Sarah Lister was drifting through her twenties until a 'doorstep mile' moment of commitment saw her quit her unloved job and begin again. Today Sarah lives in a cosy cottage at the foot of beautiful fells in the Peak District National Park. She works as a coach these days and this has given her a new way of thinking, teaching her that a fresh perspective comes from asking open, non-judgemental questions.

I arrived at Sarah's house in a torrential storm. I was soaking wet and a bit fed-up. So when Sarah invited me to join her for a swim in the stream cascading down the mountain behind her village I was not particularly keen. But I remembered one of life's immutable rules: you never regret a wild swim.

And, sure enough, the hills were beautiful, the waterfall was bracing and bouncing and we galloped back down the hill happy, and hungry for homemade pizza.

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SHOW NOTES

• If you enjoy listening to this episode over a cup of coffee and think it might be worth the price, you can buy me a coffee here: www. ko-fi.com/al_humphreys
• Keep up to date with future episodes (and my other adventures, projects and books) with my free monthly newsletter: alastairhumphreys.com/more/subscribe
• Say hello on Twitter and Instagram: @al_humphreys
• Sarah's website: careers coaching for those who don't know where to begin.
• Sarah's Instagram: @about.the.adventure
• Busy London routine meant Sarah had lost her zest for life. She did not like who she was and the negative way she was complaining about everything.
• Sarah began using small escapes from London as a way to escape the city life she no longer enjoyed.
• For a while it felt acceptable to use adventurous weeekend escapes as a counter to the job she no longer liked.
• Admitting to herself that she had been drifting through her twenties felt very daunting.
• Whilst she knew what she did NOT want to do, Sarah did not know for a while what she DID want to do.
• Sarah wanted to pay off her debts, to be financially stable before leaving her job and making the change. But in the end an evening of adventure talks plus a ticking off from her boss sparked her into resigning.
• In her coaching work Sarah sees a lot of people who are heavily swayed by the amount of time and effort they have put into something, even if they don't like it. (The only important part of the runway is that in front of you). "I've come this far so I might as well keep going with it."
• Sometimes it feels easier to keep going with the devil you know rather than risking the uncertainty and newness and pressure of change.
• Coaching has been helpful for guiding Sarah that it is OK to change, it's OK to be upset by it sometimes, and it's not always easy.
• Coaching gives a new way of thinking and a fresh perspective through open, non-judgemental questions.
• Don't just ask yourself what the barriers are, but also break them down and think about what stories you are telling yourself about them.
• It would be good to give more attention and voicepieces to the unsung heroes of society who are helping to solve various problems.
• University felt like a wasted experience for Sarah (and me).

TRANSCRIPT

Below is the transcription of our conversation. It’s done by AI so is perhaps a wee bit ropey here and there. If these transcripts prove sufficiently useful then I will make the effort to clean then up and make them better. Do let me know if you think it’s worth my time to do that. (Or, better still, do it for me…!). If you’d like to listen as you read along you can do that here:

https://otter.ai/s/qR4Tiji2QpKAn_tR8-UO6Q

Alastair Humphreys
How did you go from being a
young woman
working hard in London, to living a little cottage in the middle of nowhere, spending your days running in the hills?

Sarah Lister
Well, it started really
wanting to get out a little bit more. So I was in London and became very dissatisfied and not really thinking very, very critical. And I noticed that I didn't have not realised
you know, something, my office paradise. And looking in the mirror I didn't like who I was. And the way that I'm talking, I'm saying negative complaining about my job and complain about everything really, even though I had quite nice job in my class, I wouldn't really keep making it or enjoying it. And it does come through just a little tiny mini adventure in a living. And I was asked to see what was around me, and then say that that I hadn't known before. And that made me start
to work, roll and see more. And it's just like going outside of London.
so I'm coming here on Monday 10 on the safer dog on a Friday, go home, packing my bags ready for the next morning, coming up at five and six o'clock in the morning whenever it started. And get on the train, set them on the street. So I did get back on a Sunday evening. And then go back to work Monday. I thought I've got it. I've got it down about a week. Yeah, I thought if I can say this. And I say my family hated me....