first Hypnobirth. A gentle 2.5 hour home birth in my kitchen in a water pool surrounded by candles. When I realised the power of Hypnotherapy could change my mind-set and that I could consciously create outcomes. It’s been the catalyst for a whole new way of looking at life and subsequent business and for that I’ll be eternally grateful. It was a pivotal moment and fuelled me to want to share this message wide and far!
Spinning Plates
It’s a constant spin of plates. I have two business – My Hypnotherapy business where I see clients 1:2:1 and through workshops and women’s circles and then RESTFEST which is a beast of an organisational task! So I work during school hours and a lot in evenings and weekends. The kids are used to it and appreciate my presence after school (I think) I hope I get the best of both worlds as a mum and a business owner although it has led to me neglecting my own needs as they are the first to fall off the priority list – I think any busy mother can probably relate.
I have a wonderful network of mummy mates and we do a lot of regular kids swaps after school and in the holidays – this has been my saving grace. There’s no way I could do what I do without my amazing friendship network.
We are off to explore Greece for the Summer as a family and really put that flexible working concept to the test. One of my main drivers to retrain as a Hypnotherapist was to be able to work from anywhere in the world where there’s wifi and now I get to put this to the test!
Coping With Stress & Overwhelm
Brain dumping! I either get everything out my head and onto paper which I find seeing everything in black and white way more manageable. Or I phone a trusted friend to download! As soon as I’ve shared in some way the strain seems less powerful.
Self Care & Support
The school run is always a great opportunity to practise being in the moment. I love the rhythm this twice a day walk creates. I try to go my foot whenever possible and soak up the nature, the weather and the company of children along the way. It puts things into perspective for me.
I’ve got a hugely supportive community of women surrounding me – I also run a Facebook group called “Good Enough Women†which is an incredibly positive place to hang out – I very often can vent in there and find unconditional feminine moral support.
Self-care for me is about connecting IRL. As I work at home by myself mostly – I thrive being around other like-minded women. So even when I am flat out, I make sure that I go a chai with one of my closest female friends and take the break that can so easily get cancelled in favour of my to do list. I force myself to go to networking events when it would be easy to stay at home with my laptop. People recharge me. I love connecting with new humans!
Words of Wisdom
- Don’t try and be a hero and do it all yourself.
- Find a tribe of like-minded lovelies you can share your express yourself with (on line or in person) – they’ll help to put it into perspective and find solutions with you.
- You don’t need to do perfect job, do your best job but don’t agonise over details that others probably won’t notice! Done is better than perfect.
- Plus, I’ve found being honest and sharing my vulnerability has been powerful way to grow as business owner. Every heart-led entrepreneur owner has experienced something similar in their own journey and can probably relate and offer advice in some way.
Keeping Emotionally Healthy
My mission is for women to understand how they can maintain a healthy emotional life by being proactive about caring for their mind. We understand how exercise contributes towards wellbeing and we may even go as far as having regular visits to the dentist to care for our teeth or the osteopath to protect our spines – but when it comes to our mental health there’s very little proactivity. Not enough education about prevention rather than waiting till it becomes challenging and seeking support. I really want to encourage open non-stigmatised conversations about proactively caring for ourselves. It not being a luxury but a necessity.
I believe we all deserve to live a life that fulfils us and doesn’t feel like a grind. Let’s discuss the solutions.


Author Bio

Naomi runs inspiring workshops, meet-ups & retreats, along with Hypnotherapy & Solution focused Psychotherapy 1-2-1 appointments and Hypnobirthing specialists.
Personal note from Naomi – Anyone who wants to continue this discussion I encourage to connect with me – we are expanding RESTFEST #busywomensdayoff by the day so would love to chat to anyone who’d like to get involved naomi@uflourish.co.uk
www.restfest.co.uk & www.uflourish.co.uk
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