National Party deputy leader Nicola Willis started the year taking a hard look at herself and making the decision that if she was going to get through an election year, she needed to get fighting fit.
“These last couple of years have been huge for me,” says Nicola. “Late 2021, I stepped up to be the deputy leader and the finance spokesperson, and that comes with a lot more exposure, more work and more hours, which I loved. I was just giving it everything I had, every hour I had, every minute of the day.”
But by the end of last year, Nicola wasn’t well.
“I had a cough, which just wouldn’t go away,” she tells. “I just had this trigger go off, which I think a lot of people have. Maybe it was because I’m 42, but I suddenly realised I cannot take my body for granted. My body is fighting back – it is saying, ‘Treat me
