After finding an old picture on her iPhone, the idea for How Far You Have Come was born. "It started with me finding the photo from my phone that was beautiful, and I remembered when I took that photo I was going through a difficult time," Nichols said. "That led me to think about so many similar moments in my life. The landscape itself is so beautiful, but at the same time, I was going through something. When you look at that together, I can see I've come so far and seen so much beauty. I've travelled so many miles and seen things."
So for her book, Nichols decided to focus on the landscapes of specific states, and she created art and essays in each section. "My biggest hope is that people walk away from this and go through their camera rolls to see moments in their lives with beauty and courage. Especially now with so many of us spending more time at home than we normally would have and so much happening during the past year. Looking back and seeing how far you've come is important."