It took a near burnout moment for former Hello! Magazine editor Rosie Nixon to realise she was ‘done’ with a life that was glamorous, adrenalin-fuelled – but ultimately empty.
‘I’m ditching resolutions for reinvention’
For many people, there is a ‘moment’ when you realise something in your life has to change. Mine happened in October 2022. I woke up, in a London hotel room, the day after hosting a glamorous work event, in my then capacity as Editor in Chief of HELLO! magazine, a role I held for 15 years. I’d had little sleep, my phone was alive with notifications – email, WhatsApp, Slack, Instagram, LinkedIn, missed calls, including two unanswered FaceTime calls from my young sons from the evening before, which I hadn’t noticed. Seeing those missed calls for the first time brought a physical pain, like a stab to my heart.
I went on auto pilot, scrolling across chains of emails with copy to read and features to sign off, meeting invitations, HR requests, all of them as yet unanswered. My heart was beating so hard and fast, I could almost hear it. I clicked into my diary, overwhelmed by what I saw there and realised I would need to sprint to the station at the end of the working day to pick up a child from a club. It had become a familiar pattern, running on adrenalin, always catching up. The guilt was suffocating. I yearned to be at home cuddling my boys, who were then aged 8 and 7. I had never felt so empty, despite the busy-ness all around me. That was the moment I thought: ‘I’m done’.
I burst into tears. And I couldn’t stop.
My husband had to call the doctor for me and I listened as she explained, slowly, firmly, that I was displaying some of the symptoms of burnout and should take some time off work. She was kind yet firm, as I whimpered that I hadn’t been signed off sick in 30 years, so could she please tell me what to do.
On the surface and on thousands of Instagram Stories, I was effortlessly gliding through motherhood, running a magazine, moving from glamorous events to home renovations, with apparent ease and style. Only I wasn’t. I was flapping like crazy beneath the surface and I was exhausted and unhappy. But I didn’t have a split second to do anything about it.
Burnout is a growing phenomenon across professions. A recent report found that almost half of UK workers are ‘running on empty,’ with burnout, mental ill health and work-related stress costing the economy £28 billion annually.
The chance to pause is, I believe, what saved me from more serious health implications. I spent it doing the school runs and walking in the countryside letting my thoughts ebb and flow with my tears. I made an effort to exercise more, to wind down in the evenings by going to bed earlier to read. My nervous system calmed and my sleep improved.
I then entered a phase of reflection. I journalled, considered my values and how they were not being met by my career anymore (freedom, creativity, family and inspiring others rank high) and my anxiety lessened. Week after week, I felt myself come back and, even better, it was laced with a spark of excitement that, at last, something new was happening; something that could be amazing.
A month later, I moved into an organisational mode. My energy began to return and I went back to work at HELLO! part time, having reinvented my job description. I enrolled on an online coaching course which proved an enlightening experience as I studied for my Diploma in coaching, which I passed in August 2023. I felt happier and creative for the first time in a couple of years.
The key to this is I didn’t rush to ‘fix’ the problem overnight. I paused. I reflected. I looked deeper. I asked myself the hard questions: What do I want to create with my life? What will be my legacy?
And then, I organised. Not just my calendar, but my identity. I said goodbye to HELLO! and, seeing a gap in the market to support women feeling similar to me, I built the ‘Reinvent Like a Pro’ framework (the PRO standing for Pause, Reflect, Organise) – a coaching tool rooted in neuroscience and storytelling. I didn’t abandon my past; I reimagined it, taking the skills, insights and wisdom I had earned and repurposing them.
I am now on a mission to champion a new stage of life – the part before burnout or boredom – the ‘age of reinvention’. It’s why I launched Rosie’s Reinvention Retreats in 2024, as a place for midlife women to come, just for one day, to put the focus on personal development through guided coaching sessions and with the support of peers.
As I reflect on my midlife career reinvention, two things have come to mean more than I could have imagined. Firstly, the power of female communities, from my friendship support circles to the community of women who come on my reinvention retreats. And secondly the importance of doing things out of your comfort zone – be that a solo travel experience, a trip that you wouldn’t normally take (I’ve just been skiing for the first time in 30 years and haven’t stopped talking about it), or simply allowing yourself permission to pause.
I now think of what happened to me not as a breakdown, but as a breakthrough and this is how I will channel the reinvention moments that come my way in 2026.
Credit: Rosie’s next Reinvention Retreat is taking place at Corinthia London on 6th February 2026. There is a special £45 off the ticket price for Avandra Club members using the promo code RRR45. Book here.
