Think you're not creative? Think again.

Bahbb1shogzmssivmjaxms8xms8yoc8xmc81mc8zni85mzmvmjaxmuf1zzmwxzaxmtmuanbnbjogrvrbcdogcdokdgh1bwjjig0xodb4mtiwiwy7blq

Two years ago, Nicola Taylor was a stockbroker in the City of London. Financially and professionally successful but bored and exhausted, she opted to leave it all behind to become a fine art photographer. Using herself as a model and taking inspiration from the folklore and stories of her native North Yorkshire, she now sells her work online, at art fairs and through galleries

How I can help Escape the City members

I'm handing out free slaps to anyone who says they're too old to make a change or that they're not creative. Unless you've got less time left in your career than it would take to retrain....you're not too old. Even then you're probably not either. And everyone's creative. They just are. It's part of being human.

1) What are you currently doing with your life?

I'm a photographer and at the moment I'm working on a series of self portraits inspired by stories and folklore about the North Yorkshire Moors. This can range from village myths about witches and supernatural creatures, through to themes from the novels of the Bronte sisters. I use a lot of editing and manipulation in my images so I probably spend as much, if not more, time at the computer as I do out in the countryside shooting.

2) What did you do before this?

I was a US Equities Broker for seven years. It was never the career for me but I was so often persuaded that I was so lucky just to be able to do it that I should stick with it whether I enjoyed it or not. But I really don't want to do something for the next 30 years just because I can or because I should. I want to do something that really means something to me.

I couldn't make the career fit with who I really am and I'm ashamed to say that, for a while, I altered who I was to fit the job rather than the other way around. Once you make that kind of a sacrifice for a job, it's tough to reverse and, although I knew I was in the wrong job, I didn't know what else I wanted to do so it was tough for me to make a change.

3) What was your moment of truth?

I used to travel a lot for work and my boss and I were sitting down and planning out the travel days for the next couple of months and he turned to me and said "It'll be November before you know it." It was late January.

At that moment, it just became clear to me that there wasn't going to be a time when I'd have enough space to think about what I wanted to do next. I was never going to be able to figure out what I really wanted to do before I left. I had to leave in order to figure it out.

Bahbb1shogzmssivmjaxms8xms8yoc8xmc81mc8zni85mzmvmjaxmuf1zzmwxzaxmtmuanbnbjogrvrbcdogcdokdgh1bwjjig00mtb4mjy3iwy7blq

4) How did you plan for it?

I knew that I wanted to leave but I didn't know what else I could do so I started working with a life coach. I was sceptical at first but I can honestly say it is the single most useful thing I have ever done in my life. As a busy person with a career, you generally don't get a lot of time to spend clarifying the things that are really important to you. Before you know it, life is something that is just happening to you and you're behind the curve, just reacting to stuff that happens rather than making your life look the way you want it to.

No matter what the dream or goal, a coach will help you explore what it would take to make it happen and that helps you to decide whether you really want it or not. I'm a convert and I recommend it to anyone and everyone. I often wondered why I was living in shared house, in a cheap part of town, and not going out but it was because, even though I wasn't ready to admit it, a part of me was saving for the change that was coming.

5) What have been the best and worst things about making this happen?

It's really been mostly best bits. I'm so much more happy than I was before because I really believe I'm doing something that fits who I am. I had written myself off as "not creative" because I wasn't great at art at school so I would never have come up with the idea of having a creative career, if I hadn't had the time and space to come to it slowly. But once it came, it came like a hurricane and I almost couldn't have done anything else.

In terms of bad bits, there haven't been many. I thought I'd worry about money more than I have, but the benefits of being happy really massively outweigh all of the things I can't do anymore. Starting my own business has been a really steep learning curve for me and I think that no matter how business savvy you are, the amount of hard work you have to put in does take its toll on your sanity at times. But I have to say that I've even enjoyed the struggles because it feels like I'm struggling for me. Everything I'm doing now is for me.

6) What was the best advice you have received

"Show up. Share your soul. Take the risks." This was from Seane Corn, a truly inspirational yoga teacher who has created an organisation that uses the power of yoga to effect social change. Just do it. Seriously.

It's that simple. If you're thinking that the job is wrong for you, then you're right. Don't spend another moment doing something you're not excited about. There's just no need.