For the first half of my 20's, I lived with - and intently listened to - a voice in my head (my Mean Girl) that whispered all kinds of "fun" things like: you're such a fake, you're not good enough, you're wasting time, you're fat, broke, selfish, annoying, boring, lazy, too-this, too-that, not enough of something else... And on and on and on!

Do you have a similar-sounding mix tape going on too? Truth is, we all do: in various shapes, sounds and sizes, we each have an ego / Inner Critic / Mean Girl / whatever you want to call it, that plants seeds of fear and lack in our hearts and minds.

It's a human thing, you know? :)

When I realised (and I mean REALLY realised) that I didn't actually have to listen to this voice - that there was in fact, an alternative (hallelujah!) - and that I could consciously make a choice to trust myself, to love myself, to value and accept myself, JUST AS I AM, WITHOUT HAVING TO BECOME A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT HUMAN BEING... Well, everything changed.

Seriously, everything.

This is why I'm so excited to be bringing you this chat I recently had with the beautiful Melissa Ambrosini, who has recently released her GORGEOUS book into the world, Mastering Your Mean Girl. 

A word I'd use to describe this book is GENEROUS: Generous in personal stories (and oh my, are there some goodies!), generous in beautiful colour and imagery, generous in laser-sharp and practical insights... With each page simply dripping in the love and warmth that Melissa's tribe has come to know and love her for.

Mel and I caught up over Skype last week to chat about this BEAUTIFUL BOOK and we spoke about all kinds of things like:

+ Who and what is our Mean Girl and why Melissa felt inspired to write this book.

+ Why we only EVER have two choices in Life: Love or Fear.

+ How she deals with Vulnerability Hangovers (the fear of over-sharing!!)

+ How the process of writing about her best friend Jess passing away last year became healing for her.

+ Why SELF CARE and SCHEDULING are so so so important to Mel and how she's learnt to embrace the ebb and flow of hustle and rest in her business.

+ Melissa's relationship with her parents (particularly her Mum) and how she leads by example, with love (instead of trying to change those we love and want to help!)

+ Moving past the fear and doubt about writing a book and some sneak peaks into her creative process.

Click here to download.

I'd love to hear from you in the comments once you've listened to our chat.

Have you gotten to know your Mean Girl? Have you given her a name? What's your relationship like with her now? And if you've read Mel's book, what did you think?

(I personally LOVE the name that artist and author Julia Cameron has given to her inner critic: Nigel! Best.)

You can connect with Mel and find out more about her book and message over at MelissaAmbrosini.com or MasteringYourMeanGirl.com.

If you enjoyed this interview, please don't hesitate to share it with someone who might be looking for that permission slip to turn DOWN the volume on their self-criticisms and turn the volume UP on love!

Amen to that.

Claire x

Ps. Perthies - I'm heading along to Mel's book launch on the 4th February, are you coming?! Hope to meet you there!