This episode starts with a cancelled Sunday. But it unpacks something far bigger.

Something I know you’ll feel in your bones if you’ve ever:

• Held the sky up for everyone else
• Put your needs last
• Kept going when your body and brain were screaming “enough”

I’m talking about the invisible trap of proving - where you perform your value, your right to rest, your worthiness for the seat you’ve already earned.

It’s the part no one talks about when they say “just be more confident” or “take up space.”
It’s what happens when the world tells women to rise but only if we never slow down.

In this solo episode of It’s Got Pockets, I’m getting honest about:

• The emotional fallout of being ‘the strong one’
• Why rest doesn’t feel safe when your self-worth is tied to performance
• The connection between over-functioning and control (yep, we’re going there)
• And why your nervous system is crying out for a pause

There’s no tidy bow on this one - just real talk and a reminder you might need today:

👉 You don’t need to keep proving it to keep it.

This is your permission slip to take the mask off, breathe and choose yourself without needing a dramatic burnout to justify it.

Links + Extras:

• 🔋 Download my Energy Audit – It’s time to stop running on fumes. Grab it here
• 🔥 Join the FoundHer Fire™ Collective – Doors are open if you’re ready to stop proving and start owning it. You can apply here.

Sarah is the founder of FoundHer Fire—a membership space for experienced women in business who know real success isn’t just about strategy, it’s about self; a place, a space, a community where women find their fire, for women who aren't done yet and who are ready to write their own rules of success. Sarah also co-founded The Plot Twist (un)Awards, celebrating female founders and women smashing through glass ceilings with purpose, passion and joy.

Find out more about me and how I can work with you:

• On LinkedIn
• On Instagram
• On the Web
• Or drop me an email sarah@mindthegap.academy

Trigger warning: This episode contains themes of grief, loss, trauma, addiction, and recovery.

This episode is special; I get to talk to my fabulous friend Nicky Wake and I can confirm it is completely unfiltered.

In this fiercely honest episode of It’s Got Pockets, I sit down with the phenomenal Nicky Wake - powerhouse entrepreneur, sober and founder of multiple game-changing businesses (Don't Panic Events, Chapter 2 Dating, Widow’s Fire, Sober Love and Sober AF) and a woman who has turned the hardest kind of heartbreak into deep purpose and powerful impact.

We talk about everything. And I mean everything.

From podium dancing in the Hacienda to building a global awards empire…

From losing the love of her life and navigating widowhood, grief and solo parenting…

To dating again (with hilarious stories and a few d*ck pics along the way)…

And hitting rock-bottom moments before making the bold, life-saving choice to get sober and start again - on her own terms.

This isn’t a story of one neat, tidy reinvention.
It’s a story of grit, grief, guts and there's some gallows humour - this is why we are friends.

We talk:

🔥 Widowhood and anticipatory grief
🔥 Dating over 50 and the launch of Chapter 2 and Widow’s Fire
🔥 The sober dating revolution (hello Sober AF)
🔥 Alcohol as a coping mechanism and how she chose differently
🔥 Why power of attorney and a will are NOT boring admin, but essential
🔥 The power of community, purpose and finding your people

And Nicky’s six-word memoir? One of the best yet.

This is one for anyone who’s ever wondered how the hell to carry on when life hits hardest and who believes in plot twists, comebacks and doing things your own damn way.

🧨 Tap play. Share it with someone who needs it. And if you haven’t sorted your will or power of attorney yet - this is your big fat nudge.

Sarah is the founder of FoundHer Fire—a membership space for experienced women in business who know real success isn’t just about strategy, it’s about self; a place, a space, a community where women find their fire, for women who aren't done yet and who are ready to write their own rules of success. Sarah also co-founded The Plot Twist (un)Awards, celebrating female founders and women smashing through glass ceilings with purpose, passion and joy.

Find out more about me and how I can work with you:

• On LinkedIn
• On Instagram
• On the Web
• Or drop me an email sarah@mindthegap.academy

Back in 1997, a little essay called “Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young” was published in the Chicago Tribune.

It was later turned into an unlikely global hit by the one and only Baz Luhrmann and “Wear Sunscreen” became a rite of passage for an entire generation.

It was oh so wise, weirdly soothing and just the right amount of bizarre. It was the rules we ignored.

As NME put it:

And it was.
A tune.
A moment.
A collective nudge to live better and also, wear SPF. Which obviously most of us ignored.

So what else could I do 28 years later but bring it up to date (badly). It will never be on the set list for Glasto but might bring a smile to your face.

This is my homage to that moment, this is the commencement speech for the generation as we stand today.

Not the fresh-faced graduates. But the women who (maybe) were those graduates once… and are now entering their sequel season.
Or, as I like to call it: your fck-you season.

It will never be a pop landmark, nor probably feature in any commencement speech; however...

"Ladies of the class of the 1980s, you are still not as fat as you think you are."

If I could only offer you one piece of advice for this next season of your life, it would be this.

Start now.

Don't wait for the right time, the right weight, the right level of confidence.

Just begin.

All my advice has no more basis, more reliable than my own lived in sweary experience. ; )"

Sarah is the founder of FoundHer Fire—a membership space for experienced women in business who know real success isn’t just about strategy, it’s about self; a place, a space, a community where women find their fire, for women who aren't done yet and who are ready to write their own rules of success. Sarah also co-founded The Plot Twist (un)Awards, celebrating female founders and women smashing through glass ceilings with purpose, passion and joy.

Find out more about me and how I can work with you:

• On LinkedIn
• On Instagram
• On the Web
• Or drop me an email sarah@mindthegap.academy