Lindsay Nicholson on resilience, recovery and the pursuit of perfection

The Shift with Sam Baker

I have known today’s guest for quite some time. Decades in fact. To begin with she didn’t really know me, because she was close friends with my first ever boss. During the time I sat on the sidelines of Lindsay Nicholson’s life, the unimaginable happened and her husband and then daughter both died of a rare form of leukaemia.

Then she picked herself and her younger daughter, Hope, up from the ashes and rebuilt their lives. Already a successful editor she became editor of Good Housekeeping where she stayed for 18 years, winning countless awards.

As if she hadn’t had more than her fair share of shit already, Lindsay then was diagnosed with breast cancer. She has now been in remission for 17 years.

Then I left magazines and our ways parted. But a couple of years later I started to hear rumours - her second marriage (to a man who, from the outside, looked like some kind of knight in shining Armani) had fallen apart, magazines were in trouble and the company we had both worked for dispensed with their experienced talented (for which read expensive) editors. Including her, their most senior and decorated.

That would be more than enough. But that wasn’t even the half of it.

Now Lindsay has written a heart rending memoir, Perfect Bound about the car crash that triggered a crisis and losing it all for a second time. Her obsessive pursuit of perfection. And how she found it in herself to recover. Again.

CONTENT WARNING: Before we leap in, I have to be honest, this episode is A LOT; a lot of everything. And I do mean everything. A lot of joy, a lot of pain, (including suicidal ideation.) you name it Lindsay has been through it, so if you’re feeling fragile proceed with caution and tissues.

* You can buy all the books mentioned in this podcast at The Shift bookshop on Bookshop.org, including Perfect Bound by Lindsay Nicholson and the book that inspired this podcast, The Shift: how I lost and found myself after 40 - and you can too, by me.

* If you enjoyed this episode and you fancy buying me a coffee, pop over to my page on buymeacoffee.com.

• And if you'd like to support the work that goes into making this podcast and get a weekly newsletter plus loads more content including exclusive transcripts of the podcast, why not join The Shift community, come and have a look around at www.theshiftwithsambaker.substack.com

• The Shift (on life after 40) with Sam Baker is created and hosted by Sam Baker and edited by Juliette Nicholls @ Pineapple Audio Production. If you enjoyed this podcast, please rate/review/follow as it really does help other people find us. And let me know what you think on twitter @sambaker or instagram @theothersambaker.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices