Hello you! I’m Sas. Get comfy, I’ll put the kettle on.
Welcome to Courage and Spice - a place for thoughtful humans where we get to the heart of what it means to live courageously (without any of that ‘just do it!’ nonsense) 😘
Maybe you hold back from sharing your ideas at the morning work meeting, or on the Gram? Perhaps you hesitate to ever say no to your sister, or you worry about getting something ‘wrong’ so you stop yourself.
If you’re holding yourself back somewhere in your life, you might have some self-doubt going on. I know it’s so bloody frustrating, but I promise there are always good reasons why self-doubt is here.
Courage & Spice is about getting to the heart of why we hold ourselves back, and exploring how to live a brave life, full of meaning and joy.
For more than a decade, I’ve coached with hundreds of beloved clients to help transform self-doubt into genuine self-belief.
I’m a bit obsessed with this process. It really is a singular joy to support you to transcend old stories, doubts, and fears and bravely step into the next phase of who you are becoming.
Self-doubt is my story, too.
As the oldest daughter of working-class immigrants, I’ve been a pleasure to have in class since 1977. In many ways, I won the lottery and grew up in a tiny beach town in Aotearoa, New Zealand.
However, my childhood was also jam-packed with unprocessed grief, and the benign neglect of ‘80s parenting. The bullying that left me so traumatised I moved high schools, was the cherry on top.
This all led to being an adult who excelled at being as low-maintenance as possible while being able to anticipate everybody else’s needs. I’d unwittingly been training my whole life to thrive in chaos. I was surrounded by drama-filled relationships and continuously rewarded in stressful, often problematic, workplaces. No wonder I drank my feelings.
When my Mum died unexpectedly on a random Tuesday at age 53, I lost my anchor. A year later, my relationship ended just as suddenly. But it wasn’t until my third burnout that my dreams of corporate stardom began to evaporate, and I began the long, slow path of grieving what I'd lost and figuring out what I truly longed for.
Eventually (insert long montage scene here), I retrained as a coach and therapist in my late thirties. As I started working with clients, I began a Master's degree in the psychology of coaching at Oxford. When I had to choose a dissertation topic, I found myself drawn to the phenomenon of self-doubt.
I started to make a tonne of sparky connections between the research, my lived experience, and my client work. Spending time in Oxford libraries was intellectually joyous and exhilarating, like falling in love.
Now, a dozen years I spend my days supporting the best humans. It's a total joy to witness you to transcend old stories, worries, and fears, to bravely try new things armed with loads of self-compassion.
These days…
I love belly laughs, moments of wonder, exploring consciousness, imagining a post-capitalist world, obscure UFO podcasts, nuance and complexity, poetry, memes, wallpaper, pie, and your dog. I’m a Gen Xer. Sober. Pragmatic. Optimist. Believer. Motherless Daughter. Childless Aunty. Emerging Crone. Mostly embodying cheerful despair.
After 25 years of living in the UK (Brizzle babbers!) I’m back on the Motherland of Aotearoa-New Zealand. I live near the beach with my partner Ash, too many books and not enough dogs.
Subscribe if this sounds like your idea of a good time:
Creative, research-led approaches for growing the healthy adult resources within you: self-trust, self-belief, self-worth and self-acceptance.
Sparky podcast convos with inspiring humans doing ace things in the world.
Musings from someone who is (slowly!) writing a book about self-doubt (and has a shit tonne of self-doubt about it #neat).
Journal prompts specifically designed to grow your self-belief and quieten down that judgey, fearful voice holding you back.
Minimal inspirational quotes (annoying), or Captain Obvious solutions to your complex and nuanced challenges (makes me a bit stabby too).
It’s a complete labour of love to be with you.
Arohanui, Sas xx
