Hi, I’m Sarah.
And I live a life less ordinary.
I’m a Mother, a dancer, and a breast cancer survivor.
I’m a lover of people and places and bright beautiful things that stimulate the senses.
I’m a talker and a walker, a self-confessed Foodie, and a bit of a health nut.
I love words and languages, Yoga, cold water swims and a thousand other things.
I dream of owning a house in Italy one day, but for now, I live in the beautiful county of Cornwall, which I know from top to bottom and inside out.
Oh yeah, and I also happen to have combined types of ADHD which I was diagnosed with in October 2022.
My Story
I am your stereotypical late diagnosed ADHD female.
I was a gifted and talented child, top of my class academically (although I rarely studied outside of the classroom) and when I wasn't at school I was dancing.
All the time.
I went away to ballet school when I was 11, danced with the NYCB at Covent Garden at the age of 12, moved to London to study at the English National Ballet School when I was 17, and was awarded a scholarship to train at the world famous Vaganova Ballet Academy in St Petersburg at the age of 18.
I was a professional ballet dancer for 13 years and toured the world with ENB, which is where my love of travel and exploring began.
I was the most high functioning person I knew. But I also had crippling anxiety, suffered frequently from massive episodes of burnout, and never fulfilled my potential.
When I was 39, and a Mother of 2 young boys the unthinkable happened and I was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer.
I think this was when my undiagnosed ADHD started to rear its ugly head and everything changed.
Having gone through life changing surgery, six months of brutal chemotherapy, and 7 years of hormone treatment my body went through an early menopause.
And all the oestrogen that had made up for the lack of dopamine disappeared.
The mask slipped off and I was in freefall.
I jumped from job to job, never understanding why I couldn’t stick with anything for longer than a year. I self medicated with alcohol and unhealthy habits and slid into very deep depression. I felt lost, alone and hopeless.
My ADHD diagnosis saved me.
It was at a creative writing retreat in 2022 that it was suggested to me that I may be neurodivergent. I knew nothing about ADHD but did some research and pretty much self diagnosed myself.
I then spent the next 18 months researching everything I could about ADHD, and started to slowly transform my life. I knew I had to make my life more structured, healthy, and calmer. And I chose to do it without medication.
Once I’d got an official diagnosis I started working with an ADHD coach. One of the things I had to do as a homework task was to create a Life Map. (a hugely useful exercise if you’ve never done one). And when I looked at all the words that described my life, my passions and interests they led me here.
To a place where other ADHD’ers can share their own stories, find connection and support and learn to embrace their ADHD.
I want to help other ADHD, burnt out people too.
I’m a true people person, and love being in the company of others.
So I’d love to meet you at one of my LLO Experiences where we can learn from one another and have a lot of fun doing so. Or maybe work with you 1-1 through my mentoring services online.
I also love to write and share my experiences, so feel free to grab a cuppa and enjoy my ADHDventures on the LLO blog, or follow my solo travel journey through Italy on my Beara Italia blog!
Let’s embrace our less than ordinary lives together, and become the amazing humans we were always born to be.
Hope to see you there,
Sarah x
Read The Blog
If you’d like to read my musings about living a Life Less Ordinary, or my travel adventures around Cornwall and further afield, take a look at my blog posts here.
