Q&A inspiration with... English Mum

With a saunter around Becky Wiggins online home EnglishMum, there's evidence a-plenty of the self-professed nurturer at work.  Recipes for soda breads, cinnamon buns, slow-roasted pork and the odd cocktail or two, sit alongside straight-from-the-heart accounts of her home-life and travels.  Home economist, blogger, wife and mum, and deservedly short-listed for the Red's Hot Women Awards, I'm delighted that Becky shared a little about her best life for the spring-cleaned Inspiration Monday!

Tell me a little about you and your blog...

I'm a mum to two teenagers and very proud wife to a pilot.  I work as a home economist, recipe tester and developer, but my blog seems to be taking up more and more of my time! We live in the home counties with a very disagreeable cat and a slightly neurotic greyhound.  I'm very much a home body and you'll find me in the kitchen, usually.

What is your vision of your best life?

I think I'm more or less living it!  As I get older it seems to me that it's less about how much money you make and what material things you have and more about being comfortable in your own skin and happy.

Can you tell us about some of the challenges/obstacles/fears you've faced and how you've tackled them?

We moved to Ireland a few years ago because of my husband's job.  It was tough leaving my family and friends and, although we settled, we missed home.  Recently we've moved back and I'm the living embodiment of the phrase 'home is where the heart is'.  I'm back where I belong!  Sadly we've had to leave our beautiful home behind, but it's made me realise that without the people you love, it's really just bricks and mortar.

Have you ever thought you had everything planned, only for life to show you an alternative?

All the time!   We'd just bought a house and were quite settled when the hubby's job came up in Ireland but we coped, and lived there reasonably happily for a few years.

Has there been a 'defining moment' that has changed your life/your view of life?  Or a series of events?  What has been the nudge in the right direction for you?

I don't know about a 'defining moment', but when my husband lost his job in Ireland he had to come back to the UK without us to find work.  We lived apart for a few months and it really made me realise that what I wanted was to be a mum and a wife, and everything else was secondary.  I'm a nurturer!  Once we were back together, everything fell into place - my blog's continued to grow in popularity and I'm loving my life now.

If you were to look back and offer advice to your younger self, what three pearls of wisdom would you share?

Don't worry what other people think of you. It's important just to be yourself. If they don't like you, they don't like you.  You should never try to change to be what somebody wants.

Cherish the people you love.  It's so easy to take our family and friends for granted, and having lost some of those really dear to me, it's made me really conscious of keeping in touch and making an effort.

Don't stay in a job that makes you unhappy or because it's what somebody else wants.  Pursue something that makes you happy!

What book, piece of music, blog, quote or person inspires you the most?

I have a friend called Erica, who writes a blog called littlemummy.com.   She's an incredible entrepreneur and is really inspiring.  She's also a great sounding board when I feel my life's going a little off track. She always seems full of creative solutions.