Life Done Differently

Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Life Done Differently. 

Today’s episode is all about work like balance – particularly balancing family and work ambitions. 

Of course, kids and family aren’t exactly my area of expertise, so I invited a guest who knows much more about this than I do. 

I’m joined by Tiffani Higgins, who gave up a corporate accounting career to start her own business because she wanted more time for her kids and family. 

We talk about how having kids changed Tiffani’s perspective on how she wanted to live her life, the challenges of balancing kids and a career and the pressure moms are facing these days to do and be it all. 

Tiffani shares how she started her own accounting business and how that helped her have more freedom and flexibility in life. We talk about the challenges she had to overcome, how she managed to grow the business and the many lessons Tiffani has learned along the way. 

We also talk about the importance of setting boundaries when being self-employs and how challenging this can be. This is a topic that comes up often when I talk to people who are living the nomad dream, so it was interesting to hear Tiffani’s views on that. 

For all that and more, listen to my conversation with Tiffani. 

If you would like to connect with Tiffani or learn more about her coaching business, you can do so via her website: www.stayathomebookkeeper.com/

Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Life Done Differently – The Podcast. 

For this episode, I’m joined by Sophie and Ryan, who left the corporate world to move onto a sailboat and travel around the world – with no previous sailing experience, as I might add. 

Ryan and Sophie share how a bit of a freak accident led them to rethink life and stumble across the idea of living on a sailboat. 

They realised that even though they were doing really well with their careers, it wasn’t the lifestyle they wanted. So they decided to break free. 

However, theirs is not a ‘dive right in’ kind of story. Instead, Sophie and Ryan gave themselves the time they needed to plan and prepare for the big move. They learned how to sail, bought their boat and started to take steps towards earning a living remotely. It took three years of preparation, but then they were ready to hit the road – or the water, to be more accurate. 

Both Sophie and Ryan have struggled with anxiety and mental health challenges at different times throughout their lives, so we talk a bit about that as well. The two are super honest and open about those challenges, which is really inspiring. And they share some super valuable insights and tips. 

If you want to connect with Sophie and Ryan, check out their awesome YouTube Channel or their website. 

https://www.youtube.com/c/RyanSophieSailing

http://ryanandsophie.com 

Hello and welcome to another episode of Life Done Differently – The Podcast. 

A few years ago, I read the DI Hillary Greene Series of crime novels by Faith Martin. The lead character in this series is a female detective who lives on a narrowboat. Ever since then, I’ve been fascinated by narrowboats and what it would be like to live on one.

So, I’m super stoked to have finally found two people to talk to about narrowboat life for the podcast.

Anthony and Paul, together with their dog Dexter, went from living in a big house to enjoying narrowboat life on the canals in England.

In this episode, we talk about how and why they made the decision, what attracted them to narrowboat life, and what life on the canals is like.

Paul and Anthony share lots of valuable insights about the practicalities of narrowboat life, what they enjoy most about the lifestyle, the challenges they had to overcome, the community around them and more.

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to live on a narrowboat, this episode is for you. I hope you enjoy it. So here is my chat with Anthony and Paul.

If you would like to see what narrowboat is live – instead of just hearing about it – check out Paul and Anthony’s YouTube channel Narrowboat Life Unlocked: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4UpT76c2R67gSLesyi_u-A

Meet Saskia, who left a corporate career in Germany to follow her heart, travel the world and become a well-being and empowerment coach in New Zealand. 

Saskia was on track for a fairly traditional life in Germany. She got a university degree and started working in a corporate job. But deep inside, there was always that urge to break free, travel and see the world. 

So one day, she did. What was supposed to be a year-long timeout turned into a complete change of direction in life. Saskia ended up giving up her corporate career, become a yoga teacher and then empowerment coach for millennia women.  

We talk about how Saskia decided to leave normal behind, how travel changed her perspective and outlook on life, how she came to live in New Zealand, how she became a well-being and empowerment coach and the kind of work she now does with her clients. 

Saskia shares many valuable insights around the importance of following your dreams, setting boundaries, creating space for inspiration, overcoming doubts and staying true to yourself. 

For all this and more, check out my chat with Saskia. 

If you want to connect with Saskia, you can do so via social media.

Instagram: @saskiaseeling

Facebook: @SaskiaSeelingCoach

For this episode, I got the chance to talk to professional athlete Sarah Hauser.

Sarah is the Guinness World Record holder for the Largest Wave Windsurfed, 3x overall winner of the International Windsurfing Tour, 2x Winner of windsurfing's most prestigious contest the Aloha Classic.

She is also a computer scientist by training, a fitness coach, a wife and a philanthropist.

In other words, she is a total bad-ass and I’m super stoked she made time in her busy schedule to have a chat with me.

Sarah says she knew she wanted to be a professional windsurfer since the second she surfer her first wave. But pressure from society and her parent led to her resisting that dream for many years and become a computer scientist instead.

But ultimately, the inner athlete won – and as so often, the good stuff happened after a door Sarah thought she wanted to go through closed right in front of her.

She moved to Hawaii and has been pursuing her windsurfing dreams ever since.

We talk about what it takes to become a professional athlete in a sport that doesn’t offer a lot of official development programmes, nor big payouts. Sarah shares how she succeeded, how she managed the stress of trying to make a living through side-gigs while training, trying to find sponsors and being involved with charity projects and how she tries to find work-life balance.

We also talk about how hypnosis has helped Sarah develop mental strengths, what motivates her to continue to push her body and what it’s like to surf these massive waves.

For all that plus thoughts on the gender gap in sports, tips for how to pursue a career as an athlete and much more, check out my chat with Sarah.

Learn more and connect with Sarah:

• Watch the documentary Girl on Wave: www.girlonwave.com

• Sarah’s website: www.hauserlifestyle.com

• Instagram: @hauserlifestyle

Photo: Fish Bowl Diaries

For this episode, I’m joined by Karen Duncan who gave up a career in telecommunication to build and run a Kiteboarding Resort on a small, remote island in Tonga, together with her partner Glenn.

Karen shares what inspired them to make this life-changing decision and how they went about making it a reality – which was no easy undertaking. From having to sort out visas, finding land and dealing with local laws, customs and processes to having to bring absolutely everything they needed over from New Zealand.

When they arrived in Tonga, they had nothing but a bare block of land. Once the materials arrived from New Zealand, they went to work – starting with building a well to have water. Over the next few months, they built a house for themselves and a resort with five huts and a common area for their guests.

If you have ever wondered what it’s like to build a new life on a remote island, this episode with give you the answer.

We also talk about what it’s like to live in paradise and the lessons Karen has learned along the way. And of course, we also had to talk about COVID and how that has disrupted their lives and how Karen overcame negative thoughts caused by uncertainty and being disconnected from family and friends and how she found a new calling as ‘the cake lady’.

Learn more and connect with Karen:

Website: https://www.kitesurftonga.com

Instagram: @KitesurfTonga

Facebook: www.facebook.com/KitesurfTonga

What would you do if you could take a year off and use each month to focus on something important to you? 

That is what Beth Wishart, my guest for this episode, set out to do two years ago. She is joining me today to share what inspired her to do so, how it all worked out and what she learned along the way.  

In 2019, at 35 years old, Beth found herself in a secure, well-paying job in Wellington, on track to what most would call a successful life. But it didn’t feel all that successful to her. 

She felt stuck in her career without any progression in sight, frustrated by the long daily commute and was struggling with being unwell frequently and taking way longer to recover than she used to. 

Initially, Beth didn’t know how to fix things and thought this was just what life is like. 

But, during yet another lengthy sickness, the urge to change something became stronger and stronger – eventually resulting in the idea of an adult gap year. Twelve months to focus on the things that are truly important to her. 

After some encouragement from family and friends, Beth decided to take the leap. She resigned from her job and rediscovered the joys of life. 

That one gap year has turned into two years and has been everything Beth had hoped for and more. 

In this episode, we talk about

What inspired Beth to make this change

How she planned for her gap year – and what she actually ended up doing

Making it work financially

Balancing living in the now and planning for the future

Transitioning back into life with a job

What Beth thinks the future holds for her

The importance of putting yourself and your happiness first

Living minimalistic

And the many, many lessons Beth learned along the way.

For this episode, I talk to Laura Waters about her journey walking the length of New Zealand on the Te Araroa trial and how this experience has changed her life in a profound and lasting way. 

Laura shares how she was feeling stuck in a corporate career and toxic relationship in Melbourne and how the decision to walk Te Araroa changed her perspective on life, helped her learn more about herself and the kind of life she truly wants and gave her a whole new level of confidence to tackle her goals and make her dreams happen. 

We also talk about how Laura’s life has changed since and how she managed to make the dream of writing a book about her experience come true and then built a successful career as a travel writer. 

Laura shares lots of incredibly valuable insights and lessons that will be inspiring for anyone who is thinking about making a change in life or just loves hearing stories of people who are living their best life. 

And you don’t need to be a hiking enthusiast to enjoy this episode. 

For this episode, I chat with Vendy and Marcel from @saltyvanventures who love travel, vanlife and living minimalistic.  

We talk about travel, vanlife, the impact of COVID and the many lessons they learnt along the way. Vendy and Marcel also share what they learnt from converting three vans and what tips they would give others wanting to convert a van and enjoy vanlife.  

After meeting in South East Asia, Vendy and Marcel reunited in New Zealand where Marcel was already living and Vendy was planning to spend a year on a work and holiday visa. 

Not feeling ready to follow in the footsteps of their friends yet who were settling down and starting families, as well as wanting to see more of beautiful New Zealand, the two decided to get a van and travel the country. They bought an empty van, converted it themselves and then hit the road. 

When winter arrived in New Zealand, Vendy and Marcel decided to spend four months island-hopping around the pacific before making their way to South America with the intention of starting vanlife there. 

Just as they were about to complete the conversion of their van and were getting ready to hit the roads of South America, Covid-19 turned into a global pandemic. With the situation in many South American countries unstable and not welcoming to visitors, Vendy and Marcel decided they had to leave. However, that meant splitting up. With borders closed to anyone except citizens in both their home countries, they had to make the difficult decision for Vendy to return to the Czech Republic and Marcel to Australia. 

After several tough months of separation, the two managed to get an exemption that allowed Vendy to enter Australia – and from there, even cancelled flights and Covid-chaos at airports didn’t stop the two from reuniting.

They are now together in Australia, working to convert their next van to re-start vanlife. 

Listen to the episode to hear the whole story and get vanlife and van-conversion tips from these two vanlife experts. 

If you want to follow Vendy and Marcel’s journey and see their incredible beautiful van conversion, check them out on YouTube or Instagram.  

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/salty_vanventures/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSqGj5KgpYFD0R-nCHqh_OQ

For the first episode in season two of Life Done Differently, I had the incredible pleasure to chat with Sarah Williams who is on a mission to inspire girls and women to follow their own path and live their best lives. 

After working in finance for 8 years, Sarah quit her city job and spent 18 months travelling the world, climbing Kilimanjaro, backpacking around South America and doing a ski season – while figuring out what to do with her life. 

She set up Tough Girl Challenges as a way of motivating and inspiring women and girls and hosts the Tough Girl Podcast where she has interviewed over 300 inspirational female explorers, adventurers, athletes and everyday women who have overcome great challenges. 

The Tough Girl Podcast has been downloaded over 1.5 Million times in 174 countries. It won the Women’s Sport Trust, Media Initiative of the Year Award in May 2018 and the She Extreme best adventure podcast in 2019. 
 
And as if that’s not enough, Sarah has also completed the Marathon des Sables (6 marathons in 6 days across the Sahara desert), thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail (2,190 miles) in 100 days, completed a Masters in Women & Gender studies at Lancaster University in 2018 and cycled the Pacific Coast Highway and Baja California solo and unsupported (over 4,000 km). I know, WOW, right?!?!

In this episode, we talk about Sarah’s journey and adventures. We cover how she found her place in the world, how she supports herself financially, female role models, making dreams happen, the many things Sarah has learned on her journey and a whole lot more.