“I’m a classic Sagittarius, so I have a very
strong connection to nature. I’m not
religious, but I always think of nature as
my god. Spirituality for me is more about
nature; I get a lot of calmness from it.”
Earlier this year, she made the
decision to leave her role in magazine
publishing to pursue a long-held dream
of starting her own interior design
business. “I’m very, very excited. I have
nice little butterflies,” she smiles. “My
interior design aesthetic will be ‘natural
luxury’, so beautiful pieces layered with
those personal treasures.”
While she is looking forward to the
flexibility and enjoying more moments
with her children and husband, her
affinity for being in more natural,
outdoor environments is a significant
part of it.
“I remember when I was much
younger, reading The Celestine
Prophecy. It talked about the natural
environment having energy fields, and
I thought that was fascinating – but of
course they do! How can we think that
we’re not affected by, or connected to,
the natural world or what’s around us?”
Eating well and staying active are
always going to be essential foundations
for health, but having a nourishingenvironment is an element we tend
to overlook. In Shelley’s experience,
making small changes to your space
can have a massive impact on your
wellbeing and energy.
“You don’t have to have a lot, but
you have to set it up so it has
positive benefit for you,” she
says, reminiscing about
the days when her mum
would take her to
second-hand stores as
a child, or around the
streets to rummage
through the inorganic
collections, searching for
discarded gems. Simple touches
can spark the biggest joy, and all these
years later, Shelley still drinks from her
favourite ceramic mug – a treasured
token she bought on one of their
thrift-store adventures.
From her upbringing and travels, she
has a deep understanding that it’s not
about having the best and most beautiful
things, and that many of the happiest
people on the planet are those who have
simple lives. What’s more important is
living a life of meaning and gratitude –
cherishing those nostalgic, vintage and
pre-loved items, and appreciating whatyou love about your friends, family
and community.
“It can be very easy to think we don’t
have enough sometimes... but I guess
one of the things we can do is work on
that mindset of challenging what
we think we need to actually
make us feel happy.”
For Shelley, working in
high-pressure creative
industries for many
years has also cemented
the importance of
staying true to yourself
and having the courage to
follow your heart. In a world
that praises hard work and
getting ahead, it can be all too easy to
lose sight of who you are in the process.
“It’s funny, we are the closest people
to ourselves, yet sometimes we can be
the furthest away,” she says.
“We tend to hustle along every day, so
in terms of questioning things, I’ve done
a bit of that in the past six months. It’s
your life, and it’s not a long one. You’ve
got to find the ways to get out of life what
you need to make it a life that you’re
happy to have.
“You don’t have to be perfect, none
of us are, but you have to be yourself.”Behind the scenes with Shelley
‘You need to make it a life that you’re happy to have’
PHOTOGRAPHY
MIKE ROOKE
HAIR AND MAKEUP
CHAY ROBERTS
STYLING
SALLY
- ANN MULLIN
SHELLEY WEARS PAGE 20 KNIT
COUNTRY ROAD
PANTS
JULIETTE HOGANEARRINGSCREEPS AND VIOLETSBRACELETSLOVISASHOESKATHRYN WILSONPAGE 23 SINGLET, SHIRT AND KNITCOUNTRY ROADPANTSSEED HERITAGEEARRINGSFLAMING PEACHPAGE 24 KNIT AND JEANSCOUNTRY ROADEARRINGSZOE & MORGAN‘Spirituality
for me is more
about nature;
I get a lot of
calmness
from it’be informed
be nourished
simply be
be energised
be inspired